Response

I like to hand back essays to students in class, before I post those grades online. This way, the people who are going to go to pieces over their grades can do so in context. It’s difficult to provide explanation though, when students skip class and then attempt to assess their progress by looking at the online postings.

“Call me,” Janice said on the recorded message. “I checked my essay grade and I can’t figure out why I got a 60.”
Janice had left class early (for the fifth time). She missed the discussions we had at the end of class; from students on how the essays could be developed; from me on how the essays were graded. She asked me to call her back, but left no callback telephone number. When I finally reached her, and identified myself, she said, “I can’t talk now, I’m just walking out the door.”

My notes on her work state that she wrote a “C” level essay. However she did not submit the required outline (-10 points) or provide the works cited page (-10 points). The online system allows me one slot to enter numbers. Explanations I write out, in complete sentences, on the essays, which I hand back at the end of the class. If Janice had been in class to listen to instructions, to ask questions during the writing of her work, or even pick up her essay, I could have explained the grade to her.