PLEASE tell me what you think about this situation....
....cuz it's bugging the SHIT out of me....
Okay. I decided back in April or so that I was going to continue with my original plan of taking one course towards my masters every summer. My reasoning? I can't keep with excellerated 8-week online courses while I'm working, and if I don't have a certain number of credits within a certain number of years teaching, my salary will be frozen. So, taking into consideration those two facts, I figured that if I take 3 credits every summer until I get my masters, I will not have to stress out about going to school while I'm working, I will only have to pay tuition for one class a year (which, BY THE WAY, is $1200!!!!!), and I will be able to avoid ever having my salary frozen. Now, it will take me like 8 years to get my masters but I don't give a damn.
Anyway, even though my baby is due August 18th, I decided I was going to stick to my plan because I FIGURED that my professor would be willing to work with me. How could he/she not? I'm PREGNANT. It's not like there's anything I can DO about going into labor.
I started my class July 2nd and emailed my professor:
"Hello. My name is Jayme L******** and I just wanted to speak directly to you regarding a concern that I have. I'm currently 33 weeks pregnant and have already completed my reading and journals for the first two weeks of class. I'm planning on working very hard to finish this class as early as I can as I really need to get my credits for the class (I can only afford to take one class a year and during the summer is the easiest time since I don't have any other distractions in my life). The reason I wish to complete this class as soon as possible (hopefully by the first week of august or so) is because my baby, according to my doctor, is on the "big side" right now and they may want to deliver him early. I am going in July 25th for my last ultrasound to verify all of this. The other thing that has been on my mind is if I just randomly go into labor early, which is something I don't have any control over (obviously). I don't know what I expect your response to be, but I just wanted to let you know of my situation so that if I suddenly disappear off the face of the earth, you will have a good idea of why because otherwise I am finishing this class (due to my financial constraint of only being able to pay for one class a year, I HAVE to take my one class a year or my district will freeze my salary for not having enough credits towards my masters within the prescribed amount of time)."
Professor's response:
"Participation in the class needs to happen on a weekly basis so you are part of the discussion with me and your classmates. I don't open the discussions ahead of the week for which they apply. The journals require a response related to the weekly discussion as well. There are also 2 CLC [Collaborative Learning Community]assignments that require participation with the group during the week. While you can certainly work on the individual assignments ahead of time, the other components require availability throughout the 8 weeks."
Okay, so CLEARLY not someone willing to work with me, would you agree?
I sat around my house for several days absolutely stewing over this situation. How could someone not be willing to work with you when you clearly have a medical situation??? How could a school, which is essentially a BUSINESS, support that kind of decision? In the midst of stewing over this, though, I had to start my group project, which is one of the CLC's she mentioned in her email.
Now, going to school online is different than going to an actual classroom (duh). You have a section of your online classroom where you click the link and it gives you the overview or list of shit that you have to do for each week of the class. Under the first week, one of the assignments is that you have to start working with your group on the group project, which has various parameters that you have to come to a consensus on with your group. Now, because I have worked in CLCs before, my experience has been that everyone spends the majority of their time just trying to get coordinate what's going to be done and at the very last minute is when you've figured out what you're doing. Everyone slaps something together, someone in the group makes it all one paper and submits it for grading. At no point is there any time to sit and discuss what was slapped together and submitted to make sure that it's good. As a result, I received grades that were NOT what I was looking to receive.
When I saw that the CLC assignment was assigned the first week, I immediately posted on teh message board to my group that we needed to get started. A week later, though, not only had nobody responded but my group was changed and my initial post deleted. I was already mad about my inflexible asshole of a professor, now I was livid. Does it not stand to reason that if something is posted under the first week that it is then ASSIGNED at that point??? Wouldn't it THEN stand to reason that if something happened that necessitated the changing of groups that we would be entitled to an extra week since we were originally given two? It just doesn't seem right to me.
