Does the Late Bird Eat Dirt?
When the first thing you have to sign for a class is a 27 point contract, you know you're in trouble.
I signed up for Technology and Media in Education this semester. ED 305. It sounded kind of fun. I liked the idea of learning ideas of how to use media in my classroom as a future teacher.
The first assignment for this class included reading, signing, scanning and emailing back a 27 point contract that included such gems as:
"6. I am a self-directed and self-motivated person who completes assignments on time. In the event that I do not keep up with course assignments and activities, I understand I will need to file an official drop request prior to the final withdrawal date to avoid receiving a failing grade in the course. I understand that LATE WORK IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, and that any work not completed by the due date will receive a grade of zero. I further understand that once a due date has passed, the link for turning assignments in will disappear.
14. I understand that the fact that I need to pass this class to keep my job has nothing to do with passing this course (this applies to ABC students).
15. I understand that getting/not getting a refund for tuition if I drop/fail the course plays no role in the grade I will receive. I further understand that tuition refunds are not the responsibility of my professor."
Honestly, I saw the contract as a warning sign. I guessed that many people struggled with this class. But what could I do? I absolutely had to take it to graduate.
So I plunged in. I know how to use a computer and the internet but this class really stretched me. I never had more than a week to both master and use new programs to create my assignments.
I had to learn how to write a whole course for Blackboard, how to use prezi.com, pbworks.com, Softchalk, xtranormal.com, and many other web programs. I had to not only create a prezi but learn how to record myself narrating it, capture it with jing.com, upload it to screencast.com and embed it in the "professional" blog I had to create (http://learnaboutpoetry.blogspot.com/)
One of my most challenging tasks included being randomly assigned to head a group project that was to be conducted entirely online. My grade depended not only on how well I did, but also on how well three people I never met performed.
This class has been incredibly stressful. Not to mention trying to complete everything and also trying to do well in my other three classes and raising my three kids at the same time.
Each week seemed impossible but somehow, sometimes in the last hour, I finally found a way to accomplish my weekly tasks. This class is entirely online and the professor rarely answered any emails anyone sent to him. I'm not sure why. So, basically, we were on our own, drowning in confusing new material.
I'm in the home stretch now. This weekend, my final teacher website was due and my final exam will be December 10th.
Everything was flowing along. Editing the website was going slow but I was doing my best, in between helping my kids with homework, feeding them, letting the dogs in and out. I was going to do this. I was going to finish strong.
So there I am, picking away over and over again on my computer, trying to edit, refine and follow the rubic of what our final website should be and, yes, my sweet daughter decides to experiment with the furniture. She's been told not to but, of course, she had to try just one more time. This time, walking along the back of the couch like a balance beam, she slipped.
Slipped, fell and broke two bones in her foot.
We try to help it. Medicine. Heat. Ice. Pillows for propping.
The next day, Friday, a doctors appointment that ends in a pink cast from toes to knee. My poor child.
I take her to two stores, trying to find socks that will fit over the foot of her cast. Apparently these things have to be kept clean and protected.
Back again. Once she and her siblings are comfortably in bed, I should be able to work again.
I work some more but, when I check the due date, it's not due until Saturday at midnight. I should make it fine.
I edit and write and edit and write. I get my son ready and send him for a sleepover. I get my husband and daughters ready and packed for a weekend at my mother-in-law's. This is going to work. I will make it.
They leave for my mother-in-laws. Five minutes later, they drive back in the driveway.
"I called Ma," my husband says. "She is sick with a stomach flu so we aren't going."
He goes in to work and I wrestle kid chores with work and kid chores with editing. This was all supposed to work and be easy. Why did this work this way? I worried about my mother-in-law but I didn't have much time to dwell on any of this. I had to keep working.
That afternoon, my husband left for a concert in a neighboring town. He might spend the night.
But I can do this. Finally, I know it's time to get the kids for bed. I've let them stay up too late as it is.
This will have to be it. This website is 20% of my grade. I wanted it to be just right but what it was would have to be enough.
I log in to finally submit my website. And read the due date. It was due at NOON. At NOON.
I've missed the deadline by nine hours. HOURS. In the class that says, "understand that LATE WORK IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, and that any work not completed by the due date will receive a grade of zero. I further understand that once a due date has passed, the link for turning assignments in will disappear."
What am I going to do?
The link is still there but when I submit it, it says, "This assignment has been flagged as late."
Suddenly, it all seems useless. All of this. I think of how I missed my daughter's field trip this week so I could attend my other classes. I remember my little girl's face when I told her, yet again, "Mommy is too busy right now. Can you go and make Grandma a card?"
