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French Student Submits Food Homework 16 Months Late: How Do You Grade That?

Indulge me in some fiction:

One of my former French students e-mailed me yesterday to tell me she finally finished her group Food Board project. Students had to work together to combine pictures, maps, and charts showing where and how their favorite French foods are made, annual sales of those foods, customs associated with those foods. It was big, it was complicated, and it was all in French.

It was also due October 1, 2012.

My former student is a nice girl, but she's a bit self-absorbed. She doesn't pay much attention to deadlines. She doesn't go to all of her team meetings, and when she does, she often goofs around on her phone. She has trouble working with others: even as the Food Board project dragged on past its due date, she kept holding up progress by making suggestions that turned off most of the other students in the group. She kept trying to add content to the Food Board that was simply false. When she did happen upon a good idea, she was unable to get her teammates to act on it. She kept promising she'd get the project done, but she kept failing.

But now, a year and a third late, she thinks her Food Board is a wonderful accomplishment. She's going to travel all over town to tout her leadership in getting the Food Board done. She wants me to grade it right away and give her an A.

So tell me, dear readers, what grade would you give to this student?

44 Comments

  1. Bob Klein 2014.02.06

    A '0' of course.
    However, are you sure it wasn't a group assignment? Should the entire group get the same grade?

    Were this a true story, I'd ask how you're going to get that grade into the system.

  2. Nick Nemec 2014.02.06

    F

  3. Jenny 2014.02.06

    If it was your kid, would you still agree with the F, Nick?

  4. Charlie Wheeler 2014.02.06

    F. Yes, if it was own kids they would get an F. I have a huge issue with my kids school because of how long they get to turn things in. It is not real life and one day it will bite my kids in the butt.

  5. Charlie Wheeler 2014.02.06

    F. Yes, if it was own kids they would get an F. I have a huge issue with my kids school because of how long they get to turn things in. It is not real life and one day it will bite my kids in the rear.

  6. rollin potter 2014.02.06

    I had girl in my class with a similar attitude and the superintendant told her she would never amount to a hill of beans!!!! She turned out to be one of the finest medical doctors in the san francisco,ca. area!!!!!!!! Maybe you people should read about Luiz In'acio LULA da silva!!!
    He quit school after the 4th grade and became the most popular politician in the history of BRAZIL!!!!! There 35th president from 2003 t0 2010!!!

  7. Eve Fisher 2014.02.06

    She gets an "F". You don't get to turn in assignments a year and a third late.

  8. DB 2014.02.06

    Give her a C and just take a couple letter grades from the kid who got an A.

  9. wal 2014.02.06

    having a son who has Asperger's, this sounds a bit familiar. NEVER would I have allowed my son to turn something in late, incomplete yet alone over a yr late. As a parent, I knew what my kids were up to, until the very last second of high school. This is where the conflict of education begins...........based on the project being late she should get an F. Was it a great project? Based on the fact that she actually turned it in over a year late tells me she carried the responsibility of the project in her mind and I would say she showed perseverance and dedication. Last is whatever the grade it will be a project she doesn't forget and just maybe the grade will be a lesson learned??????I am very happy I am NOT a teacher.

  10. interested party 2014.02.06

    The beast at Tanagra. Zinda, his face black, his eyes red. Kiazi's children, their faces wet. Kiteo, his eyes closed. Uzani, his army at Lashmir.

  11. Wayne Pauli 2014.02.06

    If my students are a day late, they get zero...if they need ADA accommodations they bring that documentation to me at the beginning of a semester. Even if it was my kid or your kid Jenny, there are deadlines and they must be met.

  12. Steve Kant 2014.02.06

    We were talking about this same subject yesterday. How is it that Congress fails to pass a Farm Bill for years and now the President is given instructions to sign it right away by Rep. Noem. What has happened to respect for the President. I hate it when he is addressed as "Obama". It's just not right.

  13. Charlie Wheeler 2014.02.06

    Dear Interested Party,
    I have to admit that I have seen the Star Trek episode you quoted.

  14. MJL 2014.02.06

    At my school she would be under the "ICU" philosophy and could earn no more than a 93%

  15. Mark Remily 2014.02.06

    An F and kicked off the board.

  16. Jenny 2014.02.06

    I'm assuming Cory must have given her some leeway on deadlines, since it was already way past due, so was this student under the impression that she would get a fair grade when handing it in way past due date?

  17. Roger Cornelius 2014.02.06

    Give her an F, it's Obama fault after all!

  18. Jessie 2014.02.06

    interested party, Shacka when the walls fell.

    grade for student, Shacka when the walls fell and Mirab his sails unfurled

    translation: failure and get the heck outa here!

  19. Douglas Wiken 2014.02.06

    What are the implications of the grade beyond the obvious for the girl and for her team mates?

    Sounds like she has some kind of mental problem.

  20. David Newquist 2014.02.06

    Had such cases, and they were given incompletes. The university had a policy on incompletes and they either became automatic failures after a period of time or, if there were extenuating cases, no credit would be issued for an I and the course would have to be taken over, if the student wanted credit.