Anyway, I posted a new post to my new group and checked the message board a thousand times a day (hello, I'm not working and not smoking and doing nothing but this class...I got time on my hands, people!) and the responses were so slow that I started to get aggravated and frustrated with my group. Instead of waiting and waiting and waiting, I did the outline and was like, "here's the outline, what part of the paper are you writing?" which was my way of saying we were writing a paper because you fuckers are taking too long to get back to me. Then, I filled out this group-working-together contract and was like "here's this bit of work all done too just add what you want to add and if you want to change anything let me know". Was I rude? I wouldn't say so, but I was pushy and maybe should have chosen my words better because, unlike real life, you can't HEAR someone's tone of voice and yeah, what I put could have been construed incorrectly, but that wasn't my intention, I just wanted to get my shit done.
Realizing this, I made a post to the group and told them that I had taken the leadership role a bit by accident because I was frustrated with my current situation (which I vaguely outlined about being pregnant and class not being over and not being able to work ahead) and that I was sorry if I came across as rude, that I just wanted to get started and get done. Everyone responded, everything seemed like we were all on teh same page, and low and behold I get an email from my professor telling me that I need to modify my tone and that if the stress of the class is too much that I should drop it.
I wanted to reach into cyberspace and punch teh shit out of someone. You've got to be fucking kidding me.
At first, I was going to just let it go and say nothing, but you all KNOW me and that's something I'm incapable of doing, so I sent her an email:
"In regards to the CLC assignment, I apologized to the group if I came across in a negative way because that was not my intention and now I apologize to you. I've never taken a leadership role before, this is the first time ever, and clearly I made some mistakes and should have chosen my words differently. Additionally, my goal was not to get the CLC assignment done early, but simply on time, which is what my goal would have been regardless of my pregnancy. I was under the impression that this assignment was assigned the first week of class since it is listed under module 1, thus giving our group two weeks to complete it. I posted underneath my team at the beginning of module 1 with the idea that we had a week to discuss what we were going to do and get our ideas organized, and then we would have another week to actually do the work and share it with the group. I have also worked in CLC's before and find that just meeting and discussing what is going to be done tends to be difficult because we all have lives outside of the class we are taking AND we are in different time zones. As a result, much of the assignment gets left to be completed at the last minute, leaving no time to even discuss the final product, and this was something I just wanted to avoid because I am not a procrastinator and take my grade very seriously. After the first week of class was over, I noticed that my group had been reassigned and my initial posting was gone, and all I could think about was the fact that we now only had a week to coordinate with each other and get the work completed. I was merely concerned about the work getting done on time. Clearly, I let poor experiences in the past affect judgement as to how this CLC was going to go, and actually the majority of the group was really good about checking the CLC message board every day and coordinating what was going to be done.
In regards to staying in the class, I decided that I have spent too much money and done too much work so far to just quit and have to start all over, so I'm going to go for it and let the chips fall where they may, and if I end up in the hospital for some reason and my grade suffers, I will just have to cross that bridge when I come to it. If I am in the hospital on the day that something is due and can provide documentation that that is indeed what ocurred, would you be willing to accept my work without late penalties? I understand that there's nothing I can do about my participation grade on the message board, but if something does happen, I would like to minimalize the effect it will have on my grade. (If I don't get at least a B, I will have to take the class over anyway, which is something I absolutely want to avoid.) I am going ahead and doing all my reading, individual assignments, and journals in advance. All I will then have to do is focus on the last group assignment, weekly discussion boards, and will simply add the discussion board portion to my journals right before I turn them in on the day that they are due. Please let me know how you feel about this because I really want to make this work."
Now I have read that email over and over and over and I don't think it sounds rude or belligerant or that I'm asking for special treatment of any kind, but I am very nervous about having sent it because I don't know how the bitch is going to react. Additionally, it will be a lot easier to just have to finish two or three weeks of discussion boards after the baby is born rather than having to do the whole class over again after the baby is born. The other concern I have is that if I don't drop the class within a certain time frame, I won't get all of my money back and could not get any money back and I'll still be stuck having to take the class over again. Another issue is that if I don't get at least a B, then I have to pay to take the class over again anyway! Look, the situation is not that difficult and I'm not asking anyone to move mountains for me.
Needless to say, I AM staying in this class and planning on fighting this woman every step of the way and if I have to appeal my grade and obtain an attorney, I totally will. She doesn't have any idea what a crazy fucking lunatic bitch I am. I'm going to wait and see what she says and depending on that outcome, I will be calling the school and filing a complaint because I feel she is being unreasonable. I think everything I suggested is totally and completely reasonable.
