Proofreading is important

I have an ongoing assignment in my class where the students submit responses to reading assignments from their textbooks. In the midst of a submission, I came across this that a student had written:

"yeah trying to finish up dis stupid reading assignment on blackboard"

Do I need say more?

When I discovered it, I copied and pasted it into my powerpoint presentation for the day. I showed it to the class and explained to them that they may want to read over what they have written before they submit it to me. Better yet, they may want to consider refraining from text messaging and/or instant messaging, or whatever the case may be while they are completing an assignment. I also said that I understood that some of them may not appreciate the reading assignments so I gave them another (different) writing assignment to do. Many of them asked if the new assignment was in lieu of the other assignments and I gladly told them that no, it was in addition to. I also gladly pointed out that when I meant "in addition to" I did not mean bonus, which is something that seems to be confusing to them.

The guilty party did come up to me after class and apologized. Hopefully she understood that she should spend more time concentrating on the assignment, not that she should make sure that she did not inadvertently type something into the assignment.

Reading Questions

My students have an ongoing assignment this term. While reading the textbook they are supposed to submit responses to the following 10 times throughout the term:

1. List definitions of unfamiliar words encountered during your reading.
2. Tell me something you found interesting in your reading.
3. Tell me something you found confusing in your reading.
4. Tell me something, from the reading, that you would like to discuss in lecture.

There's also a grading rubric for this. The more thought put into the responses, the higher the grade.

Well, here's a submission I got today. Word-for-word. Nothing added, nothing omitted.

I found the entire reding on enzymes interesting. The for it that is is a work that is passed around like the word and. The book breaks down the true meaning of the work and the workings of enzymes.

WTF? WHAT THE FUCK????

I'm not "cool" with it

"Hey Ms. A, I just wanted to let you know that our flight was going to be delayed tomorrow and we had to catch an early flight out. I hate that I am taking this trip the first week of school, but I can promise you that I wont be missing any more days. I really appreciate you being so cool with this."

Dear Student,

I’m not “cool” with your being absent. You will still be marked as absent and you will still be responsible for learning the information you missed in lab today for the quiz you will have next week.