Interacting with professors

Thou Shalt Not Yell At Thy Professor, Part Two

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

I heard from a student recently who demanded to know why she got the grade she did on an assignment. The anger in her email was obvious and she was really very belligerent. I answered her quickly and with as much kindness as possible. [She claimed to have sent me an email three days previously, but probably saved the email as a draft, rather than sending it- this happens from time to time. Still, she considered it my fault that the email had not gone through.]

I went over her document a line at a time. That took a lot of time, time which I would have preferred with someone who was much nicer to me. Did she deserve the grade she had received? Yep. The document was junk, and it was the least amount of work she could have done and still met the length requirements.

What is a better way to communicate? By asking the professor nicely how you could improve your document- the key here is the word “nicely!”  Do not attempt to embarrass the professor by posting your angry comments on the class-wide Ask the Professor area (she did that, as well). Take responsibility for your own work. Do not indicate that the instructor is a total incompetent if he or she gives you anything less than an A.

It’s your call how you make it through college. Let’s make it pleasant for all involved! How do you communicate with your instructors? Do you have any tips for others who are going through school?

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Letters of recommendation

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today’s blog deals with that all-important letter of recommendation from your instructor. You may need one in order to get into a four-year college, if you are in a community college. You may be required to provide letters in order to get a scholarship or to get a better-paying job. The very best letter you can get is one that the instructor offers to give you, without your even needing to ask. So, how do you get one?

The first few hints are intuitively obvious, but still need to be included. First, be a good student who shows up on time, who shows up for each class meeting totally prepared for the day, and who does well on assignments and exams. “Okay,” you may be saying, “what else is new?”

Go beyond that, folks. Be pleasant to everyone, from the teacher and the other students, to folks who can never “do” anything for you. Do you know who the janitor is in the buildings you have classes in? Do you ever thank that individual for the work he or she does? Do you greet the advisers, the office staff, and previous instructors with a smile on your face? This may sound silly, but you never know when the instructor you plan on asking for a reference is watching.

Don’t go about like an Eddie Haskel, pretending to be nice and then turning into a monster when the instructor’s head is turned. Be genuinely nice. Ask your instructor how his or her weekend went and pay attention to the answer. Talk to your fellow students before or after class, don’t just show up and clomp out.

I was asked for a reference letter just this past week. The student was in a class of mine one year ago, but I still remembered her because, not only was she a top student, but because she threw herself enthusiastically into every assignment. She never complained about anything, but truly sought to take charge of her own education. It was easy to write a reference for her; she was one of the most involved students I have every met. When she was in class, she was in class with every fiber of her being. I had 150 students that semester, but she clearly stood out. Be that student!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

P.S. Eddie Haskel was on Leave it to Beaver.

Do you want me to fail?

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today’s college-related post is based on what a student asked me recently, “Do you want me to fail? ” My short answer is “no.”

The person in question is one of my online-only students; I will never met him. Still, it is not my wish to fail the individual. It is my goal to teach him how to write.

He wrote a paper recently that received a 49 out of 100 points, so it certainly seems as if I wish him ill, but let me explain how he went so far astray. First, he did not follow the directions, so his format was totally off base (he had been given an example paper to follow, but he chose to ignore it). Next, he took his research references (he used the absolute  minimum required) and dumped the information into his paper. This lead to almost page-long paragraphs, which are dreadful on the eyes. Next, he made no effort to analyze the information, which was required. The paper had no introduction and no conclusion. Finally, what was supposed to be a APA-formatted Reference page was just a bunch of website addresses, with no format at all.

Was I making him fail? No, he was doing pretty good at that all by himself.

Discussion board postings were another issue. The requirement was for two five-sentence paragraphs as a minimum for both initial threads and replies. I was lucky to get two to three sentences out of him, one of which was usually “good post.” Every one of his postings got feedback from me; none of them were changed, even though I gave him 24 hours per posting to fix them.

