It's Official! We're in the thick of it...

It's Official! We're in the thick of it...

Often referred to as "the most wonderful time of the year," the holidays can be both rewarding and exhausting. I guess that quote is true or false depending who's being asked. For kids who get loads of holiday gifts, its most definitely the most wonderful time, for the parents that have to foot the bill for said holiday gifts, maybe not so much.

For academics, this is likely one of the busiest times of the year, mostly filled with endless emails related to the various ways in which a failing grade can be turned into a passing one, in the next 10 days no less. If given the opportunity some students actually pull this off, although still pretty rare. The other part of the day is likely engulfed by office hours, creating finals, giving finals, grading finals, reading papers, grading papers and falling asleep with stacks of papers in your bed. Lets just say that being "in the thick of it" can create some less than flattering behavior if we're not careful. ;-)

This brings me to my list of not so great advice that was given to me at different times in my career during this very hectic time of year. Disclaimer: I never took any of this advice.

• During my second year of teaching, I remember venting to a nearby colleague about having very little time to finish grading the essay portions of my exams and she simply turned to me and said, "just give the grade they usually get..." Of course I did not follow this advice, but in her defense I think her rationale behind it was that most students score the same throughout the semester on most of their assignments. I'm guessing?

• Another semester I was pretty much venting about the same workload I experienced each year around this time, and was once again urged to take some less than savory advice about curving my exam for the sole purpose of "not looking bad" as an instructor. After this, I think I learned my lesson about venting to everyone. 

• "Just copy and paste the same feedback to the whole class." I got this lovely nugget of advice from an online teaching trainer. While I do like the idea of having a feedback shell that addresses each item I will grade, I don't think students would appreciate their very detailed feedback that praised their final paper only to find out their best friend, also in the course,  received an identical message. 

• And lastly, the same colleague that urged me to use identical feedback also suggested that I don't use any info for the final from the text since, "students don't read it anyway."

While its true, we are smack in the middle of the final countdown, its good to stay mindful about the advice we both give and receive. Can you remember receiving some left field advice that was handed to you with the utmost seriousness? Or have you ever given some advice that might have been questionable during crunch time?

Jameelah Ra'oof MIS, MS 

Coordinator of Teaching, Learning & Academic Excellence

Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE)

Texas Woman's University