Category: Building Relationships

Building Relationships, Quizzes and Exams

Maryellen Weimer October 26, 2017

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Building Relationships, Teaching Strategies and Techniques

Six High-Touch Processes for Improving Student Learning in Online Classes

Chris Roddenberry and Tom Rankin September 29, 2017

In the fall of 2016, we embarked on a journey to integrate high-touch processes into our online introductory courses in psychology and business administration. Examples of our processes include such well-known technology best practices as ...

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Building Relationships, First Day of Class

Advice for Students at the Start of the Academic Year

Maryellen Weimer July 17, 2017

If it's a teacher's advice on how to succeed, consider not giving it. Instead, challenge students to discover what it will take for them to do well.

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Building Relationships

Should You Learn Their Names?

Maryellen Weimer May 18, 2017

Most teachers think they should. Almost all make an effort and feel guilty when they fail. In the literature, learning students' names is widely advocated as a good teaching practice with claims made that it ...

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Building Relationships

Office Hours: In Need of Better Branding?

Maryellen Weimer May 18, 2017

Getting students to take advantage of office hours remains a challenge. Most of the time only a small percentage of students show up and often not those most in need of help. When students don't ...

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Building Relationships, Self-regulated Learning

Creating a Climate for Learning: A Survey for Students and Teachers

Maryellen Weimer April 3, 2017

How well a class functions is the result of both what the teacher does and what the students do. The way we solicit course evaluation feedback reinforces students’ tendency to see the teacher as the ...

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Building Relationships, Motivating Students

Activities for Developing a Positive Classroom Climate

Melissa Parks, PhD March 21, 2017

Positive classroom climate can encourage students to participate, think deeply about content, and engage peers in intellectual debate. Creating a classroom climate conducive to that type of expression can be difficult. Classrooms are filled with ...

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Building Relationships

A Different Take on “Did I Miss Anything Important?”

Philip T. Giles March 17, 2017

When students ask us, as they occasionally do, “I wasn't in class yesterday. Did I miss anything important?” most of us feel at least a bit of disrespect and some aggravation. If we take the ...

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Building Relationships

Everybody Present: Mindfulness in the Classroom

Kristen Rousch January 4, 2017

Did you know that the average attention span in the year 2000 was 12 seconds? And 12 years later, in the year 2012, the average attention span had gone down to eight seconds. So by ...

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Building Relationships, Evaluation and Feedback

Student Perspectives on Teaching Are Necessary

Linda Wanless December 1, 2016

In higher education, we often think about how we can improve our teaching and learning. If you are like me, you wrestle with this question after a well-prepared lecture does not go as expected, or ...

0 Comments 2570 Views

“This is not a C paper!” “This answer deserves more points.” “Half of my work on this problem is correct, but I got less than half credit.” Grades are terribly important to most students, so when they object to a grade, they often do so with passion. For most professors, discussing contested grades is not a favorite conversation. Often, it doesn't end well. The grade can't be changed, and the student can't be persuaded. However, teachable moments are still possible in these conversations. Here are some dos and don'ts for making the most of these exchanges.

Don't discuss an individual student grade in front of other students. Grades are personally private information, and so are the discussions about them. Besides, student emotions run high just after receiving a grade, especially one they didn't expect. They'll get more out of the conversation once there's some space between getting the grade and having the discussion about it.
Do have the conversation with the student in your office or some other place, where the two of you can talk comfortably. There are reasons to anticipate the conversation. It's an opportunity to get to know the student better. You get to talk more about the content, possibly helping the student understand something important. You can show the student that disagreements can be discussed constructively.
Do prepare for the conversation. Ask for or make a copy so you can reread the answer before talking with the student. Or, before the conversation begins, ask for silence while you look at the student's work.
Do listen. In fact, start the conversation by listening to the student. Let the student make the case for why the paper, answer, or problems merits more points or a higher grade.
Do ask questions, lots of them. “Where in this answer do you discuss what the text says about this?” “Where is your thesis statement?” “How did you get from this step in solving the problem to this step?” “Can you show me something in your notes that says this?”
Don't go into the conversation assuming you won't change the grade. Chances are you won't, but don't let that be a foregone conclusion. Perhaps the grade is too low. Teachers grade a lot. They grade when they're tired. They've been known to grade when they're distracted. They do, on occasion, make mistakes.
Don't tell the student that he or she is wrong. Focus on the answer. What's not right about the answer? What's confusing or unclear? What's not there that should be?
Don't try to persuade the student that the grade is correct. It may well be, but the student isn't likely to be persuaded and your attempts at persuasion will be met with arguments (the same ones or new ones). Then you have to respond, and, as these exchanges continue, more emotion enters the conversation. State your decision, explain your reasons, smile, and change the subject.
Do spend time talking about the next paper, essay question, or problem. What does the student need to better answer next time? Be specific and concrete. Be encouraging. “Keep coming to class, do the homework, and stop by office hours if you need help or if you'd like some feedback. When you study, ask yourself potential questions and then practice answering them. You can do better.” Students will have learned something if they leave the conversation with a better understanding of what makes an answer good or a solution worth full credit. And they will have learned even more if they have some ideas about preparing those answers.

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Category: Building Relationships