17 Every Grade is Negotiable

During my brief sojourn into a Cal State low residency MFA program I had a teacher who drove me nuts because he was a Marxist who did didn't give the economic power of the classroom to his students.  He never gave grades during the 3 week session, never gave us updates on our status.  Just pushed and pushed and made us sweat.  I even got angry with him, yelled, and cried, all during one three hour class period.

I really, really dislike teachers who aren't clear about classroom economies.  Especially if they call themselves left wing.  I have always believed that an important aspect of the classroom is making its economic decision making transparent.  Students should know exactly what behaviors they need to perform to get an A in a class.  Students should also know that professors are human and capable of making mistakes.

I've had more than one student say to me, "That's the first time I've ever heard a professor apologize" and "that's the first time I've ever heard a professor admit to a mistake."  Now, it could be that I'm the only professor who does make mistakes, but somehow I think not. 

Because I'm human and because perception is variable and because I like to empower students to take responsibility for their own part in classroom economies, I have for over most of my years at COCC had the policy in my syllabus that every grade is negotiable.  Students need to negotiate based on the criteria, however, not on their hard lives or on how hard they work.  I do a little spiel on the first day about how hard work may be correlated with success but it's not a direct cause, not by itself. 

At one time I even printed up some cards for students about Classroom Communication.   (This was before I had so many policies in my syllabus.)  One side instructed them about how to ask for a grade change.  I found the old template as I've been cleaning out files.  I printed these up on some of those Avery business card sheets.  Here's what was on the cards, printed in tiny font

Side 1

How to Ask for a Grade Change

1. Have a clear communication goal based on the written and oral criteria of assessment established in class.
2. Make an appointment with the prof. 
3. When meeting, use friendly nonverbals;  smile, nod your head, sit down, have a calm voice, make eye contact.
4. State your request in a form that shows:  
1. your understanding of how your work meets the criteria
2. your feelings at this time (disappointment?)
3. a mutually satisfactory outcome (the new grade)

Don't whine.  Don't threaten.  Be friendly and firm!

Side 2

Do's and Don'ts
Don't say, "I was gone, did I miss anything?"
Do say, "Sorry I was gone.  I got the notes from my classmate.  When may I pick up the handouts?"
Don't say, "I think that idea is really dumb."
Do say, "That's an interesting idea.  I look at it differently, though."
Don't whisper, pass notes, or send the message that you don't care about the class.
Do sit in front, smile at the prof., make eye contact, and ask questions when you're unclear on the material.

LY#22: Marxist Guilt, 1988

In a final addition to the September Bendnotes (dated September 27) I sign off with this paragraph:

"EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA

Stay tuned next time when you'll hear about Kake and the politics of the PhD.  How she found herself to be one of the elite who bought her position through an ideological construct over the long time experience of more polished teachers who do not have terminal degrees.  Watch Kake battle her Marxist guilt!!!  Thrill as she fights the demons of leftist conscience."

When I got my name sign on my office door in Deschutes, the blue rectangle wasn't wide enough to cover the screw-holes on either side of it.  These holes marked the the name of my predecessor, a teacher with a longer name.  Someone let me know that this teacher had created two of the classes I was teaching and had applied for the position but that I had been hired instead because I had the PhD. 

I wasn't yet "the Man" in those days, so this discovery bothered me.  In fact, it pretty much bothered me until about nine years ago when this same teacher came back to teach for COCC again and wound up walking away from the school in the middle of a quarter, leaving myself and Dr. Jon Bouknight to step into the three un-personed classes.  The information I got from the students when I conducted a "talking stick" debriefing settled what was left of my itchy conscience.

I remember telling my fresh new colleague Sean Rule that the experience had changed my mind about teaching speech.

"I used to think any idiot could teach public speaking," I told him, hollering across the lawn near the Metolius Building.

And he, dear young fellow, hollered back, "No, it takes a special kind of idiot!"