Monday the 13th looked like Friday the 13th to me. We had just taken the first exam of the semester, and I was very nervous and anxious at the same time to know what grade I got. Sitting in class the prof blurs out "I hope you wont hate me after this" At first I didn't understand him but as class proceded and we got our test papers, this only meant bad news. This was not the only suprise that was coming our way. Being that the heighest grade was an 86 and most of the class had below 60 we had to come up with a planning process. All of us had to agree 100% on a decision that would help us out in the long run. We came up with many options, alot of ideas, different directions, but still could not narrow it down to what was needed to get the job done. So as time was running out two students stepped up to the plate, and took charge of everything we would throw at them. We asked for a curve we got it, we asked for extra credit we got that too, we asked to have the lowest grade dropped, and I am thinking in my mind this is clearly nuts and extreme, is it really possible, can it be that the prof is toying with us?? Throughout the process i took part of the avoidance decision thinking that this will never happen. But it was happening right in front of my eyes. We laid down the law and the proffessor agreed to everything we decided. Now being that there is around 35 students in the class this was not easy to achieve. Some students wanted to keep their grade and learn from their mistakes, others cared more about fixing their actual grade than learning the stuff. Everyone engaged in some sort of decision whether it was compete to win, avoidance, compromise, accomodation, or collaborating of some sort, the outcome was fantastic. All the question marks and the unknowns became clear and very understanding. We came up with all the answers including the extra credit, the only thing we forgot to mention was how many points will the extra credit consist of in our second exam. I guess it's out of our hands now.
I think people were assuming that the extra credit was just 10 points of the grade. As you said the extra credit point is now out of our hands. We should ask more points; but nobody believe that everything that we ask could be taking into consideration. I think the options that we agreed on are one of best for having a good grade.
ReplyDeleteWhen we asked for the lowest grade to get dropped, i thought we were asking for too much and we blew it. But He went with it. We had to keep adding in order to make everyone happy. Some people were still down there after the curve and extra credit. We had to get everyone on board and we managed it. Now i feel how a politician feels.
ReplyDeleteProbably we could come out with better ideas. However, I think that we did a good job. Even though I do not like the structure of the exams I am pretty comfortable when I think about the next exam, because professor will drop the lowest grade anyway. Since most people in the class, with the curve and the extra credit, fails in to A category we should be happy.
ReplyDeleteIts funny that you say that you felt the same way when the professor said that, although thats not exactly something I should be proud of. I am also insanley thankful the professor offered such an insane curve!
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