Whose To Blame

It always amazes me the way student speeches go. Usually this does not happen until the second or third speech the students give, but this semester, right from the get-go. They are given the speaking assignments well in advance. I give them my home phone number, my cell phone and my e-mail. I ask in class if they have any questions or need any one-on-one help with their speech. I tell them if they are uncomfortable, they should call me and ask for some assistance.

Well, the first day of speeches, one of my students never showed up. The student showed up the next class session and said a friend of hers had told her that the informative speech was actually persuasive. The student claims she e-mailed me asking this question, with a copy of the speech. Now, I never got it, but even more troubling is the fact that at the 11th hour, she is making changes and not ready to go. Better to do the speech on time, even if it is missing the objective of the speech than to give it late. What is the student waiting for.

A second speaker e-mailed me at 11:30PM, the night before her speech was to be given. The e-mail told me of trying to finish a powerpoint presentation and now having just got a computer with vista, she was having trouble putting the last few slides together. She asked if she could switch to the next day. It would be better if students did not wait until the last minute to put the finishing touches on.

I am a softy. So for all the protests I make here, I let students switch things around. I do, however, take off a few points, as the speech is not given on time.

So, the question is, am I contributing to this type of destructive behavior or is it just the students? Either way, hopefull this behavior will stop.