Imagine the following scenario. You have two college students. Sara just took a big test and is waiting for her scores online. Jan just wrote a final paper and is also waiting for her scores to be posted online.
Sara's teacher promised she would have the test scores the next day. So on the next day after the test, Sara checks her phone to go online to her class and finds out she got a A on the test. She had been so worried she would flunk the test because she was sure she got many of the questions wrong. She even had changed a lot of the answers several times. Sara runs to her roommate and gives the good news that she passed the class! "Jan, I got my grade back! I got an A on the final test. That means I passed the class and I don't have to take it again. I saved my scholarship! I am so relieved!" Sara feels so happy that she has finally received her passing grade! She loves her teacher because she is so caring!
Jan, on the other hand, has been waiting days for her score for her final paper. She too has been having trouble passing her class. She checks on her phone or her laptop day by day, but no score ever appears. She emails her professor and no response. She is getting frantic because if she fails this test, she will lose her athletic scholarship and her chance to be the first one in her family to graduate from college. So much pressure on this one grade and no response.
She checks her phone several times a day. When she is eating breakfast, she checks her phone for her grade. When she is socializing with friends to relax, she checks her phone for her grade. When she rides the bus to work and back from work, she checks her phone for her grade. When she is doing other classwork on her laptop, she stops to look at her inbox and always nothing. She has developed several facial twitches due to her nervousness, anxiety and growing panic over her grade. Checking her phone has now become an addiction. She can't stop herself and she feels dejected each time she gets no answer and no grade. "Sara, I may have to drop out of college. My family does not have the money to pay for college, and my part time job does not pay enough. If I fail this class, and this test, I will disappoint my mother who sacrificed so much to get me this far. Why doesn't the teacher answer my email? Why doesn't the teacher tell us when she will get her grades in?"
Teachers may have many reasons for being late with grading. When I have a lot of papers to grade, I provide students with my grading schedule, so they know when to expect their grades. As long as students are made aware of your grading schedule, then they don't have to be an anxious nanny like the Jan I wrote in my story biting her nails, twitching and constantly checking her phone or laptop for a grade. I would put in Monday, ENGL 101 Section 1 grades posted, Tuesday, ENGL 102 Section 3 grades posted. In this way, my ENGL 101 class checks their grades on Monday while my ENGL 102 class checks for their grades on Tuesday and my students are happy campers. I love to see my students succeed!
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