I heard back from the instructor of the class that I TA, and he reminded me why the student got that particular grade, and told me to stick to my guns (especially because, if word got out that we were renegotiating grades...). He also suggested how to word such a response, which helped me to clear my head and get my confidence back.
(Yes, Student, I did acknowledge that you had perfect attendance and were willing to speak within your group, and those were reflected in your grade. However, attendance played only one small role [this is important, considering that his complaint was that someone with imperfect attendance got a higher grade than him], and I was looking for you to take more initiative in your group. Here are some specific requirements that you were aware of and ignored. Here are some occasions where you could have taken leadership within your group, or in the larger group, and did not. Your grade is actually a good one, and a few percentage points on participation will actually have no impact: stop worrying about this and start worrying about the upcoming midterm. And stop worrying about other people's grades, and I won't discuss them with you.) (Or something like that.)
It's still hard for me to be the "bad guy." I like people to like me, but now I'm trying to work on getting them to respect my authority.
3 comments:
I have that problem too-- and I find myself caving on points a bit more often than I like. Usually, I do it because I know the student's been making an effort and in the end it won't have nearly the impact on their grade they were looking for. Other times, I feel like I'm just saying that to justify it to myself.
But it also depends on the prof I'm working for as to how tough I decide I'm going to be with the grading. Some profs are just tougher, which I like, and others are more along the "Let them hang themselves" theory, which irritates me, though I can understand it.
I just hope when I'm leading my own classes that I can be the tough one and just stop caring if they "like" me. I at least know they shouldn't "like" me... but really coming to grips with that is hard.
Yay Maryanne! Don't let disguntled students like me push you around!
Hey! This is now a Teaching Carnival entry! Thanks, New Kid!
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