Yo, BG professors (or at least those that work at colleges in some form)

[Serra]

Also, helicopter parents are terrible. Ask an instructor how many angry calls/emails they've fielded from Mom or Dad about a child's bad grade(s) this semester so far and you might just be killed.

I saw this and forgot to reply.. do the faculty members you know actually talk to parents? A faculty member should never talk to a parent about a student's grades since it's illegal.

[Zetanio]

I saw this and forgot to reply.. do the faculty members you know actually talk to parents? A faculty member should never talk to a parent about a student's grades since it's illegal.

The student can give approval somehow.

Every teacher I have had in the last 5 years has VERY specific guidelines in the syllabus about this.

It's usually "If your parent or guardian contacts me regarding anything. You fail the class."

There's usually a caveat regarding actual medical emergencies, referring them to the Dean.

[Serra]

Yeah, if a student gives written consent it's fine, but I'm guessing most cases don't involve any form of signed paperwork. If a parent just calls or sends an angry email, it's a pretty good excuse to not respond.

[Gredival]

Another anecdote, grad student I mentioned was contacted by University Disability Services and was told about all these accommodations he would have to make for a hearing impaired student enrolled in his course. Some were reasonable, like wearing a portable mic that could feed into student's hearing aid, but some were unreasonable like redesigning any tests not to exclude any question where audio could be an advantage. That wasn't possible since it was a film course and audio is part of mise en scène. He got into a big fight with administration, and was going to cancel the course rather than have to redesign it.

First day of class, turns out that the student could hear perfectly fine with a hearing aid, it was just helicopter parents trying to make sure their baby didn't get screwed over in a course.

[MrW]

Usually, a student has to fill out a FERPA form to allow parents to REQUEST academic information about students. However, there are situations where FERPA rules can be circumvented. Usually health related and drug issues.

[Meresgi]

I think we may have only like two, but I figured it was worth a shot since I know none in the real world.

I want to gauge if anything is changing in the expectations regarding students who come to college. We all know that there has been a dumbing down of America which means that students overall are a lot less prepared for college than in our day. I don't know if that is forcing professors to also dumb down their lessons, or take a harder stance of "sink or swim, bitches" about it.

I also wanted to know where technology is going.

I don't have students print out papers for me. They type them all in Drive and since I can make comments, carrying around a laptop is a million times nicer than carrying around 70+ papers.

I was thinking if this is something professors are leaning towards doing as well, and if they expect a certain format for the papers to be in (all one file, separate sections while in the same folder, etc.). Or is there any sort of submission website that is becoming popular that I should have students practicing with (ala turnitin.com).

Any advice you would have for a high school teacher of any subject (so I can pass it along) would be appreciated.

I think with the huge gap now in learning, I want to do what I can to communicate with who these kids go to next.

I started teaching this past semester at the college level as a side job, and holy shit I have no sympathy for a lot of these students. I have had at least 3 of them email me with late assignments in the past 2 days...classes ended last Wednesday, and I turned in grades last Friday. I notified them of this at least 3 times and even went out of my way to tell them what they were missing haha.

I teach Network Security, so I make them all turn in things to me via digital forms, because why the hell would I want a printed piece of paper. So they submit over the college coursework site or via email.

I would say if you have any kids getting into IT or Comp Sec, the biggest thing I push on people is please...fucking pleeeeeeease learn how to use Google. If you get a job in IT or Info Sec it is literally going to be 80% of your work time, using Google to find solutions to issues and new technology.

[FNH]

Thanks guys! I am struggling with the whole effort thing myself. A lot of my students came from a middle school where if they failed, they still moved on. Many are still adjusting to the idea that if they fail they have to repeat the class.


Even then, I feel my standards have to be set so low or a huge portion of the class would fail, which the school wouldn't allow. It's definitely a struggle.

That huge portion needs to be directed towards trade school. I think the problem with unpreparedness of new college students is caused by teachers making students think that everybody can go to college.

[Gredival]

That huge portion needs to be directed towards trade school. I think the problem with unpreparedness of new college students is caused by teachers making students think that everybody can go to college.

But Bernie told me that everyone that wants a higher education should be able to get one free.

