I am currently both a teacher and a student, and I am of the apparently controversial opinion that late work should always be accepted. Not just if they have a doctorās note or their momās death certificate. Not just for one or two assignments a semester. Always.
āBut thatās unfair to the people who submitted on time!ā
I didnāt say you had to give everybody full credit. Drop the grade for each individual assignment by 5% for every day late until it gets down to 20%. Never, ever take it below 20%.
1. If you are a good educator, then you created that assignment in the first place because YOU WANTED YOUR STUDENTS TO LEARN SOMETHING. You still want them to have an incentive to complete that learning experience even if itās not āon time.ā
2. You want to prepare your students for the the real world, right? Well, if you missed a deadline (for example, submitting report cards), would your boss throw away everything youād worked on, dock your paycheck, and tell you to try again next time? No. They would be upset with you, but they would ask you to take time out of your schedule to finish the project as quickly as possible. It wouldnāt cease to exist.
3. Based on point #2, if you are teaching high school or below, not accepting late work is holding children (who by the way, generally do not have full control over their schedules or what materials they have access to) to a higher standard than adults.Ā
4. If you are teaching college or graduate school, you are working with adults who are taking years out of their lives andĀ paying thousands of dollarsĀ to learn from you. Why make it harder for them than it already is?
5. You have or will teach students with extenuating life circumstances that they donāt tell you about (e.g. chronic illness, caring for children or sick relatives, abusive relationships) because they are embarrassed to share this information or have already been taught to shut up and stop making excuses.
6. You have or will teach students with learning disabilities that they donāt even know about. I was diagnosed with ADHD in high school after years of being treated like I was just a bad kid. I suffered from depression and anxiety for over ten years before I went on medication. I did not even learn the wordsĀ āexecutive dysfunctionā until I was in grad school.
In conclusion, yes, we all know that being a teacher gives you authority but thatās no reason to flaunt it by imposing restrictions that donāt exist anywhere else in the name of āeducation.ā
baratheonpilled
prguitarman
turnnoffyourmind
areudirty
