Not My Proudest Moment

By Lew Ludwig

In this series, I share teaching mistakes I have made in the hopes that others can learn from my missteps or try to avoid them. For this installment, I will share a practice that was not my proudest moment.

Early in my career, my institution had a policy that students could add/drop a class within the first three weeks of the semester. In what I thought was an example of efficiency, I always tested my students before the drop date to let them know where they stood in the class. Sounds reasonable… but it gets worse.

After grading the test, I used to send the following email to any student who earned less than 70 percent:

Dear <student>,

As you know, your first test score of 61/100 was on the lower end of a class average of 79. While this is not ruinous, the first test score for this class is an EXTREMELY good indicator of the final grade. I know you put considerable effort in the course, but more will be needed to overcome this. Clearly this will take time from your other three classes and I'm not sure about their time demands. Please feel free to discuss this with me or your advisor. I would rather have you do well in three classes then mediocre in four.

Prof Ludwig

I wish I were making this up for an example, but the above is the actual email I sent to a student in the fall of 2006. I was even brash enough to cc: the student’s advisor, a professor in Biology. I thought transparency would help the student understand their position and what was at stake.

Although I had been using this practice since my arrival in 2002, no one had pointed out the error in my ways. Not until the student’s advisor responded with this:

Hi Lew:

If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is a message from you to this student that they need to drop your course; that sense is especially conveyed by your last sentence.

Just so I can put this into the proper context, have you ever discussed options available for extra help with the student? For example, have you discussed the option of getting a tutor? Have you discussed how they prepared for this test and suggested ways to make their studying/class preparation more productive? Reminded them of your office hours and mentioning the fact that that might be an avenue for extra help?

This is a first-semester, first-year student who clearly elected to take calculus. Somehow it both bothers and disappoints me that you are pretty much telling them the game is over after three weeks.

I thank you in advance for your thoughtful reply,

<name>

While this email was tough to read, it was spot on. I thought I was being efficient by providing quick feedback to the student. Moreover, if a student did decide to drop, I would have less work moving forward. How could I have been so wrong?

THe advisor’s response really made me think. Sure, what I said in the email was accurate – there was a strong correlation between first test score and final grade—but why was this the case? Upon reflection, I realized that many students were not used to my tests – the length or types of questions I asked. After this exchange, I made a conscious effort to better prepare my students for that first test.

As your students approach your first in-class test, consider providing some formative feedback on their work beforehand. Take ten or so minutes in class for students to work on one or two pages of problems from an old test. Then, have the students discuss answers with their near neighbor and finally answer any linger questions for the whole class. This is a simple way to provide formative feedback to the students that lets them practice sitting for one of your tests. One of my classes dubbed it a “test-scrimmage.” I like the sports analogy. To prepare for the big game you should have smaller scrimmages.

For me, this was a step in the right direction. I saw fewer students in the 60-69 range, but I still had students failing the first test. For a while, I would write “see me” at the top of those papers. However, few students took me up on the offer. Upon further reflection, I realized that failing a college test is embarrassing. Very few students will respond to this humbling episode by seeing their professor to relive this bad experience. To those students, I now send the following message:

Hi <student>,

I hope this finds you well. I imagine you did not do as well on the first test as you expected. Would you like to set up a time to discuss a game plan for the next one?

Thanks

PL

I usually have a 100 percent response rate from this email message. It acknowledges that students did not intend to fail the test (get over the embarrassment) and offers a helping hand to do better on the next one.

If you try this email invitation approach, also consider giving the students an exercise known as an exam wrapper, where students can metacognitively reflect on their test preparation and performance. You can modify this exam wrapper template (taken from the Post-Exam Survey for the Office of Advising at Loyola University, Chicago).

I am forever indebted to my colleague for helping me move past this not-so-proud moment in my career and develop a far superior approach.

Upside:

Students are better prepared for the first test.
Establishes an inclusive protocol for students who do not perform well on written tests.
My students found me more approachable; “he’s on our side.”

Downside:

It takes time and effort to help my students learn and succeed.

Lew Ludwig is a professor of mathematics and the Director of the Center for Learning and Teaching at Denison University. An active member of the MAA, he recently served on the project team for the MAA Instructional Practices Guide and was the creator and senior editor of the MAA’s former Teaching Tidbits blog.