No summer school for me!

I must admit, I am very glad I have the summer off from teaching. I was really hoping for a summer teaching gig, either online or if I could swing an on-ground local position, I would have taken it. As an adjunct, you only get paid while you are actually working. Crazy concept huh? I suppose it sounds strange I even mention it, but a huge perk of being a full-time employee of a public school system is that you get paid year-round even though you only work 10 months.

At any rate, I felt I was needing a serious break. Yes, even from online teaching. The flexibility is great, and I wasn't just aching for the last day of school to get here as I did when working full-time. But the online format presents new challenges. I have found that when students primarily communicate with you via email, they feel brave enough to tell you how they really feel. For example, I offered students an opportunity to redo an assignment, they just needed to request I reset it for them to make that possible. The assignment was due by Tuesday at midnight. I went to bed around 11, which was the time I last checked email. The next morning, I have an email from a student, sent at approximately 11:30, asking me to reset it for him to compelete again. Being that he missed the deadline of midnight, I responded saying that I did not intend to allow it, since the deadline had passed. He emailed back stating he was "disappointed" in me with that response. He claimed he didn't know that the redo also had to be done before the deadline. I guess for a college level course, I didn't feel I needed to spell that out, but perhaps I was wrong on that. He certainly let me know how he felt.

At the time, I was pretty upset about it. Negative emails from students to me means that I have failed them in some way, whether I'm justified or not. But I was just visiting with a fellow adjunct this morning, a friend of mine who is teaching this summer. She told me that one of her students was disgruntled about a decision she had made and therefore went over her head to her supervisor to formally complain. This supervisor took the time to register the complaint, and then overruled the instructor with what he thought was fair for the student. The instructor was not consulted, nor was there any teamwork in this decision. The student complained and the supervisor bent. I am a firm believer in following the proper chain of command. If a student has a problem with an instructor, that should be the first person to contact. If no resolution is made, then let's bring in the supervisor. But not vice versa!

So, I think back to my student from this past spring and it gives me new perspective. I am actually very glad that he chose to express his disappointment with me, to me, not to my supervisor. As far as I know, as an online adjunct instructor, I have not had a student go to my supervisor without first speaking with me. Actually, I don't even think I've had a student go to a supervisor, period. If so, nobody has alerted me about it!

So, being just after the 4th of July, I am beginning the descent of summer... getting ready for fall. I've been doing a lot of planning and making changes in my courses to hopefully improve them. I am getting excited to have students again!!! You have to take the bad communications from students with the good... and there certainly have been a lot of good. So I will take the bad.