I like the "Ownership Spirit." Students need to learn at some point to be accountable for their work and behavior.
Hi Joshua,
Great response! I can tell you really sympathize and empathize with your students, but you do not tolerate their foolishness and lame excuses. I understand life happens, but we must prepare our students to be quality employees in the workplace. An employer can really care less about all the excuses; bottom line is that the employer wants the job done.
Patricia
Hi Deanna,
I like how you keep a running list of excuses from your students and share the list with them if need be so that they realize that they are a person filled with different excuses. I will let them know that excuses will not fly in the real world.
Patricia
Well it has always been my belief that as an adult, student or not, you are responsible for your life and decisions. If a student says that an assignment was not completed because their computer crashed. First that is a very unfortunate event and almost impossible to predict. It however does not excuse not doing the work at all. I would work with the student offering methods on how to complete the assignment using public computers, labs at school and usually go as far as to help them in purchasing a new one (shopping advice only). In the case of job and family struggles (often used reasons) I offer any assistance I can reasonably give, but try and explain that when they made the choice to attend or return to school it was a whole new priority that they have agreed to take on. Now I can’t place that priority in your life they have to do that, but it needs to be placed. If whatever struggle they are going through is higher than school work so be it but grades will suffer because of it. Also remind them that they are doing this because of family never forget it.
I keep a binder with all their assignments, tests, quizzes. If something is late or not turned in I also add this to the binder. If a student tries to hand in something late or I speak with them about missed assignments and I hear another excuse, I show them the list of excuses. When they see them all at once in one place they usually see how silly some of them are. They also see how the list grows over time. I had one student, that during a 10 week period, told me that 7 different people she was close to had passed away. One was her grandmother who died at leat 3 times!
Hi Cheryl,
It makes a big difference whenever you get to KNOW a student. The relationship is strong, and it appears that you can better communicate with them and get them to see things from a professional perspective.
Patricia
Hi Christopher,
As educators we really do need to evaluate ourselves. If the fault is in us, we need to make the necessary adjustments. We also need to be fair to the student, if there is a lack on our part.
Patricia
Hi Patricia,
Great approach! I like how you make them see that they are soley at fault, and therefore for each choice there is a consequence.
Patricia
I have learned to turn the situation around and remind the student that that they made the choices that led to their bad situation. e.g. they chose to not do the assignment which resulted in lack of points, they chose not to come to class or to arrive on time. They could have made up the assignments, but they chose not to.
Deborah, I agree with your statement that for students, school is the place to make mistakes and learn from them. We try to reinforce to them the message that they must accept the consequences of their actions and "fess up" if they messed up on the job. Someone's life could be in danger.
First, I think we should be looking at the instructional delivery methods, in order to be reasonalbly certain that we are not a major component of the problem. However, as was discussed in the course, they have become skilled manipulators in avoiding work. Therefore, as instructor we need to set clear and precise, written and verbal expectations as to the content and due dates of assignments. Once these expectations are established we should hold all accountable, equally, to a precise deduction of point for late assignments. It is important to remain fair in this and to not appear, as an instructor, to have favorites in a class.
Historically, I have been the course instructor and an advisor for a cohort of students. Although I initially fought “tooth and nail” against the advisory component, eventually I learned the limitless importance of individual student advising. Advising is now my principal strategy. Routine advising allows me the opportunity to know my students on a more personal level. More importantly, it allows them to know me as a person rather than Professor Einstein: someone fabricated in their mind who knows everything about the course content. This relationship offers the freedom to meet as individuals and address the underlying issues which generally precede this type of event.
Hi Pamela,
I concur! No matter how big or small students must accept responsibility for their actions. In the workplace being accoutable is a must.
Patricia
Hi Susan,
Great speil to share with students. I really like how you relate this to the workplace as well.
Patricia
When dealing with these students, I remind them we are here to learn how to take responsibily for our own actions.
I tell them when they are at work, and they have to work as a team, if they try and shift the blame to a co-worker,the Doctors' will frown upon such behavior. It is alway appropiate to own your actions. It is the only way to learn. Our mistakes can help us grow, and make us a better employee.
This is a great strategy. I have often used this when dealing with the blame shifters. Now, if I could only get the parents to understand this concept! Any advice on that? Oftentimes, I feel I am getting through to the blame shifter student, then along comes the parent, doing the SAME thing, thus, de-justifying everything I've just said! I'm not singling out the younger students here. I've encountered this with older, 40+ year old students and parents.
I try to listen to the students and their concerns about shifting the blame elsewhere; but the bottom line is that they are accountable for their own actions. Life is not always fair, but we should try and work through it. Even if a small part of the situation, they need to be accountable for that small part.
I try to listen to the students and their concerns about shifting the blame elsewhere; but the bottom line is that they are accountable for their own actions. Life is not always fair, but we should try and work through it. Even if a small part of the situation, they need to be accountable for that small part.
Offer the student tutoring after class or before class.We offer tutoring for any student that fills that they are not getting the information or are interfered with at any way. And there would be a counseling on the student that caused the problem.
Hi Peter,
I like to use the family-oriented atmosphere as a style of the class. I tell my students we are all one big family except during test time. We cannot help each other during test time.
Patricia