All for this. NINE HOURS late due to my own stupidity. All this work and apparently I can't even read the difference between 12am and 12pm.
I sat and cried and cried and cried. All those tears I've held in, trying to be strong and stay up late and buckle down and work and wash dishes and clothes even when all I want to do is sleep. I've been so tired this semester.
And then ... then I did what a hate to do. Almost 3 years back in college and I've never turned in anything late.
I emailed my professor. I tried to strike a proper tone. Not "poor me" just "could you please, sir?" And then I hunted for the phone number that most said he still never responded to and sent him the most carefully edited text of my life.
I pressed send and cried some more. Nine hours late. Was there any chance?
Fifteen minutes later, my phone chimed with a text. Oh my. Did I dare hope? I trembled as I pressed the "view" button.
He accepted it! I almost didn't ask. How could I ask, when it WAS my mistake. But I had to.
If I don't do well in college, its all useless. All those times I almost fell asleep in class due to being up with sick kids. All the times I bit back my words because I didn't have time to argue with my husband. Those field trips I missed and those moments I wanted to take but I knew I had to study.
He took it. And for once, he graded it quickly. My website (http://mariacoble.pbworks.com) received a grade of 100%.
Maybe ... maybe all these classes and assignments and stress and hope beyond hope is worth it after all. Maybe I truly will graduate and make it to the other side. Maybe one day I will find that job I need and one day we'll have two cars that work well and have good tail lights. Maybe one day I won't have to let my girl wear tennis shoes that are wearing through the toes.
Maybe some of our dreams can come true and there is a way out of this tangled mess of a life I have right now.
My emotions were so low and so high, all within two days.
That grade was more than a 100% to me. To me that grade was hope that maybe my striving will work out after all.
Thank you, Dr. J. For giving me the grace I didn't deserve.
And you can bet I will always read the am and pm more carefully than ever in the future!
My daughter is upset that her carelessness led to her injured foot. So she doesn't want to pose for photos with her cast. So far, I only have one of her with her injury, here:
(You can't see her cast but you can see her cast shoe on her left foot. She is wearing a pink croc shoe on the other foot. She is standing near a Christmas tree with gold ornaments in a museum here. My daughter will be eight in January. She has blond, shoulder-length hair and is wearing a purple jacket and jeans in this photo.)
I signed up for Technology and Media in Education this semester. ED 305. It sounded kind of fun. I liked the idea of learning ideas of how to use media in my classroom as a future teacher.
The first assignment for this class included reading, signing, scanning and emailing back a 27 point contract that included such gems as:
"6. I am a self-directed and self-motivated person who completes assignments on time. In the event that I do not keep up with course assignments and activities, I understand I will need to file an official drop request prior to the final withdrawal date to avoid receiving a failing grade in the course. I understand that LATE WORK IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, and that any work not completed by the due date will receive a grade of zero. I further understand that once a due date has passed, the link for turning assignments in will disappear.
14. I understand that the fact that I need to pass this class to keep my job has nothing to do with passing this course (this applies to ABC students).
15. I understand that getting/not getting a refund for tuition if I drop/fail the course plays no role in the grade I will receive. I further understand that tuition refunds are not the responsibility of my professor."
Honestly, I saw the contract as a warning sign. I guessed that many people struggled with this class. But what could I do? I absolutely had to take it to graduate.
So I plunged in. I know how to use a computer and the internet but this class really stretched me. I never had more than a week to both master and use new programs to create my assignments.
I had to learn how to write a whole course for Blackboard, how to use prezi.com, pbworks.com, Softchalk, xtranormal.com, and many other web programs. I had to not only create a prezi but learn how to record myself narrating it, capture it with jing.com, upload it to screencast.com and embed it in the "professional" blog I had to create (http://learnaboutpoetry.blogspot.com/)
One of my most challenging tasks included being randomly assigned to head a group project that was to be conducted entirely online. My grade depended not only on how well I did, but also on how well three people I never met performed.
This class has been incredibly stressful. Not to mention trying to complete everything and also trying to do well in my other three classes and raising my three kids at the same time.
Each week seemed impossible but somehow, sometimes in the last hour, I finally found a way to accomplish my weekly tasks. This class is entirely online and the professor rarely answered any emails anyone sent to him. I'm not sure why. So, basically, we were on our own, drowning in confusing new material.
I'm in the home stretch now. This weekend, my final teacher website was due and my final exam will be December 10th.