Do I sit up at night, working on ways to make him fail? Nope. I would love it if he passed with flying colors. The ball, however,  is in his court.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Free feedback on college assignments

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

If your college instructor offers you the opportunity to get free feedback before you have to turn in an assignment, take it! Every semester, I offer my students the chance to show me assignments one week before their due date and I will give them information on how to improve the document for a better grade.

Do you know how many take me up on that offer? Usually, I get 1 out of 5 students or fewer. Why do you think that happens? I am not asking for the entire assignment in perfect readiness for grading, just a rough draft. It’s nice to make sure that students are on the right track for a document, and this gives me the chance to assure them that they are or to wave them off if they aren’t.

Do you know what the average grade is that a student who asks for feedback usually gets on a document that I have previewed? It doesn’t happen 100% of the time, but the students normally end up with an A on the assignment. With the odds in your favor, why wouldn’t you use the chance to do better?

I am curious about your “take” on this idea of free feedback. Would you use it, if you were offered this chance? What would you have to do in order to be prepared enough to take advantage of this type of opportunity? I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Contacting your college professor made easy

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

If you are taking a college course and need to get in contact with your professor outside of class, there are a few tips that will be very helpful:

First, check the syllabus for the professor’s preferred contact method. Does she or he like to be emailed? If so, what email address does the prof want you to use? With the many platforms used by colleges throughout the world, sometimes a platform will allow direct contact with the professor but other times it won’t.

For example, one of my colleges uses Blackboard but the institution did not pay for direct email access. Students must type in my email address directly in order to reach me. Many times, they misspell my first or last name and I never get the email. Another of my colleges uses Desire to Learn, which mixes up the emails between my classes and I have no idea which class you are taking when I check my messages.

When emailing the professor, please tell us which class you are taking and which assignment you are asking about. It takes up precious time if you write something like “I don’t understand what you were talking about in class today.” I then have to email you back and ask which of the six classes I am teaching that you are asking about and what assignment is muddy or unclear. That might take up as much as 24 to 48 hours, depending on when you emailed me, for you to get the answer you need.

On the other hand, if you tell me “Dr. Parmelee, this is Joe Smith from your 10 am Monday/Wednesday COM 1010 class. I need more information on the Informative speech Works Cited formatting,” then I have a real good idea what you need to know.

I do not check my email at night. That is family time. The best time to email me is about noon, Monday through Saturday, because early afternoon is usually when I am online. Check with your individual professors to see when the best time to reach him or her is.

Hope this helps!

Dr. Sheri

What to do when you ask for a favor from the prof

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

With the end of the semester looming for some of my students, and mid-terms just over for others, it seemed appropriate to make some suggestions regarding asking for favors.

One thing: do not ask for repeated favors. Do not use the circular argument that “you did it last time, so you should do this for me this time.” You may have gotten grace from the instructor the first time you asked but that is no reason to expect it every week.

Do not try to strong arm the professor just because you are bigger than he or she is. The instructor is the boss and you aren’t, even if you work full time for boatloads of money and are used to being in charge. The classroom is one place where you are not running the show. A little humility is a great thing and you need to learn to be flexible.

I keep track of how many favors you ask for in a given semester. If there is a question about possibly curving your final grade, I will look in my grade book and see how many exceptions to rules you requested.

One semester, I had an online student who had excuses for every week of class. She was sick, her kids were ill, her Internet failed, her power went out. Every week, it was something new. When she finally showed up for class on week six of an eight week course, ready to excuse her way through that week, I called her to task. She couldn’t make up any work that was later than two weeks late, and everything she turned in late would be marked down 20%. She dropped the course.

Finally, when an instructor makes an exception for you, be sure to thank him or her. I can not count the number of times I curved a final grade upward for a student who was soooo close to the next higher grade and who had shown remarkable progress during the term, only to have the student walk out of the classroom without a word. I am human; I like to be thanked. It also demonstrates that your parents taught you to be well-mannered.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

 

Interfacing with your college professor

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

This blog is about interacting with your online or face-to-face college professor in a way that will save you both a lot of time.