  21. rollin potter 2014.02.06

    I am learning more and more about a lot of people ---------------
    What do these kids go through at home or work after school?? what do you do to find out about there lives MR.Pauli??? I see a lot of people who really don't give sh-- what goes on after those kids leave the class room!!!!!!

  22. rollin potter 2014.02.06

    yes Mr. Newquist, All you ever did was stand up there and through repitition of the books in front of you year after year and go look for your check!!!!!!!

  23. Joan Brown 2014.02.06

    Steve Kant, I agree with you, about congress and respecting the President, even if you don't agree with him, he is still the President. If I was that girl's teacher, she would get an F.

  24. charlie5150 2014.02.06

    Yes, but she's pretty. Pretty girls get away with this all the time. And she's got that R next to her name....she's here to stay.

  25. Jana 2014.02.06

    Mr. Potter, good story about Luiz In'acio LULA da silva. Rare and special. The difference between he and Kristi is that LULA accomplished something.

    Say, how many days did Kristi and her party decide to work this last year?

    Fortunately for her, in South Dakota, you are judged not on intellect, or getting things done but on how much money you can raise.

    Nice hair Kristi, how on earth do you memorize all those platitudes? That's hard work!

  26. grudznick 2014.02.06

    Milton Bad Warrior, with his shoes off.

  27. Roger Cornelius 2014.02.06

    Good for you Cory, good for you!!

  28. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.02.06

    I like your analogous post. Very apt. Good work, Cory.

  29. Nick Nemec 2014.02.06

    Jenny, yes.

  30. rollin potter 2014.02.06

    Hey Jana, Kristi and her party worked(????????) 126 days in 2013 and they are planning on 113 days in 2014 because of it being an election year!!! They must be totally exhausted getting back and forth from sioux falls and DC!!!!!! Hope her and our rising star thune don't have problems with there reservations!!!!

  31. Cheidelbergerlarson 2014.02.06

    None of the above.
    As a teacher, I understand that I do not GIVE grades. The students receive the grade that they earned. If the work is done, accepted, and warrants an A by rubric standards, an A is received.
    However, according to most rubrics, and I assume yours, Cory is no different, that her performance, lack of initiative, inappropriate use of time (personal and group) to say nothing of her focus on the task and assignment at hand...the grade received is an F....she earned that, remembering that actions and words have consequences----positive reinforcements and rediretion

  32. Jaka 2014.02.07

    I'd say F for a 'fony'!!

  33. John 2014.02.07

    Without knowing more; F. School is about adult learning. Taxes are due on April 15; planes board and depart on a schedule; even school begins and ends on a schedule.

    The only possible "out" is if the student received an open-ended extension into perpetuity. If so, then the instructor failed, Proper extensions establish a definitive due date and often include penalties for the privilege of being tardy.

  34. Bill Fleming 2014.02.07

    Was it an excellent report? Did the student(s) learn something? Did you? Recall that the Sistine Chapel paintings were late also. ;-)

  35. Charlie 2014.02.07

    I agree with Deb. Well done Cory. Hopefully, she will receive a very low grade in November. And, living in Minnysoota, I don't even get a chance to participate!

  36. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.02.07

    Bill, I'm sure my student will be telling everyone on her tour that she is the Michelangelo of Food Boards. I am reviewing the Teachers Code of Professional Ethics to determine whether I am allowed to roll my eyes.

  37. barry freed 2014.02.07

    a "C" as the average for her both, not reading the 2,500 page assignment on the "Healthy Eating and Preventative Nutrition" because: "It's too big"; and reading without opening, the 25,000 page: "How To Get Beans from The US Government For Not Growing Them" Textbook, as she collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for her next semester's funding. The one skill she embraced and became skilled at, beginning her first day in school.
    A "B" is possible with the many extra credit Theme Papers of how the unread, Healthy Eating Text, is the end of Medicine in America.
    An "A" is possible if she stays in school long enough to become the 65th richest in the student body, as one of her tutors, now retired, Tim J.

  38. Nick Nemec 2014.02.07

    Rather than do the coursework couldn't she just get credit for an internship and have one of her staff people write the paper?

  39. Bob Klein 2014.02.07

    CAH - Rolling your eyes is the only way you'll see the Sistine Chapel paintings.

    If you have time, I understand Ms. Noem is running around Rapid today telling everyone what a great project she turned in. If you don't show, she'll probably blame you for its tardiness.

  40. Steve O'Brien 2014.02.07

    Steve K, I couldn't agree more about the disrespect for the president by the opposition - even as sitting members of Congress/Senate. There was SOME civility in politics that afforded some deference for the office if not the office holder; that clearly is no longer the case. The level of bile and hatred in politics lowers not just those who serve, but their office as well. Even the reference to the ACA as "Obamacare" is said with a slur.

    It is not even. It is not "something both sides do equally." it is a product of FOX and pays no dividends for a civil society or rational debate on issues.

    We do not have political parties, we have rival sports teams.

  41. Stan Gibilisco 2014.02.07

    I'd give her the work back. In other words, I would reject it. That's what my publisher would do with a manuscript if I submitted it that late.

  42. Roger Cornelius 2014.02.07

    I have never seen Star Trek or anything related to it, When Larry quotes from it is Greek to me.

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