I'm pregnant and I'm pissed.
Okay. I decided back in April or so that I was going to continue with my original plan of taking one course towards my masters every summer. My reasoning? I can't keep with excellerated 8-week online courses while I'm working, and if I don't have a certain number of credits within a certain number of years teaching, my salary will be frozen. So, taking into consideration those two facts, I figured that if I take 3 credits every summer until I get my masters, I will not have to stress out about going to school while I'm working, I will only have to pay tuition for one class a year (which, BY THE WAY, is $1200!!!!!), and I will be able to avoid ever having my salary frozen. Now, it will take me like 8 years to get my masters but I don't give a damn.
Anyway, even though my baby is due August 18th, I decided I was going to stick to my plan because I FIGURED that my professor would be willing to work with me. How could he/she not? I'm PREGNANT. It's not like there's anything I can DO about going into labor.
I started my class July 2nd and emailed my professor:
"Hello. My name is Jayme L******** and I just wanted to speak directly to you regarding a concern that I have. I'm currently 33 weeks pregnant and have already completed my reading and journals for the first two weeks of class. I'm planning on working very hard to finish this class as early as I can as I really need to get my credits for the class (I can only afford to take one class a year and during the summer is the easiest time since I don't have any other distractions in my life). The reason I wish to complete this class as soon as possible (hopefully by the first week of august or so) is because my baby, according to my doctor, is on the "big side" right now and they may want to deliver him early. I am going in July 25th for my last ultrasound to verify all of this. The other thing that has been on my mind is if I just randomly go into labor early, which is something I don't have any control over (obviously). I don't know what I expect your response to be, but I just wanted to let you know of my situation so that if I suddenly disappear off the face of the earth, you will have a good idea of why because otherwise I am finishing this class (due to my financial constraint of only being able to pay for one class a year, I HAVE to take my one class a year or my district will freeze my salary for not having enough credits towards my masters within the prescribed amount of time)."
Professor's response:
"Participation in the class needs to happen on a weekly basis so you are part of the discussion with me and your classmates. I don't open the discussions ahead of the week for which they apply. The journals require a response related to the weekly discussion as well. There are also 2 CLC [Collaborative Learning Community]assignments that require participation with the group during the week. While you can certainly work on the individual assignments ahead of time, the other components require availability throughout the 8 weeks."
Okay, so CLEARLY not someone willing to work with me, would you agree?
I sat around my house for several days absolutely stewing over this situation. How could someone not be willing to work with you when you clearly have a medical situation??? How could a school, which is essentially a BUSINESS, support that kind of decision? In the midst of stewing over this, though, I had to start my group project, which is one of the CLC's she mentioned in her email.
Now, going to school online is different than going to an actual classroom (duh). You have a section of your online classroom where you click the link and it gives you the overview or list of shit that you have to do for each week of the class. Under the first week, one of the assignments is that you have to start working with your group on the group project, which has various parameters that you have to come to a consensus on with your group. Now, because I have worked in CLCs before, my experience has been that everyone spends the majority of their time just trying to get coordinate what's going to be done and at the very last minute is when you've figured out what you're doing. Everyone slaps something together, someone in the group makes it all one paper and submits it for grading. At no point is there any time to sit and discuss what was slapped together and submitted to make sure that it's good. As a result, I received grades that were NOT what I was looking to receive.
When I saw that the CLC assignment was assigned the first week, I immediately posted on teh message board to my group that we needed to get started. A week later, though, not only had nobody responded but my group was changed and my initial post deleted. I was already mad about my inflexible asshole of a professor, now I was livid. Does it not stand to reason that if something is posted under the first week that it is then ASSIGNED at that point??? Wouldn't it THEN stand to reason that if something happened that necessitated the changing of groups that we would be entitled to an extra week since we were originally given two? It just doesn't seem right to me.
Anyway, I posted a new post to my new group and checked the message board a thousand times a day (hello, I'm not working and not smoking and doing nothing but this class...I got time on my hands, people!) and the responses were so slow that I started to get aggravated and frustrated with my group. Instead of waiting and waiting and waiting, I did the outline and was like, "here's the outline, what part of the paper are you writing?" which was my way of saying we were writing a paper because you fuckers are taking too long to get back to me. Then, I filled out this group-working-together contract and was like "here's this bit of work all done too just add what you want to add and if you want to change anything let me know". Was I rude? I wouldn't say so, but I was pushy and maybe should have chosen my words better because, unlike real life, you can't HEAR someone's tone of voice and yeah, what I put could have been construed incorrectly, but that wasn't my intention, I just wanted to get my shit done.
