Student A (not student A from last week): Student was missing from the first 2 weeks of class, which if you're teaching a lab, only meets once a week, so that's a significant proportion of class time as it is. So, after taking role and marking him absent I assumed he dropped and crossed his name off my paper roster (TAs are almost NEVER EVER given updated rosters. EVER.) About half way through my mini lecture of course, guess who comes strolling in? Right, so I tell him he needs to see me after class and carry on, can't spend precious class time on someone who doesn't think class time is precious right? So after class he comes up and asks what I need. REALLY?! You can't possibly imagine why I would want to talk to you?! So I ask him why he's missed class so much. Are you ready? Turns out he was TAing another class during this same timeslot so he needed to get that fixed before abandoning his class to come to mine. I ask if he had spoken to our Lab Coordinator (LC). Of course, he said no, he didn't think he had to. I had to stare for a moment, thinking you teach and you still thought you didn't need to let anybody know why you were missing class. I told him he was unexcused until he talked with the LC. He said nah, he'd pick it up. Yeah okay whatever buddy, do as you wish, you're now above my pay scale to argue with.
Student B: Student B had pre-emailed me (good girl) that her mom had a medical emergency and she needed to miss that week's classes. I gave her the go ahead (I'm a momma's girl myself). After THREE weeks of no communication she comes in to take the final lab practical. She's obviously allowed to take the test and I ask her to see me after, wondering how she was even going to complete the exam with half of the lessons completely missing. After class she has the last 3 weeks homework assignments (given to her by friends) and a note from her mom that read, "XXX was home with me. I fully expect her to be responsible for her missing work." So, after the 8th grade, that kind of note means NOTHING, but she was a good student so I tried to humor the situation. I asked her what was going on and that I needed something more substantial. I told her I believed there was something real to her absence but I couldn't be favoring her by going on her word. She told me her mom was sick and it wasn't her place to talk about it. They didn't go to the doctor so she only had her mom. At this point I assume her family was under a delicate situation and likely there was some mental illness at check here. Still, it broke all my University Sanctioned rules to run with it. I took the first homework, from when I had given her the go ahead to miss. I told her very seriously to just talk to the LC. If I get the go ahead from her then I would love to grade the other homeworks. The student backed off and said she didn't want to start a fuss. I told her I didn't have the power to say okay but the LC did, and that I believed what she told me. She said she'd think about it. She didn't. This was painful because I still believe something was wrong but at my level I'm not allowed to make decisions like that without any sanctioned excuse. She still passed, but two zeros did some damage.
I've got more to come for next week, and I've only been teaching 3 years. If you've got any good stories or insights SHARE!!!
"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." Samuel Johnson
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