Tough day

Today was difficult for me. I had to deal with several students who failed one of my classes. Nursing 123 is different from any class they have ever taken. Instead of memorizing facts and regurgitating them, they have to KNOW the material and THINK about how it applies to a situation. Unfortunately, they haven't always had classes that challenged them to think.

In Nursing 123 the students are introduced to more advanced levels of questions than they have ever seen before. Simply remembering bits of information will not guarantee success. Former "A" students see grades like they have never seen. One such student was in my office today.

This particular student failed the course. I believe she came in thinking she could convince me to give her the points she needed on the final to pass the course. The final wasn't the test that failed her. She had a failing grade before the exam. I don't think she realized that she is not the first person to try to argue her way to a passing grade. She argued almost every question she missed on the exam, hoping that I would see her side. She said she needed 4 questions on the final to give her a passing grade. Did she really think she could bully me into giving her 4 questions after the test was reviewed by faculty? While I appreciate her situation, I had to put my foot down and tell her she was not going to win the fight. I hate being put into the role of bad guy.

I think my biggest complaint about today's confrontation is that I wasn't even the lead instructor for the course. The lead instructor took today off--the day after the final. She should have been the one who handled the students who came by, as I would have done if I were in the position. I'm so used to the way we handled office hours in Texarkana. If you weren't in clinical you were in the office 5 days a week. I don't think I'll ever understand the instructors who maintain only the minimum required number of hours. I want to be accessible to students. That's why I'm here. Plus, our new offices are so darned nice. I really enjoy working in mine!

New Office

I am so excited! We are moving into our new offices this week! I can't wait. We have all been crammed in one small room for the past few months. Although we have all grown closer and learned a lot about each other, it's time to move into our new, functional (although some would disagree), beautiful space.

Our old offices were cramped, dark, and a horrible use of the space. Our new offices have opened up the entire department and given us more visibility. Our old offices really placed us at a disadvantage because of our location and access to the offices. The threatening phone calls we received last year that resulted in police investigation really illustrated how vulnerable we would have been had the threats been carried out.

We're anxious to move into our new labs, too! The space will be wonderful for the students--much less distracting during open labs and testouts. I guess the only downside to this is that they neglected to refurbish our student bathroom. It still has the decor and fixtures that it originally had when it was built in the early 70s (?), including the fawcets that don't stay on when you wash your hands, making it necessary to wash one hand at a time while you hold the water on with the other. :-) Hey! I'm happy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0VSngQCxIU

Success!

The Trends conference in Grand Rapids was fun this year. I got to present my views and experience with concept mapping. The attendees were very receptive and even were able to add to my presentation. Once again, it only goes to show that you learn something new EVERY day. I heard from many of the nurses who weren't at the session that they had attended the wrong concept mapping presentation. They were pretty upset because they had heard that my session was so good! WOW! I think F.A. Davis should give me a commission because of the recommendation I made for their text! The funny thing is this: I was so nervous before the start of my session, but wasn't nervous at all while I was speaking. Hmmm . . . .