Michelle- I can feel your pain. :) Just say no! I think the way you
handled it is perfectly acceptable. I had a similar incident on a test
recently on which a student wrote the following"
"As a bio major, I really do think that short answer is more
appropriate. Scientific literature is written in prose, not short
answer. It is simply too reductionist to offer multiple choice!"
I admit my first thought (I'm tired) was to respond to this with a "how
dare you" oriented reply. I redirected my emotional respose (and laughed
at myself a little!). I arranged a meeting with the student in which he
was actually a bit apologetic ("I should have thought that through more
and stated my opinion less emphatically", was one thing he said). We had
a good discussion (in which I think he made a few good points as well)
and I explained to him that I gave MC tests for a variety of reasons
(some related to workload and some to pedagogy).
I did think to myself that it isn't at all surprizing that students do
what they have been rewarded (reinforced, if you prefer) for doing. Many
of them have been "trained" to think of us as service providers and many
have witnessed such strategies working. I do admit that the requests
which specifically target, "I'm special, please raise my grade" tactics
are particularly irritating. I hesitate to recommend specific stress
relievers but I found it hard to maintain my anger at this one on Sunday
as I stopped on my bike ride to watch young foals stumbling about in a
field! Kind of put things into perspective. Hang in there.
Tim
Message excerpt below:
Hi Everyone,
I felt I needed to share this with a group of people I knew would
understand. I'm in the midst of grading final exams now and figuring
out final grades, and I got the following message today from one of my
students. I'm copying it directly from my inbox:
"I got a total 244.57/276 which comes out to about 88.61%. I notice that
89% is the cut-off for an A- ! Is there anyway you could regrade any of
my tests or assignments to see if I deserve an extra percentage point?
Because I would really like the A- instead!"
Michelle Everson, Ph.D.
Department of Educational Psychology
University of Minnesota
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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