The Not Happy Thread

@Jacob Ingram Well hang here for a while, we all started out somewhere.
That group sounds like a bunch of pretentious twats.

As long as you follow the forum guidelines for posting in the Workshop,
you will get plenty of feedback.
So chin up, and to hell with those jerks that say that shit about beginners.
They are just asshats, and in need of a good proctologist to help them find
their heads.

 

So I have a student who has a non-transmissable medical condition, which, in the interest of their privacy, is all the more detail I'm going to go into. The thing is, this condition can result in them needing to take time off of school at short notice, and my school only allows officially excused absences for communicable diseases (flu, bad colds, Ebola, that sort of thing). However, the administration asked me to consider the student's situation and see what allowances I'd be comfortable making, so I did.

However, I didn't realize just how many absences this condition would entail, and now I'm feeling a little uncomfortable with the number of lessons I've "written off". I know that the condition is beyond the student's control, but I feel that it's my job to teach more than just the classroom language skills, but also to impress the importance of punctuality and attendance in the real world. Furthermore, a substantial portion of the classwork takes place in-class, in the form of discussions, presentations, and debates, so it's not something that can really be "made-up" at home or during office hours.

My view is skewed, I realize, by the fact that my first two adult jobs, the military and emergency telecommunications (9-1-1) were both places where an employee's absence could, and sometimes did, result in people dying. Not everyone will go into a position like that, but I can't help but wonder what limits should be placed on allowances for medical issues. If my student were, for example, to go to work in a small shop, their inability to work every day, or even on a predictable schedule, could have serious implications for the business.

All of this is coupled with the fact that I got in (minor) trouble over this issue today. I got a note from a senior person at my school who needed to convey some information and a request regarding the student, I went, spoke to them, and agreed to the request. However, I then learned from my immediate supervisor that my next-level supervisor is in a monkey-shit-fight turf war with a third department, and that the senior person had no right to request anything of me, and I may have just skewed the balance a tad.

Can't I just teach English? Is that too much to ask?

 

Yeah, you CAN just teach English - you don't have to teach punctuality or the importance of attendance on top of that.

Grade the student based on his/her progress toward the stated goal(s) of the course. If the stated goal of the course is to be able to speak better English, grade the English. If the absences have resulted in a lack of progress in learning English, then the mark will naturally be lower. If the student has been able to learn the required English despite his/her illness, then the mark should match. Clearly s/he has some extra resources (determination, intelligence, or whatever) that have made up for the lost class time.

If the stated goals of the course are to teach students the importance of good attendance, then this is all moot. But it's pretty rare to see that in course descriptions, at least where I am.

 

I left this forum a few years ago for the same reason I left my writer's group - the human animal's seemingly unquenchable desire to lord it over other humans. Grin and bear it mate. I've only come back to the fourm very recently, and yeah it's still littered with ego-maniacs and gobshites galore, but you'll find some like-minded folks here too who are able to get over themselves. I'm here to share and learn about writing, but visual art is my bread and butter. And trust me dude, if you find the level of bullshit in the literary world tough to deal with, try getting involved with art galleries!
Welcome to the forum.

 

You're not being soft. If something doesn't feel right trust your instinct.

There's no point going to something with people you don't like or get on with. It'll just be a negative experience.

 

Ahoy, maties. Let's get this ship back on course.

 

What is a stoat? I could look it up on Google, but I think it's more interesting to find out this way.

 

I'm not Happy about getting this thread back on track.

 

Yeah we have weasels, just probably not anywhere near where I live (in the middle of a big ass desert). A lot of the wildlife here is pretty specific.

 

Is it only a ferret when someone pays too much to keep it as a pet then?

 

The difference is:

A mouse is a domesticated rodent that you can own.
A rat should have kept their friggin mouth closed about how Vinny dumped that body in the river.


ETA: What's a stoat?

 

Maybe he was just trying to VISIT the chickens. Did you ever think of that?

I've watched enough Disney documentaries to know that animals from different species can be very good friends. I think you were judging your stoat far too harshly.

 

@BayView

Yep just like Disney.

 

That was a mean baby zebra. I'm actually pretty sure the lion is a time traveller and he came back in time to kill baby zebra Hitler. And then eat him, because... time travel makes you hungry.

 

Yeah but that little death squeak is a bit hard to listen to though, makes me a little sad.

 

I did not watch. I could tell just from the title that I should not watch.

All the same, I know it was a mean baby zebra. Some things you can just TELL.

 

I can't help but feel this could be narrated in a similar way to the Whale's brief monologue in the Hitchhiker book:

 

The ADA requires making buildings and services accessible, but excessive absences may not be something that one can always reasonably accommodate.

 

I just can't stop watching this.

It's beautiful....

 

I wish. Unfortunately, what happened was someone from [REDACTED] contacted me about the student, and made a suggestion about a reasonable accommadation. I agreed that it sounded reasonable.

However, [REDACTED] is not authorized to make suggestions to me, as I don't report to them administratively. The suggestion may have been reasonable, but [REDACTED] should have directed it to my supervisor several layers up, to be relayed down to me. Hence I'm in trouble for speaking to a member of [REDACTED], and thus endangering my department's position in the monkey-shit-fight.

Which could have dire consequences on the future of my department, and my continued employment. Just teaching isn't an option when there's shit flying 'round.

Seems to be sorted today, but still....