Thanks to Two Writing Teachers, I am once again participating in
the March SOL Challenge to write about
small moments for 31 days.
These days, I work with graduate students who are insanely busy teaching, mostly in their first, grueling year, while pursuing a Masters Degree. We have in person and Zoom classes as determined by the University.
I know they are tired when drag themselves into class or log in after a long day. I know some/most hope I will not notice they did not read or prepare adequately for class. I know some/most are hoping I will let them skate through the projects and will accept their excuses.
Oh My Goodness, their excuses are both creative and amazing (so beyond the dog ate my homework kind of excuses)!!!!
"My watch died and I lost track of time."
"It is unfair to expect me to work when I was on vacation."
"I moved and my internet does not synch."
"My computer died."
"My dog was barking so I closed my video."
"I didn't think it was really due, yet."
"I just ran out of time."
"I was hot/tired/cold/celebrating."
"I couldn't find any examples online, except the ones you posted."
I wonder if they accept these excuses from their students or if they learned them from their students?
5 comments:
I've lived this before -- on both sides. I worked full-time while obtaining my second master's (which was in-person, so there were always fun commuting issues). Then, I taught graduate school courses and felt for the teachers raising families, teaching, and working on their master's. It's A LOT!
I think I would have a harder time with grad student excuses than high school kids. Although, they are probably so overwhelmed with the reality of teaching they can't even be creative with excuses.
I just love a creative excuse. I sometimes had students write excuses just to see who could come up with the most outlandish. Also had some real excuses from parents that made my eyes roll.
While we have sympathy for busy teachers-to-be, and can relate, it is fun to read your list of their excuses. And I LOVE what you said in your response above about having students write excuses for fun- I think I might try that idea for a post this month!
Interesting that these are from grad students. The one that seems the most honest is "I just ran out of time." I think we can all relate to that one!
Post a Comment