We all failed!

Nursing Students General Students

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Today we got back the paper that counts for 30% of our grade in Fundamentals and everyone, myself included failed. As far as our instructor is concerned no one, not a single soul, did exactly as she wanted and therefore we have all gotten F's on our papers. She assigned a number grade to our papers. Out of a possible 100 the lowest was a 2 and the highest was a 50. No, I am not lying she actually gave someone a 2. We are a cohort so it's not like we can get away from this woman by dropping her class and she is the chair so what are our options?

The only thing that is in the works is that several students have written letters of complaint to the president of our college and this week it was promised that confidential meetings will take place with a dean and that the president of the college is very interested in what is going on.

Sigh, I am so tired. She is making everyone re-do their paper but there is no guarantee she is going to like the second version any better than the first.

To date: She has said that no one has passed any of her quizzes (never had a single graded quiz returned to us), no one gives good presentations (never seen the grades for those either) , and now everyone has managed to f*ck up this paper.

I know that nursing school is hard but I am royally sick of this woman's sh*t. Just about everyone (with the exception of a few true slackers) is passing every other class just fine but for some reason no one can pass her class.

Ugh! We are still dealing with the fall out of all of this drama.

On Monday the dean and the VP came to speak and in a nutshell we were told that our instructor/chair was sorry and things would improve. We were told that her class was cancelled for the day but that she would come to speak with us before the week was out. Well, she showed up today and gave a half-a** sarcastic apology...one of those...well I am sorry if YOU were offended, sorry if YOU mis-understood my intentions sort of things. Then she went on to say that she just wants us to get to the point of passing the boards and that this is all for us because SHE already has her RN license and PhD to boot. ;)

Anyhow, it's a long story so I am condensing it.

She tried to side track us with a discussion about the paper and she decides at that point to explain very explicitly what we needed to do for the paper (she never did this before). After she was finished she asked us what was so hard to understand (more sarcasm) about that and why no one had ever come to her and asked for clarification (many of us did btw).

Most of the class was silent but one brave soul decided to speak up. He said that it was because she intimidates people and talks down to them when they approach her. She looked at him like she wanted to drive a nail through his forehead :trout: but she covered up as best she could and said that she is sorry that WE think she is intimidating and that she has admitted from day one that she is abrasive and that she was born that way and has no intentions of changing.

So I could tell she was manipulating the situation and I decided to lay it out on the table. I wanted her to state in front of witnesses exactly what she wants from the class because I know better. She was trying to blow smoke up our butts and she was attempting to give as little information as possible, least she be held to her word. I know her type, as soon as the "powers that be" dissapear it's business as usual.

I asked her what her expectations of the class would be from this day forward. I asked her to lay it out for all of us in full from A-Z so that we would all know what to expect from her. She glared at me, hesitated and then said that she needed something to grade us on. Thought about it some more and then said that she could go by the paper (revised) and our presentations because they had improved. Some people from the class protested because they don't want to do her paper over again because they feel that she will give them a poor grade no matter what. So she offered another option, we can trash the paper but then we would have to take a cumulative final (good God NO!) and some people (who obviously hadn't thought it through) agreed to that.

So I raised my hand again (I like to live dangerously) and said that the peer-learning/peer-teaching method is excellent but sometimes the presentations have errors or information is left out...so would she be willing to fill in those blanks or correct mis-information since she is the expert?

She said we could refer to our books and supplemental readings to get information but that she would be willing to do a review during the last class before the exam (I hope no one was dumb enough to believe her).

So I thanked her and said: "Ok, Dr ____ so you are saying we have two options...we can finish our presentations and revise our paper or we can finish our presentations and have cumulative final? Am I correct? I just want to make sure that EVERYONE in the room understands what the options are?

She said yes those are your options.

Excellent! So at last we have pinned her down on what it is that we have to do in front of her bosses. Trust me that was a Herculean task.

After all of that she was waiting for a decision and some people in the class were ready to decide right then and there but...

Luckily, another brave soul said they wanted to have a class vote in private. Lol, I actually found that funny cuz if she could have smacked that person she would have but she agreed because her boss was standing right next to her.

The class as a whole debated the merits of each action and a third option was offered. We were offered the option to stop her class and pick it up next semester with a new instructor.

It sounds like a good idea but I think it's a really bad one upon further examination. Who is going to be a part of the interview process and hiring decision? Our chair. Who is going to decide on the curriculum? Our chair. Who is still going to be the chair of our dept? Our chair. Who is going to sign the form that goes to the state when it comes time for boards? Our chair.

I don't think we should earn her eternal spite by requesting that she no longer instruct us. It would be one thing if we could flat out get rid of her but we can't and there is no sense in making her anymore pissed off than she is right now. Besides the semester is almost over and she WILL NOT be allowed to teach after this class and that is the biggest bonus of all.

I think that she knows now that she has to toe the line and will likely be fairer with grading a re-write of her paper. Also, we were supposed to do the presentations, paper, and have a cumulative final exam. She is giving us the option to do a final or a paper. So she is willing to make a concession and I am actually grateful because I don't want a final exam from this woman.

I will let you all know how the vote turns out.

Thanks for the update. You're right, the melodrama is rather too much... What a weird and unbalanced woman. I wonder what's wrong with her, she really sounds like a shrew.

Specializes in cardiac med-surg.

did someone say "psych consult" ?!?!

Specializes in Utilization Management.

Cripes, if she was a patient, I'd get a psych consult. She needs some serious meds.

You did great, Falon. You'll make a great nurse.

Specializes in Utilization Management.

HAHAHAHA!! Muffie---Great minds, eh???

Specializes in ICU-Stepdown.

Man what a horrible example of a teacher! But I agree, she is more likely to give you a fairer shake, and why waste a semester? Most instructors only teach one part of the RN program -I pray she is only teaching one part.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I would take the "revise the paper" option. I took a doctoral level class where something similar happened. We all failed the paper (about a dozen PhD students!) and had to rewrite them. We had been furious that the expectations had not been followed consistently, but we rewrote them and the grades were OK in the end. In fact, I ended up learning an incredible amount from the professor and later asked her to write me a recommendation that won me an important research grant.

It was the "class from H***" and we called it at the time, but I learned a lot and eventually reconciled my relationship with this professor.

Specializes in ICU-Stepdown.

Perhaps, but this behavior is completely inappropriate behavior for a nursing class. Completely.

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