All of the people....

When I checked my email this morning, I had a message from an irate student. Great way to start the day, isn't it?

The worst part of it all is that she was right. She felt like I'd taken over the discussion. It was true, I had. She felt that my actions made all the work she and her partner put into the assignment useless. Hmm...I'm not sure how I feel about that one, because, while I respect this student, her partner is bordering on dum-dum status. I assured her that I understood the situation and the work she put into the project. Here's the deal. They were supposed to discuss a prominent educational theorist and they were just using his work as a way to talk about their own work loads. They were not even close to discussing the author's main point about difference and academic language.

Here's where it gets tricky. Last week I asked them to write out the following:
I like it when Ms. Someday does......
I do not like it when Ms. Someday does.....
I wish we could.....

In direct response to that formula, I've made some changes. I've created a pre-reading study sheet for the next difficult work. I've put up some tentative grades on our course website. I've started writing the upcoming assignments on the board at the beginning of class. AND, I've participated more in the class discussions. I explained that my increased participation had nothing to do with preparedness, but was in response to student concerns (they didn't want the discussion to get off track).

I cannot please anyone ever.