This year, among many resolutions made in the haste of New
Year’s Eve, I resolved to cook more and order in less. However, in the wake of a cold and rainy
three day weekend at home with three children (who seem much smaller and less
destructive outside the house), I caved. Yet, despite my lack of resolve, I found it an educational experience
nonetheless. Why? Because my fortune cookie held the Secret
Essence of Academic Support (in its slightly stale and crumpled state). It said this: “correction is one thing,
encouragement everything.” (It also informed me that my lucky numbers were: 5,
12, 17, 33, 36 and 45 and how to say the word “egg” in Mandarin).
In the last two days I have seen over twenty
panic-stricken first year students. I
have received some e-mails from professors confessing the large number of
unsatisfactory grades they distributed this semester. Some professors are just not stopping to chat
as usual. I knew it was coming, but,
like the cold of winter, (which is finally here) I am always surprised when it
arrives each year.
The first question
the students ask me is always, “what did I do wrong?” Sadly, that’s probably the one question I
cannot answer without more information. I could guess-and it would be a fairly educated guess-but the answer
really lies in the conversation that students need to have with the professor
that gave them the grade. Why speculate
when the actual truth can be easily uncovered? Students, however, are extremely reluctant to do this and while I
understand why, it needs to be done.
Often I can convince a student to make an appointment with a faculty member
with a small and simple truth: let’s
find out what the problem was, make a plan and fix it. If the problem was the multiple choice
questions, then we’ll practice those; if it is was issue spotting, then we’ll
practice that and so on. And I think the
part of that simple truth that is most effective in relieving students of the
despondency that comes with unsatisfactory grades is the plan making.
Facing the music (that is, looking at the
exam itself) is only the first step, because it involves correction, and it is (as
the wise and crunchy cookie tells us) only one thing. What we can do in Academic Support for our students
is provide encouragement, and that, says the cookie, is everything. (ezs)
