Dear students: Do you really want to know why your papers aren't graded?

[LynnS6]

Dear students,

You know all those excuses you've given me over the years? Well, here are mine:

In the last week:

1. My dad (age 86) went into the hospital with heart arythmias.

2. On the day that my dad came out of the hospital, my mom (age 81) fell down the stairs, broke her collar bone, her cheek, needed 8 stitches in her eyebrow and lost the little remaining sight she had in one eye.

3. The next day was Thanksgiving.

4. The next day dh came down with a cold and was not available for child care.

5. The next day, my daughter came down with the stomach flu and threw up all over dh once and me once.

6. 36 hours later, I came down with the stomach flu, and in addition to vomiting and stomach cramps, my version added diarrhea.

7. 24 hours after that, my dh came down with the same stomach flu, and in addition to the vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea, he's added a nasty rash. (I can hardly wait to see what ds' version is going to add!) And, by the way, he's still got the cold.

So no, I have not graded the 10 page assignment that 25 of you gave me 10 days ago. I'm going to be darn lucky to be prepared to teach on Wednesday. I probably won't be able to get your take-home final written (though thanks to a colleague who just gave me a good problem set, I might). You're just lucky I didn't throw up all over you on Monday.
 

Sincerely,

Your Professor

[sparklett]

I am so sorry!  Wow.  Yes, there's always a handful of students who are very impatient and somewhat unforgiving.  I give my  students som eleeway when turning in assignments, and I expect the same in return. 

I hope all of your students are kind and understanding when you go back.

[alittlesandy]

I'm right there with you!

I'm a college professor and have a huge stack of projects from almost two weeks ago that I haven't touched. First, I was distracted by a positive pregnancy test. Then I had guests from out of town. Then I lost the baby. Now my little boy is sick.

Oh, and I have a chapter deadline on Friday for a book I'm writing.

Sigh.

Hang in there! We'll get through this! (And don't worry too much about what the students thing. They'll get over it.)

[MovnMama]

Oh, I'm so there with you! I teach 11th and 12th grade English, and I'm constantly bugged by students. I've been sitting on a set of essays from almost two weeks ago, and committed to grading them TONIGHT, and here I am on MDC.

My problem is, my students are so low achieving (from a rural and low socio-economic area) that they don't care much about school, but they'll still bug about grading. Like they don't even care how well they did, they're just annoyed that you haven't graded it yet! It's a case of do-nothing-right. Sigh.

I'm jealous that the quality of your essays is higher than mine (like, at least proof read). Think of it this way... at least the reading should be decent! :)

[emilysmama]

Lynn,

Your week sounded truly awful.  I am so sorry you had to endure all of that, and I don't know how you managed.  Just one of those items on your list would be enough to send me into a tailspin for a couple weeks, but you were bombarded by all of that.  If there really is a such thing as karma, I hope you have a couple solid good years just to make up for all of that.  Don't let your students get you upset about grading.  Students are self-centered, as I was once myself.

[dormiles]

Hope your DS won't catch stomach flu, mine somehow managed not to when our whole family did!

[pinksprklybarefoot]

What a horrific week!  On the bright side, it can't get much worse.

I would tell your students what is going on - I always like hearing that my professors are human with real lives outside of the classroom.

I hope this week is MUCH better for you!

[LynnS6]

Thanks -- I just needed to throw myself a pity party. I did get the take-home final written, I will be up-front about why the others aren't graded. They're college students at an urban university. They understand about life getting in the way. (And I actually had to cancel class on Monday. I've canceled class twice in my entire career as a professor -- but when you're in danger of throwing up, it's not a good idea to go.)

So far ds is OK, though we had a few nervous moments last night when he said "my stomach hurts". I'm really hoping he doesn't come down with it. REALLY. I need a solid 8 hours to finish grading before finals week, get my students' thesis proposals read and get some committee work done. With him home, that just won't happen.

[JD5351]

Oh my..I'm not a teacher, but I totally get it. :)

I had to sit down with my boss and HER boss the other day due to a absense I had 2 weeks ago. For some reason they have trouble grasping the fact that I work in a call center, and if I can't TALK, I can't really WORK. Not to mention the fact that I was running a fever, had a sinus infection which spread to my lungs.

I'm out today with my son having the stomach bug. Sounds like what you and your kiddos have. I'm praying that I don't get it.

[Kristine233]

Wat a crappy week! I agree it should go both ways, you give them some slack they need to be a bit understanding as well.

I have one teacher who has the attitude that you had better never miss a day. If you miss, the only excuse is that you are in the hospital or its not excused. (so they have super strict attendance policies, which is fine)  The last couple days she's been out sick.  I was so tempted to ask one of the instructors filling in if she had a note from the hospital, because its not excused otherwise. lol. But really, some don't see the student's side at all. One classmate had a baby (c-sec even) and got tons of flack from the teacher and just a really hard time. She was back in the classroom just days after giving birth.

[brooks97]

Goodness. I hope everyone is on the mend.

[LynnS6]

Ah... Now ds has the stomach flu.

Dh has a tooth abscess.

And the dishwasher is broken.

Enough enough I surrender!

[Super~Single~Mama]

It's time to call in reinforcements.  Do you have family close by??  If so, someone needs to come do your dishes! (at the very least.....)

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by Super~Single~Mama 

It's time to call in reinforcements.  Do you have family close by??  If so, someone needs to come do your dishes! (at the very least.....)

Sigh, no. Closest family is 90 miles away. Most of the family is 1500 miles away and dealing with the day to day stuff for my parents. So, I am getting off light. Dh is on the mend FINALLY. Just in time for him to leave next week to go out of town!