[Ksandra]

I would say if you have any kids getting into IT or Comp Sec, the biggest thing I push on people is please...fucking pleeeeeeease learn how to use Google. If you get a job in IT or Info Sec it is literally going to be 80% of your work time, using Google to find solutions to issues and new technology.

Lol. Rest assured I have that under wraps. I am Google's ultimate spokesperson. I am teaching both the students and the faculty all how to use the different parts to Google Drive. It'll probably be the best resource they will have come to college/real life.

That huge portion needs to be directed towards trade school. I think the problem with unpreparedness of new college students is caused by teachers making students think that everybody can go to college.

I 100% agree with you. I am also 100% not allowed to push that as I work at a college prep school. I would like my contract to survive.

[Ksandra]

On a side note: I finished grading my finals today and it is very disheartening.

I did have to give a lot of Bs for effort on essays. If I didn't, too many kids would fail the class and that would just not fly with administration.

Not only that, it's not their fault. These kids were never taught properly or pushed to their full ability. I can ask for specifics, but I can only focus on certain areas.

IE. If I ask for the theme and they give it, they deserve a B even if they give a shit ass essay.

Equally, I gave Bs to those who wrote great essays but didn't even answer the fucking question.

[Darus Grey]

Usually, a student has to fill out a FERPA form to allow parents to REQUEST academic information about students. However, there are situations where FERPA rules can be circumvented. Usually health related and drug issues.

I had one student/parent do this, over the course of like 8 months after the class ended, the parent constantly emailed me, and I just replied with a form letter on how to file a FERPA, which they'd get mad and rant about. 8 months later they finally filled out all the paperwork and I could finally discuss it with them.

"Your child X never showed up to class even once, never took any of the tests, and for some reason a week after the class ended submitted all the projects when they were worth 0 points anyways and grades had been submitted, and I reported him to the ethics office because they were in my professional opinion obvious plagiarism and even if not, were worth a 0 because they didn't fulfill any of the criteria".

It's just like...man...what fucking smoke was this kid blowing up your ass for almost a year about why he failed.

[MrW]

I had one student/parent do this, over the course of like 8 months after the class ended, the parent constantly emailed me, and I just replied with a form letter on how to file a FERPA, which they'd get mad and rant about. 8 months later they finally filled out all the paperwork and I could finally discuss it with them.

"Your child X never showed up to class even once, never took any of the tests, and for some reason a week after the class ended submitted all the projects when they were worth 0 points anyways and grades had been submitted, and I reported him to the ethics office because they were in my professional opinion obvious plagiarism and even if not, were worth a 0 because they didn't fulfill any of the criteria".

It's just like...man...what fucking smoke was this kid blowing up your ass for almost a year about why he failed.

I worked in university administration for a number of years. You'd be surprised how many times parents come into the office irate wondering why their child failed. Usually, after seeing the parents, it makes complete sense as to how ridiculous some of the student body is.

[Mythe_Seraph]

I teach 7th grade. So I'm down here near the ground floor people. I can tell you that what I've come to expect out of s majority of my students is something that I feel almost every person here on this forum was capable of doing in 3rd/4th grade provided that you were that age somewhere in the 90's.

It's disgusting how much these kids are catered to. It's disgusting how little they try. It's disgusting that they don't seem to care.

[finitek]

I teach 7th grade. So I'm down here near the ground floor people. I can tell you that what I've come to expect out of s majority of my students is something that I feel almost every person here on this forum was capable of doing in 3rd/4th grade provided that you were that age somewhere in the 90's.

It's disgusting how much these kids are catered to. It's disgusting how little they try. It's disgusting that they don't seem to care.

As a fellow 7th grade and Community College teacher I am going to call you out on this one. There is no excuse for your lowering standards. I'm not sure what state you teach in, but you have a responsibility for keep standards high as a teacher. Fuck the administration and the Common Core. I've used the CC standards to make my classes even more difficult in some cases. I am way more worried about the NGSS at this point as there is literally NO curriculum that supports the way the NGSS was written.

Kids feeling nervous about failing and getting frustrated while learning is part of the process. I'm not there to wipe their asses, I am there to ensure they have the critical thinking skills. Along with the ability to present their arguments in a reasoned an structured manner.

