Here comes the spring term vent: You know I hate it when students point out little mistakes I've made, not because they're confused, but simply because they want to point out that I've made a mistake. I have a student who apparently has adopted this as his new hobby. I'm conscientious about my work. All of the assignments for my course are posted online and have been since the week before the term started. The instructions for assignments are incredibly clear because each term, I make careful notes about things that have confused students and then immediately change the assignment instructions so that students who take the class in the future won't be confused. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's organizing my classes (my desk is a whole other story--I currently have eleven beverage containers in various stages of emptiness on my desk--ew).
Anyway, Mr. Nitpicky loves to send me e-mail messages to ask if tiny mistakes I've made are mistakes, when it's completely obvious that they're mistakes. Like when the instructions for an assignment appear twice on the handout posted online (because I used to print the instructions for this assignment on half sheets and hand them out in class). Does that mean that he should do the assignment twice?
Yeah, I know, this is the whole "is the test over chapters 13 and 14 or 14 and 15" all over again, but seriously, these students have no idea how many hours I put into the friggin' minutiae of teaching, and it's multiplied by about a billion when you're trying to deal with three-hour class periods every day of the week.
Oh . . . all right. I can't stay annoyed for long. I just received a card from a graduating senior who thanked me for helping him to "achieve (his) goals and dreams." *sniff* I have a pretty good job after all.
2 comments:
Isn't it funny that the frustration of [insert your own number here] annoying students during the year is completely wiped away by the one that 'gets it' or lets you know he/she appreciates what you've done? That always catches me off guard--and then I'm recharged and forget about all the other crap.
Way to help your students achieve their goals and dreams! Hope that helps you shrug off the students' lack of appreciation for your mad course design skills. :)
And eleven beverage containers in various stages of emptiness? 11? Wow, I'm impressed. I think I'm only at 2 or 3.
I would have told him that, yes, he has to do the assignment twice. Maybe that would shut him up.
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