Realizing this, I made a post to the group and told them that I had taken the leadership role a bit by accident because I was frustrated with my current situation (which I vaguely outlined about being pregnant and class not being over and not being able to work ahead) and that I was sorry if I came across as rude, that I just wanted to get started and get done. Everyone responded, everything seemed like we were all on teh same page, and low and behold I get an email from my professor telling me that I need to modify my tone and that if the stress of the class is too much that I should drop it.
I wanted to reach into cyberspace and punch teh shit out of someone. You've got to be fucking kidding me.
At first, I was going to just let it go and say nothing, but you all KNOW me and that's something I'm incapable of doing, so I sent her an email:
"In regards to the CLC assignment, I apologized to the group if I came across in a negative way because that was not my intention and now I apologize to you. I've never taken a leadership role before, this is the first time ever, and clearly I made some mistakes and should have chosen my words differently. Additionally, my goal was not to get the CLC assignment done early, but simply on time, which is what my goal would have been regardless of my pregnancy. I was under the impression that this assignment was assigned the first week of class since it is listed under module 1, thus giving our group two weeks to complete it. I posted underneath my team at the beginning of module 1 with the idea that we had a week to discuss what we were going to do and get our ideas organized, and then we would have another week to actually do the work and share it with the group. I have also worked in CLC's before and find that just meeting and discussing what is going to be done tends to be difficult because we all have lives outside of the class we are taking AND we are in different time zones. As a result, much of the assignment gets left to be completed at the last minute, leaving no time to even discuss the final product, and this was something I just wanted to avoid because I am not a procrastinator and take my grade very seriously. After the first week of class was over, I noticed that my group had been reassigned and my initial posting was gone, and all I could think about was the fact that we now only had a week to coordinate with each other and get the work completed. I was merely concerned about the work getting done on time. Clearly, I let poor experiences in the past affect judgement as to how this CLC was going to go, and actually the majority of the group was really good about checking the CLC message board every day and coordinating what was going to be done.
In regards to staying in the class, I decided that I have spent too much money and done too much work so far to just quit and have to start all over, so I'm going to go for it and let the chips fall where they may, and if I end up in the hospital for some reason and my grade suffers, I will just have to cross that bridge when I come to it. If I am in the hospital on the day that something is due and can provide documentation that that is indeed what ocurred, would you be willing to accept my work without late penalties? I understand that there's nothing I can do about my participation grade on the message board, but if something does happen, I would like to minimalize the effect it will have on my grade. (If I don't get at least a B, I will have to take the class over anyway, which is something I absolutely want to avoid.) I am going ahead and doing all my reading, individual assignments, and journals in advance. All I will then have to do is focus on the last group assignment, weekly discussion boards, and will simply add the discussion board portion to my journals right before I turn them in on the day that they are due. Please let me know how you feel about this because I really want to make this work."
Now I have read that email over and over and over and I don't think it sounds rude or belligerant or that I'm asking for special treatment of any kind, but I am very nervous about having sent it because I don't know how the bitch is going to react. Additionally, it will be a lot easier to just have to finish two or three weeks of discussion boards after the baby is born rather than having to do the whole class over again after the baby is born. The other concern I have is that if I don't drop the class within a certain time frame, I won't get all of my money back and could not get any money back and I'll still be stuck having to take the class over again. Another issue is that if I don't get at least a B, then I have to pay to take the class over again anyway! Look, the situation is not that difficult and I'm not asking anyone to move mountains for me.
Needless to say, I AM staying in this class and planning on fighting this woman every step of the way and if I have to appeal my grade and obtain an attorney, I totally will. She doesn't have any idea what a crazy fucking lunatic bitch I am. I'm going to wait and see what she says and depending on that outcome, I will be calling the school and filing a complaint because I feel she is being unreasonable. I think everything I suggested is totally and completely reasonable.
I'm pregnant and I'm pissed.