I'm not having a very good semester at setting quiz dates in one of my classes.
Almost all my classes have the same hybrid structure: We meet on Mondays and Wednesdays. Students also have online assignments that are due anytime that week before the time our class normally would have met on that Friday. I encourage them to get stuff done by Wednesday night, but there are always some who wait until the last minute and find themselves scrambling.
In 11 years of teaching, it is the first time I've had a Tuesday night class (at least at the undergraduate level). I've been having their quizzes due before our class meets on Tuesdays, except on nights when we have exams. Since the way I have the quizzes set up, the deadline has to have passed for a given quiz, for them to go back in and see how they scored. To review the correct answers and assess why they may have gotten a question wrong, that deadline has to have passed.
So, I've been making the quizzes on those weeks due the Friday prior to the Tuesday night exam. Let's just say that today a student gently called it to my attention that, once again, I had set the quiz due date for a different date than the pattern we have been working off of all semester. I'm pretty sure this may be the third time this has happened, much to my dismay.
The whole experience got me thinking about apologies.
I'm a firm believer that when we mess up, we need to apologize. I've been taught that an apology typically has three components to it:
- The actual words: “I apologize,” or “I'm sorry.”
- The naming of what has occurred: “I didn't set the quiz date on the day we had agreed upon.” (A classic non-apology is a statement such as: “I'm sorry you feel that way.”)
- A commitment to what will happen differently in the future to avoid a reoccurrence, or some statement about how you plan on rectifying the situation: “I have set this week's quiz back a week, because of the confusion, and emailed all the remaining quiz dates for the semester, so we can be sure we're on the same page.”
I followed the pattern stated above with my students regarding their quizzes and got a kind message back from one of my students that put it all into perspective for me. I get it “right” most of the time with them and strive for excellence in all aspects of my teaching (including the online assignments and communication piece). I've earned the right to make some mistakes along the way, without coming across as not respecting their investment in the course, or making them think that it is ok to not do what we say we're going to do.
I do think there are times when apologies aren't a good idea, however.
The most common situation that I can think of where apologies can be a distraction is when technology in the classroom isn't going as planned. In those times, I do everything I can to avoid saying anything to the students about what's going wrong. Is there a way I can proceed with class without the technology?
I try to always have backup plans for those times when the technology will inevitably fail. Apologizing to students just magnifies the problem and can sometimes give them the impression that they didn't get the value out of the class session that they were expecting.
[reminder]Do you find there are times when apologies should be avoided in your teaching? Is there anything else you would advise we do for those times when an apology is warranted?[/reminder]
Where I give this a lot of thought is when I’m late in returning graded work to students. I have my own standard for how long it should take to turn papers around, and when I can’t live up to it, I want to apologize to students. But my expectations for myself may not match up to their expectations for me. What I see as a failing might seem fine to students. In some cases like this, I think an apology may be a distraction. This is especially true if the paper-returning ritual is a teaching event in its own right; the focus ought to be on helping students to process comments so they can continue to improve, not on whether I have met my own standards.
This reminds me a bit of the apologizing for technology. Sometimes our apologies for returning stuff back “late” calls more attention to it than if we focus our efforts on getting the quality feedback to them as soon as we can.
I would be curious to know what your expectation is of yourself. For papers, I tend to set a firm goal for myself of one week. However, I’m starting to teach two and three sections of the same class in each semester. My Spring break was comprised entirely of grading 62, 15-page papers, about 10 hours a day. There was no break in the break…
I’m contemplating staggering due dates in the Fall, though at our small school, it tends to invite confusion.
This is a GREAT topic! I think it’s a great idea to be vulnerable and genuine in offering an apology when it is necessary. I agree with you last paragraph, however – apologizing for things like technology (that isn’t a prof’s fault) can sometimes lead to sticky situations. I apologized once for class being cancelled due to a snow day – and a couple of students later blamed the snow day for their inability to turn work in on time. Of course, that’s a great time to gently mentor students toward being proactive and responsible for their obligations in class – but I created unnecessary noise by apologizing for something that really wasn’t my fault.
Love your blog AND your podcast!!!
Thank you for the kind words, Scott. I just discovered your blog and have enjoyed reading it. I will be touching base with you soon, to see if you might be interested in doing an episode with me on Evernote (or we could brainstorm something else, if there’s a different topic you think would be an even better fit for the Teaching in Higher Ed audience).
That example of snow days is great.
The logic of some students is curious, sometimes. I would think a snow day would facilitate even greater focus on school work. Of course, this may be an example of a person who has never lived where it snows, assuming I know what it’s like…