"Did I miss anything important?"

She probably wanted to know if there'd be a test or grade directly dependent on whatever material you went over that day.

I know that when I was teaching highschool and there was a test coming up, some teachers gave pretests, which essentially prepared the students for exactly what information (down to how each question would be worded and formatted) would be covered on the test.
So that, in reality, all the students would have to study would be their completed pretest, which had been corrected for them- so in essence, they were going into the test having been given at some point, all the correct answers. What was being tested was their attentiveness, resourcefulness and power of memory, not their knowledge of a particular subject- aside from a few select facts.

This contrasted greatly with how I was tested in highschool. The teacher would say, "Test on chapter five (of whatever, Algebra, biology, chemistry). And if someone said, "What specifically will be covered from chapter five? Or, what do we have to know" the teacher would say, "You better know everything." They also expected you to already know how to study.

That's closer to my teaching philosophy as well; I can't bring myself to stoop to the "entitlement approach" to teaching whereby students have license to complain when they aren't given a precise list of questions that will appear on the exam. A colleague of mine once gave an exam in which a student (who'd been blowing off the class all semester) "answered" one of the essay questions with a belligerently written complaint that the professor hadn't held an extra review session at the end of the term. Now, call me old fashioned, but when I was in college an extra review session was something the professor did as a favor, not as an obligation that students were entitled to.

The nature of the course I'm currently teaching is such that every class covers fair game for exams and such. It's a musicianship skills class for total beginners; the final grade is determined largely by their ability to sight-sing. It's a lot like a language course in that every concept we learn is aimed at improving their performance skills, and so to that extent everything we cover is pertinent to the final grade.

Shapeless- I was really surprised at your "take" on the subject. At first glance, I think that the question that the student asked was a reasonable one. I don't know what kinds of students that you have, but unless you have a classful of goof-offs, and are burnt out from them, I cannot imagine why you would take umbrage at the question. She DID apologize after all, and IMO asked a reasonable question.

I can understand the upset about "anything important." If it weren't important, why would Shapeless be spending the time to teach it?

DrewDad- You are dealing with an adolescent. To a student, there are priorities. I think that Shapeless is taking the entire thing personally, and is overreacting.

If it were me, I would be surprised (and pleased) that the student had the good manners to apologize for not being in class.

Shapeless- I think that you may have gotten your ego involved in all of this. I can understand that you may have inferred that the student implied that not everything that is taught in your class is so important. She is probably right, but I can see where her writing that might hit you the wrong way. Don't sweat it.

I should provide a little more context: this is a student who's been blowing off the whole term. She's missed more than half the classes, and the consequences of this became pretty apparent when she got her first quiz back a few days ago--she scored close to 0%.

As DrewDad mentions, if the material weren't important then I wouldn't teach it. I've had plenty of students in her situation before, and most of them at least had the tact to ask "What did I miss?" rather than "Did I miss anything important?" It is possible to ask "Did I miss anything important?" in an innocent way, but given this student's track record, "Did I miss anything important?" was a thinly veiled way of asking, "May I miss class with impunity?" I'd have thought her quiz grade would have made her realize that yes, she's been missing pretty important stuff.

In case you're wondering, my response to her question "Did I miss anything important?" was, when translated bluntly, "In all humility, I'd like to think so."

She could have used the lame excuse of "one of my gradparents died". College kids use that one up to 4 times a year. At least she was honest

You bet--I've certainly had my share of students who've had grandparents with curiously high mortality rates. A colleague of mine once had a student who missed a major, major grade and apparently felt compelled to offer an explanation that was proportionately catastrophic: the student said his grandmother died, his sister got married, his car broke down, he was sick, and his computer was destroyed by a virus all in the same weekend.

To clarify: I'm not begrudging the student her excuse for missing class. People oversleep; it happens. I'm questioning the manner in which she asked what material she missed.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate if she asked one of her classmates.

She's in your class to learn 'important' things. That's what education is. Important.

I'm not sure I'd be able to respond to a question like that from a student without bugging out on them.

Shapeless


Yes, because part of scholarship should be honing the ability to be able to discern on one's own between what is pertinent and important from what may be interesting but less fundamentally relevant information.

Shapeless--

I think your little Sleeping Beauty is clueless about many Facts of Life.

"Did I miss anything important?" just might be interpreted as showing a connection between attending classes and mastering course content. Unfortunately it could also so be an indication of, "Oops. Better start convincing the prof that I'm interested."

As for your reaction/over reaction: Every educator is entitled to at least two Episodes of Disillusionment per term. You don't like kids who try to play the system instead of studying the subject. You can't avoid these spinmeister types.

Is it any comfort to think that she's going to hang herself? Possibly in her own bedclothes?

so she doesn't put in the work and she fails your course. Perhaps you could be cheered by her learning the actions=consequences lesson.

If you let this stuff get to you too much I say it's time to find a career that doesn't eat you up so much

I think I crossed with Noddy who says things so much better than I do.

I work with teachers and often see them overwhelmed by the egocentric nature of the young students. I agree that 2 big blowups (not directly to kids) per trimester is about a sane level

Yes, that sounds entirely reasonable to me. It's the nature of the job. I've been lucky enough in my career to have not had to do it all that often, certainly not enough to make me question my career choice. As I said, most of the students I've had over the years have been mature enough to see that "Did I miss anything important?" is another way of asking "Do I have to feel bad about missing class?", and to see that either question is worth asking only to the extent that a teacher would ever answer "no"... which is a very small extent indeed.

Incidentally, the student came to my office hours today and asked if I could go over some of the things she bombed on the quiz. We spent a productive hour fixing problems she'd had because she's, ahem, missed a few classes. Now that's more like it.

well doesn't that warm your heart? Just when you think they couldn't possibly have one redeeming quality they surprise you all over again-and in a good way

It sure does. It's one of the most rewarding experiences of teaching--finding that student who appeared not to care now does care. It's a joy that never gets old.

Shapeless--

Another brand, snatched from the burning.

Did I miss anything important
My feeling is that you should reply that yes, they did miss something important, and that you appreciate their honesty. But, as stated in the syllabus (hopefully), they will need to get the missed information from their "study buddy" or another student in the class. If they complain, simply say how sorry you feel that they are frustrated (or make that part up if you aren't sorry). Put it back on them, its their responsibility to be in class. My favorite college professors would have pop quizes on the days of low attendance. He would have us put our names on a piece of paper and turn it in for 5 points. The points add up, and so do the zeros.