teacher was killed and I don't know what to do!

[georgia_princess]

Here we are almost at the end of the med surg one and I finally start to pull my grades up and my teacher gets killed in a car accident. They cancel all remaining classes and gives us the final 2 days after her funeral. Mind you that I am on the border of passing and failing with no new grades coming in and I am stressed out. We had no review for the final and were just told to be there the day of the final. I failed the final and Got a "D" in the class. Do I let it go and just wait or should I appeal or do I not have the right? Please help

[llg, PhD, RN]

I would go through the appeals process. Express your sympathy for the school and the faculty for the loss of their friend and colleague, but explain that you needed the education that was missed in order to learn the material and get a better grade. Be willing to agree to some sort of compromise or process that would not just give you a better grade, but that would give you a 2nd chance to demonstrate that you have mastered the matter.

I certainly can't speak on behalf of your school, but I seved on an appeals board many years ago. If the students came to us respectfully and were willing to demonstrate that they had mastered the material (as opposed to just wanting their grades raised and/or having a hostile, angry attitude), we usually gave the student some possibility of a positive outcome.

[LiveZen]

I had a professor who was killed about 2/3 of the way through the semester. It was my intro psych class....the prof was great...so that was hard on all of us. They brought in a new prof, and reworked the grading scale a bit.

I would definitely bring it up to whoever your grade appeals would be directed towards...see what they can do for you. Try to take a calm, non-confrontational approach and they'll be more likely to work with you.

So sorry to hear about your professor...it's a tough situation.