I can tell it’s midterm, even without checking the calendar.

The college has a policy that I send home warning notices for students whose grades are in the “D” or “F” range  — as in HOME, where Mom and Dad get the mail.   So there’s been first a trickle, now a steady stream of students stopping by my office trying to explain why they should be exempt from the rule and offering creative exercises they want to perform for some extra credit.

It’s actually pretty funny.  Since I count lots of things into the grade averages (punctuality, attendance, homework, participation, and the like), I know they’re not doing as poorly as they think when they consider only their test and paper scores .  And knowing how worried they are about it tells me they’ll probably do better once football season ends and the evenings are colder.

I don’t think I’ll ever understand the whole extra credit thing, though.  If you don’t have time to do it right, when are you going to find time to do it over?  And why do you want more work when you complain about the work you already have?  It boggles the mind.

I’ll let ‘em sweat for a few days more (good motivation thinking the Visa might get canceled!) then explain again about holistic grading.  Hopefully, they won’t start looking for the best diet pills to keep then awake through exams.  But in the meantime, it’s been anything but lonely during office hours!