I fancy myself a very reasonable faculty member. I try very hard to create course experiences that simultaneously allow for flexibility while also holding students accountable for their coursework. For example, if something happens in students' lives, I'm usually pretty understanding and rarely deduct points for a late assignment when students have contacted me to let me know they're having trouble. Of course, if students have problems like clockwork right around every due date, I have to begin considering the essential requirements of a course and the consequences of their not being met. But in any event, I avoid making personal judgments about students based upon their work habits, a habit that I've seen many pre-licensure faculty fall into that results downright ugly behavior (we all had at least one instructor like this, right?)

In reflecting on my own response to Ike, I've recognized some fault in my own understanding of students' experiences. Of course, I understand that if students don't have electricity, then they can't do their coursework, and I certainly will not be penalizing anyone for missed work during time periods such as these. But really, it seems to be more than that... it's not just the time and work missed, but the mounting stress of knowing that there is a lot of work to do -and more accumulating by the hour- and that everyone else in the class is doing that work while they are unable to do so because they lack electricity and/or internet access. It's isolation from a community, and, especially in group work, guilt for not being able to contribute to the discussion or to help solve problems in the class.

A student that I talked with over the summer as part of a study involving Central Chinese students' undergraduate educational experiences told me a sad story. She had failed to finish her KaoYan (graduate entrance exam - sort of like a GRE, but much more important) and began to worry that she had ruined her chances for a good life (such is the importance of education in China). The KaoYan is administered right before winter break in January, so she went home to visit her parents and to break the bad news mere days after taking the test. China was extremely cold in the winter of 2007; her home was without electricity and blanketed in snow for nearly three weeks. How awful it must have been for her, entombed in a cold house with her sense of failure and her family's uncertain future a grim reminder of her shame and hopelessness.*

While certainly no equal to the grim experience above, I recall a certain sense of hopelessness in my own academic work. Having collected copious amount of data for my dissertation, but failing to organize that data well, I clearly remember sitting at a 4x8 table with hundreds of pages of field texts laid out before me, thinking, "I have no idea where to start." An unsettling thought, that. I was paralyzed by the thought that I had to mold this mass of papers and photographs and recordings and (online) emails into a cogent characterization of educational use of the internet in China, all within 5 months. I felt utterly lost, and imagined that the data was actually growing before my eyes as time was inexorably ticking away. Hopeless.

Different situations? You bet. But perhaps not entirely dissimilar. From some of the blogs I have read here thus far, and through my own lens of experience, this is one of things that I imagine. What would have been helpful is if I had sent my students emails before the storm hit, "If you lose power, it's OK. We'll sort things out when you get re-settled, so don't worry," but I didn't think to do so. I'm willing to wager that I'm not the only one, either. (Some) teachers know that they will be reasonable with students, but students don't always know that. Teachers get comfortable, and without meaning to, they can cause problems for students just by being a bit out of touch.

This is where evaluation is useful. I've come to recognize my own mistakes, but it's quite possible that I would not have had I not specifically been thinking about it because of these blogs. Then again, perhaps I'm totally off. Perhaps my perceived mistake is not a concern to the student body of the MSN-NE program. The only way we'll ever find out is to ask.

*Happy Ending: She actually did very well, despite not finishing, and is now attending the most highly regarded university in China for students of her major.

PS - My apologies for the lengthy hiatus! It's been "one of those semesters" -teaching four new classes, doing this blog project, working with dissertation students, mentoring a new program coordinator, and trying to find time to continue to engage in my research. So, I've fallen a bit behind in my work. I'm presently posting this from a conference in Florida after having received an email reminding me that I hadn't posted in over three weeks. It's times like these that I most appreciate being flexible and understanding to my students, as I nearly always find this kindness to be infectious. What I have been doing is looking through all the blogs to identify themes that are emerging thus far. I hope to finish by Sunday and make a post so as to provide some ideas for people to discuss and reflect on from their own perspective.