Everything was flowing along. Editing the website was going slow but I was doing my best, in between helping my kids with homework, feeding them, letting the dogs in and out. I was going to do this. I was going to finish strong.
So there I am, picking away over and over again on my computer, trying to edit, refine and follow the rubic of what our final website should be and, yes, my sweet daughter decides to experiment with the furniture. She's been told not to but, of course, she had to try just one more time. This time, walking along the back of the couch like a balance beam, she slipped.
Slipped, fell and broke two bones in her foot.
We try to help it. Medicine. Heat. Ice. Pillows for propping.
The next day, Friday, a doctors appointment that ends in a pink cast from toes to knee. My poor child.
I take her to two stores, trying to find socks that will fit over the foot of her cast. Apparently these things have to be kept clean and protected.
Back again. Once she and her siblings are comfortably in bed, I should be able to work again.
I work some more but, when I check the due date, it's not due until Saturday at midnight. I should make it fine.
I edit and write and edit and write. I get my son ready and send him for a sleepover. I get my husband and daughters ready and packed for a weekend at my mother-in-law's. This is going to work. I will make it.
They leave for my mother-in-laws. Five minutes later, they drive back in the driveway.
"I called Ma," my husband says. "She is sick with a stomach flu so we aren't going."
He goes in to work and I wrestle kid chores with work and kid chores with editing. This was all supposed to work and be easy. Why did this work this way? I worried about my mother-in-law but I didn't have much time to dwell on any of this. I had to keep working.
That afternoon, my husband left for a concert in a neighboring town. He might spend the night.
But I can do this. Finally, I know it's time to get the kids for bed. I've let them stay up too late as it is.
This will have to be it. This website is 20% of my grade. I wanted it to be just right but what it was would have to be enough.
I log in to finally submit my website. And read the due date. It was due at NOON. At NOON.
I've missed the deadline by nine hours. HOURS. In the class that says, "understand that LATE WORK IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, and that any work not completed by the due date will receive a grade of zero. I further understand that once a due date has passed, the link for turning assignments in will disappear."
What am I going to do?
The link is still there but when I submit it, it says, "This assignment has been flagged as late."
Suddenly, it all seems useless. All of this. I think of how I missed my daughter's field trip this week so I could attend my other classes. I remember my little girl's face when I told her, yet again, "Mommy is too busy right now. Can you go and make Grandma a card?"
All for this. NINE HOURS late due to my own stupidity. All this work and apparently I can't even read the difference between 12am and 12pm.
I sat and cried and cried and cried. All those tears I've held in, trying to be strong and stay up late and buckle down and work and wash dishes and clothes even when all I want to do is sleep. I've been so tired this semester.
And then ... then I did what a hate to do. Almost 3 years back in college and I've never turned in anything late.
I emailed my professor. I tried to strike a proper tone. Not "poor me" just "could you please, sir?" And then I hunted for the phone number that most said he still never responded to and sent him the most carefully edited text of my life.
I pressed send and cried some more. Nine hours late. Was there any chance?
Fifteen minutes later, my phone chimed with a text. Oh my. Did I dare hope? I trembled as I pressed the "view" button.
He accepted it! I almost didn't ask. How could I ask, when it WAS my mistake. But I had to.
If I don't do well in college, its all useless. All those times I almost fell asleep in class due to being up with sick kids. All the times I bit back my words because I didn't have time to argue with my husband. Those field trips I missed and those moments I wanted to take but I knew I had to study.
He took it. And for once, he graded it quickly. My website (http://mariacoble.pbworks.com) received a grade of 100%.
Maybe ... maybe all these classes and assignments and stress and hope beyond hope is worth it after all. Maybe I truly will graduate and make it to the other side. Maybe one day I will find that job I need and one day we'll have two cars that work well and have good tail lights. Maybe one day I won't have to let my girl wear tennis shoes that are wearing through the toes.
Maybe some of our dreams can come true and there is a way out of this tangled mess of a life I have right now.
My emotions were so low and so high, all within two days.
That grade was more than a 100% to me. To me that grade was hope that maybe my striving will work out after all.
Thank you, Dr. J. For giving me the grace I didn't deserve.
And you can bet I will always read the am and pm more carefully than ever in the future!
My daughter is upset that her carelessness led to her injured foot. So she doesn't want to pose for photos with her cast. So far, I only have one of her with her injury, here:
(You can't see her cast but you can see her cast shoe on her left foot. She is wearing a pink croc shoe on the other foot. She is standing near a Christmas tree with gold ornaments in a museum here. My daughter will be eight in January. She has blond, shoulder-length hair and is wearing a purple jacket and jeans in this photo.)