tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post1278983487255059441..comments2024-03-15T01:11:32.832-07:00Comments on Bardiac: Anxious and AbsentBardiachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-17777144212597251722019-12-25T09:30:44.376-08:002019-12-25T09:30:44.376-08:00I like the health center idea for making up work. ...I like the health center idea for making up work. But if someone has a cold, they may feel horrid, and we don't want them to come share the germs with us, but it's not really a health center sort of thing, either...Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-27714575315344568702019-12-16T09:12:32.644-08:002019-12-16T09:12:32.644-08:00I require that mine go to the health center if the...I require that mine go to the health center if they want to make up graded work - same as for if they'd tripped or had any other physical injury. At the end of the day I don't want to be in the business of judging whose medical excuse is good enough- I am not qualified! - so I turf it off to actual medical professionals, who are very willing to send a medical excuse. I encourage Very Anxious Students to get medical help by saying that if they are too anxious to function that is a real problem that they can't reason themselves out of and maybe it would help to talk to the counseling staff. Ultimately I treat it as a real illness, which is something I personally cannot solve for them. <br /><br />I think my number one non-content time drain is counseling anxious students on how not to panic during tests (after I've encouraged them to see a counselor!). Semi-fortunately a lawsuit has just dramatically increased the number of counseling staff.Jenny F. Scientisthttp://naturalscientist.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-4116372510031084092019-12-15T08:42:10.796-08:002019-12-15T08:42:10.796-08:00I understand why you have to record attendance, bu...I understand why you have to record attendance, but you don't have to require it for grades. <br />If you still want to incentivize it for students capable of planning their hangovers (i.e. people who can get their rears in gears if properly motivated), you can make it explicit that you will bump students a grade fraction (e.g. B to B+) if they have good attendance, come to office hours and/or communicate with you. <br /><br />At the end of the day, you'll never be 100% accurate which message is needed to which student. The consequences of getting it wrong are significant, but probably worse if you pick "rear in gear" when you need "I understand mourning a loved one is difficult let me know what I can do to support you in this class". <br /><br />Also, anxiety and depression problems *are* illnesses. If your colleagues would be sympathetic to a broken leg, but not the former, that is because they are poorly informed on what mental illness *is*. Or possibly they themselves mentally ill and don't want to seek treatment, and they minimize them as a coping mechanism. Beccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15356974556397009124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-18923039812019144582019-12-14T11:04:40.658-08:002019-12-14T11:04:40.658-08:00We're required to record attendance and to rep...We're required to record attendance and to report certain absences, mostly for financial aid stuffs.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-38451410662493034622019-12-14T04:43:42.354-08:002019-12-14T04:43:42.354-08:00I don’t remember attendance taking much in college...I don’t remember attendance taking much in college back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Is this a thing now? In small seminar classes absences would be noticed, I suppose, but I don’t remember much in the way of formal policy. Donnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13685183408513077018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-44294704839585287982019-12-13T20:56:28.441-08:002019-12-13T20:56:28.441-08:00I like nicoleandmaggie's suggestions. It sound...I like nicoleandmaggie's suggestions. It sounds as though they need to fund more counselors and need to hear about it.undinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-60654576246202314862019-12-12T08:03:08.936-08:002019-12-12T08:03:08.936-08:00I've had this a lot with one of my classes thi...I've had this a lot with one of my classes this semester as well. I hadn't had a student crying in my office for years and this year I've been through an entire kleenex box (only mild hyperbole). <br /><br />Our school has a whole system for mental health, and I only allow absences to be excused if they put themselves in the system to get help (and to make things official). Usually they come to me before they're in the system, but this year I've had an unusually high number who are already in the system.<br /><br />It won't do anything in the short term, but you can call up the mental health office and ask them who you can complain to to see that they get more resources so that they can get appointments to students quicker. It sounds like they're understaffed and admin might be more likely to address it in the long term if they hear complaints from other constituents. Or possibly it's something your chair could bring up to the powers that be.nicoleandmaggiehttp://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com