And while I 100% agree that kids are catered too entirely too much these day teachers have to get out there and fight for the higher standards. The buck stops with you, in your classroom.

[Teorem]

I saw this and forgot to reply.. do the faculty members you know actually talk to parents? A faculty member should never talk to a parent about a student's grades since it's illegal.

I don't know of any faculty that would willingly engage with the parents because of the potential FERPA violation; even with a waiver on file, they're not obligated to engage directly with parents. It doesn't keep the parents from calling though, and it happens quite often.

It's usually "If your parent or guardian contacts me regarding anything. You fail the class."

There's usually a caveat regarding actual medical emergencies, referring them to the Dean.

I've yet to see this in any syllabus on our campus, but I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't informal policy. However, if such a policy was really enforced, it might be considered retaliatory behavior and grounds for a review and reprimand.

[Ksandra]

As a fellow 7th grade and Community College teacher I am going to call you out on this one. There is no excuse for your lowering standards. I'm not sure what state you teach in, but you have a responsibility for keep standards high as a teacher. Fuck the administration and the Common Core. I've used the CC standards to make my classes even more difficult in some cases. I am way more worried about the NGSS at this point as there is literally NO curriculum that supports the way the NGSS was written.

Kids feeling nervous about failing and getting frustrated while learning is part of the process. I'm not there to wipe their asses, I am there to ensure they have the critical thinking skills. Along with the ability to present their arguments in a reasoned an structured manner.

And while I 100% agree that kids are catered too entirely too much these day teachers have to get out there and fight for the higher standards. The buck stops with you, in your classroom.

This can only go so far.

I was doing as you said then one day the principal came in halfway through the year saying she looked through my grade book (she was doing this to everyone). one class had a D for their class average. I was told to "fix it."

I had two choices that I could see. a. Dumb down the lesson/tests so students grades went up. b. Keep giving the same lesson and curve the tests.

I went with B for two reasons. 1. Those who get it would not be getting a dumbed down lesson. 2. It was easier to lesson plan that way.

A I think can be a better solution in many cases, however. I had some students super stressed over the difficulty of the materials (and of course, some who were breezing by). I had to be constantly positive towards them to motivate.

There needed to be some class shifting to help separate the low from the high in that class. And I asked for it several times, but it never happened. You have to make due with what you are given and what pressure you get from the higher ups.

[Mythe_Seraph]

As a fellow 7th grade and Community College teacher I am going to call you out on this one. There is no excuse for your lowering standards. I'm not sure what state you teach in, but you have a responsibility for keep standards high as a teacher. Fuck the administration and the Common Core. I've used the CC standards to make my classes even more difficult in some cases. I am way more worried about the NGSS at this point as there is literally NO curriculum that supports the way the NGSS was written.

Kids feeling nervous about failing and getting frustrated while learning is part of the process. I'm not there to wipe their asses, I am there to ensure they have the critical thinking skills. Along with the ability to present their arguments in a reasoned an structured manner.

And while I 100% agree that kids are catered too entirely too much these day teachers have to get out there and fight for the higher standards. The buck stops with you, in your classroom.

Alright so. In theory yes I 100% agree with what you are saying. I wish I could constantly keep high expectations of each and every student. Yes, I agree that productive struggle is an incredibly valuable learning device and I facilitate opportunities for my students to experience it within every 5E lesson that I teach (all of my units are 5E, teaching Science has its perks).

In practice however I feel like if I were to have kept the expectations that I went into the job with I would have maybe a 15~20% passing rate (D or better) in my class. I teach in Arizona (48th? ranked state in achievement) in a Title 1 district (low income). The achievement gap is unreal. I have students that are performing at low levels. They are difficult to motivate and they have no support outside of the school. I can not, by district policy, assign homework. As Ksandra spoke about, I would have a grade book of failing students and I would be frowned upon by administration. And at the end of it all, even with higher expectations, even with students that would fail, even with the best rigor I could possibly provide, would I single handedly be making an impact on a majority of my students lives or achievements? No. And that's the sad reality I have come to understand.