When you email the prof, make sure that you state clearly in which one of his or her classes you are enrolled. We waste valuable time either looking up your enrollment or asking you via return email which course you are taking.

Next, make sure you think about your email before you send it. I had a senior in college ask me recently what a Table of Contents was. The individual had to put it in the final project for the course and apparently never noticed that there was a Table of Contents in every college textbook she had used. (They also appear in magazines- had she really never read People?)

Understand that some professors do not reply to your reply emails. They think it saves them time, which it does, but what that means to you is that you should not ask any question you want answered in your reply to his or her reply. Start a new email chain or say in your first email that you will have additional questions, depending on the answer you receive from this email.

Make sure that you communicate with the professor in the manner which he or she requested. For example, at one of the colleges where I teach, I ask students to only email me via the college’s regular email system. We also have a means of communicating via the class interface, but the platform we are using is new to the college and there are some bugs that need to be worked out. Therefore, I only want to hear from students via regular email.

I have a rule that I will respond to students within 24 hours. If they do not hear from me, it is because I did not get the email. Not all professors are like that, but I believe in replying asap. Even if I do not know something, I will still reply and tell you that I am working on your request. Check the spelling of the professor’s name and make sure that you are using the correct email address before you get mad that you never got a reply.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

The care and treatment of college professors

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

While I am on a roll here (having spent the last two weeks talking about college), let’s talk about how to approach your professor to ask a question about your grades.

Let’s say that you got a grade that you didn’t like- it happens pretty often, though maybe not with you. The first thing you should not do is YELL at your professor. No, we are not here to flunk as many students as possible, we are here to help you learn the subject we are teaching.

intimidation is a bad thing and will not endear you to your instructor. Do not send a nasty email to your professor and do not find out his or her boss’ phone number and demand he or she be fired. If you request that the instructor call you, do not save the number to use in the future to call the instructor in the middle of the night to say that your WiFi is not working. We are not coming over to fix it.

How should you talk to the instructor? Respect is vital to a successful outcome. Ask your professor if you can schedule some time to discuss why you got the grade you did. Perhaps your teacher can talk to you right then, though you have to understand that teachers frequently instruct back-to-back classes and may not be available until later that day or week.  Unless this is the end of the term, you may have to wait a couple of days.

When you do get the opportunity to talk with the professor, ask for clarification on what the assignment’s shortcomings were that resulted in the grade. BE POLITE, though do not be Eddie Haskell polite (this is a cultural reference to Leave It To Beaver, a 1960s television show).

Explain your side of the story as calmly as possible, keeping in mind that your professor may have explained the assignment in full on the day that you skipped class or were tardy. If that is the case, it is not the teacher’s fault that you messed up.

I have been known to re-visit a grade or two in my time, but I never ever adjust a grade if someone is mean or nasty.  And, yes, I do keep a record in my files on how a student behaves in class. You do not want me to write “witch on a broom” next to your name or “liar, liar, pants on fire,” either. If I write either of those comments or anything else similar on my personal file on your class, you will not ever be able to get a letter of recommendation from me for that scholarship or job you want. Food for thought.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

More college tips

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

It is sometimes challenging to take off my college-instructor hat, so here is another tip for preparing for college assignments. First, the news: college still has homework.

One time I was teaching a Saturday course for a local community college. One of my students, an older woman, listened to my syllabus presentation and discussion of homework. After I finished, she said, “But I thought signing up for a Saturday course meant there wouldn’t be any homework.” I quickly got her straight on that matter!

Make sure that you understand the homework assignments. Talk to the instructor before or after class, email him or her, or call his or her office. Do not walk up to the instructor on the due date and say “I didn’t understand the assignment.” This makes you look rather dull of mind. If you don’t know something, ask. It is not the professor’s fault you are still getting up to speed on things.

Best,

Dr. Sheri