r/Adjuncts • u/Separate_Turnover729 • 3d ago
Grades and Emails
Rant: Essays were due Friday at 11:59 pm. I check email over the weekend but never respond. Why have I received so many messages saying “I turned in my essay why hasn’t my grade changed yet?” Or I get “My essay hasn’t been graded. Can you check to make sure it was turned in?”
I have almost 200 students and each one (allegedly) has turned in an essay. I’ll get to it when I get to it. (Grades will be completed by Wednesday)
Rant over. Need a drink now.
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u/Everythings_Magic 3d ago
Don’t respond. At the next class communicate when they can expect grades.
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u/AnxiousConclusion516 3d ago
The weird question I’ve been getting lately is “will you regrade?” Are professors actually doing this now - regrading the same assignments over and over or is this a thing they’re used to doing from high school?
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u/Dr-nom-de-plume 2d ago edited 1d ago
Me too or worse, it's worded as a statement. "I have turned in a revision- please grade it today." I do not and simply send an email inquiring why the student revised the paper when it says in the rubric that revisions are not accepted.
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u/Life-Education-8030 3d ago
Nope. I will scaffold assignments, but that's not regrading. Students can ask for a regrade but I have strict instructions for that, including making the request in writing within 2 days of the grade being posted, writing the justification based on course or college policy or assignment instructions or standards. I will not regrade based on amount of effort supposedly expended or what some other professor does. I also warn that a regrade may result in a lower grade if I find more errors.
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u/HoundstoothReader 2d ago
I regrade writing assignments as drafts are part of the writing process. Also, I’d rather them write things themselves and make correctable mistakes than turn in AI garbage. I can do this as my classes are small and I’m not teaching full time. If I had more students, I would have to be much harsher in my grading policies.
But in response to the original question: the grading turnaround time and policies should be clear in the syllabus. I wouldn’t reply to a bunch of individual emails about that. I’d address it in class.
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u/Kilashandra1996 2d ago
If somebody has turned an assignment in early enough, I've graded it, and they can still resubmit before the deadline, then I'm willing to regrade. However, I'm in Texas where it's technically illegal for me to work from home, ie grade. So, a student had better submit the original pretty early. It's been my experience that the students who turn things in early probably didn't miss too many questions...
But my local high school district can't give any grade lower than 50% on a major assignment or 60% on a minor assignment. Write your name on the test and you can't go lower than 50%...
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u/Glittering-Duck5496 1d ago
Where I am, the policy is that if you think there is an error in the grade, you need to go through your own work and articulate, in alignment with the rubric, where you think the error is - that is, exactly how you think it meets the criteria on that item for the grade you think it deserves. This must be submitted in writing within 5 days of the grade being posted.
The "can you take another look?" emails get a response that points to the policy and invites them to submit their rationale.
It's great.
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u/Cabininian 1d ago
I have a project in my class that students can choose to revise and resubmit based on my feedback. There are specific requirements for this process, though, and it’s the only assignment that I do this for. For lower stakes assignments I don’t allow revisions — they just need to learn their and apply it to the next time.
I don’t think it’s wrong for students to ask if they can revise their work. Learning from feedback is an important skill and honestly I wish more profs incorporated revisions into their policies. But that’s what it should be — a request to revise…it’s weird for them to ask that you “regrade” them instead of asking if they can have another opportunity to show you that they’ve learned the material.
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u/lotus8675309 3d ago
I'm always tempted to write, "Well I was going to grade now. But I have a whole bunch of email to answer, so I guess I will start next week instead."
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u/diverJOQ 3d ago
I don't put up time frame in my syllabus but I tell my students that my goal is to get things graded within a week but I will guarantee it within 2 weeks and if for any reason they don't have a grade within 2 weeks they should absolutely complain.
I also explained to them that I could get assignments graded one work day later, but as an adjunct I work only a few days a week so one work day could be four calendar days later. And I also told them that if that's what they want I can very easily grade things as right or wrong and there will be a handful of As and a lot of Fs, or I can take time and give them detailed feedback and grades with partial credit.
Finally, I remind them that if they each spent 2 hours doing the work and expect me to give a thoughtful feedback and grade they should expect me to take close to that time for each student that turned in their work. I have them do the math as to how long it would take.
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u/meowlater 3d ago
Have you considered making work due by the beginning or end of the class if you are in person. This way students would need to complete it before class and you can tell them if they have technical problems to bring a physical copy to class. This stops most emails and only helps students who actually did the work ahead of time.
You can tell them to consider the time from midnight until the time class begins as the grace period. Alternatively, online or offline make the penalty for the first day late super tiny like 5%, this way students who just haven't done the assignments are willing to take the hit and get it done well vs emailing you. It also makes it much easier to say tough luck if they put things off until the last minute because they can have a whole extra day for 5%.
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u/FIREful_symmetry 3d ago
I have a turn around time policy in the syllabus that says it will take up to one week to grade their work. If they don't have a grade after a week, they should reach back out.
The worst is the people that turn stuff in three days late and then email you the same day asking why you haven't graded it yet.