I teach Rocks/Minerals/Plate Tectonics/Intro. Ecology/Intro. Astronomy. If I were to ensure that every student were to succeed at the highest level possible I could probably get through 2 of those units in a year.

[Roranora]

Not the college level and not even first-world, but perhaps it's refreshing to see a few children (and their families) who value education and knowledge.



I've seen this a couple times; it was too good not to share. (still on Netflix, about 70min long. Non-US region discs on amazon) A few teacher friends have shown it at their schools. These kids are dedicated, humble, hard-working, and respectful. When the kids in Kenya are dicking around at their desks and then the teacher comes in, I thought, "hey, they're just like us--oh, oh wow, no they are not."

[Ayn]

Haven't read the whole thread because I'm cooking, but I guess I'm the other one of the two ?

I think we may have only like two, but I figured it was worth a shot since I know none in the real world.

I want to gauge if anything is changing in the expectations regarding students who come to college. We all know that there has been a dumbing down of America which means that students overall are a lot less prepared for college than in our day. I don't know if that is forcing professors to also dumb down their lessons, or take a harder stance of "sink or swim, bitches" about it.

I also wanted to know where technology is going.

I don't have students print out papers for me. They type them all in Drive and since I can make comments, carrying around a laptop is a million times nicer than carrying around 70+ papers.

I was thinking if this is something professors are leaning towards doing as well, and if they expect a certain format for the papers to be in (all one file, separate sections while in the same folder, etc.). Or is there any sort of submission website that is becoming popular that I should have students practicing with (ala turnitin.com).

Any advice you would have for a high school teacher of any subject (so I can pass it along) would be appreciated.

I think with the huge gap now in learning, I want to do what I can to communicate with who these kids go to next.

It's all going to depend (yes, very professorly answer, I guess) but to address your points:

1) Technology: I have all of my students submit things electronically. When I used to be an adjunct between many schools (not anymore, thank god), it was just easier this way. But case in point, there will be some professors that want things in hard copy. Others will ask students to submit things electronically through the learning management system (Canvas, some variant of Moodle, Desire2Learn, Blackboard, etc.). Basically they should get used to having professors that have different expectations. . much like they'll have superiors that have different expectations.

As for format? Some may specify .doc/.docx (so they can do inline comments), others might do pdf. Regardless, if they're doing it through Google docs, it should let them export it to whatever. Still, you might be surprised (or not) at the number of people that don't fucking get that.

2) Advice to high school teachers: Find out which colleges the large percentage of your students go to. Community Colleges nearby? 4 year institutions nearby? Maybe contact a professor or two there that you fill comfortable with. Some colleges are shitty about fostering that relationship, which I really wish they were better about.

3) General Advice:

A) Learn to fucking read directions. No seriously. Yes, there are some majors that require serious technical knowledge and all, but I swear (especially after going through a M.S. program recently, with people who are grown adults and professionals), simply reading the freaking directions will get you far.

B) Actually learn to talk to your professors. Visit office hours. Have a conversation with them. Generally, if you're a familiar face, a professor will go an extra mile for you (as long as you're not an entitled twit); that might be writing a letter of rec, it might be extending some leniency.

C) College is not for everyone (I have a very funny story there, but I won't share it; it involved me chatting with a parent), and some people are, not, ready, at 17 or 18. I skimmed this briefly and someone mentioned trades. Not a bad option.

D) Re: Community College. This is a more cost-effective method, but (I teach at one now, I've also taught at universities). . if you're going that route, make SURE you have a family member, friend, or trusted person to help you navigate the system. It can be more cost effective and timely if you don't get stuck in transfer hell or bounce around from class to class. But hey, some people need that.

That's all for now, back to cooking, if someone wants to know more PM me.

In before lol professor or whatever random teacher jokes people have.

[dasva]

And while I 100% agree that kids are catered too entirely too much these day teachers have to get out there and fight for the higher standards. The buck stops with you, in your classroom.

The teachers aren't always given a choice. For example I really can't see how you can creat real standards when faced with this... http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/46...ficials-defend I mean this is flat out policy and changes to their grading software to pass students who should be failing multiple times over. And then as some others chimed in there are the gently hints from higher ups to "fix" the grades