TA Research Methods Problem Student and Professor

[Quantitative_Psychology]

To start with, I've been a Research Methods TA for 2 years and never had a problem until this one summer class. However, for this summer course, I'm under a new professor who, unlike my past professors, is an extremely poor communicator (this may adding to my problems). Basically, for this class, my responsibilities include grading assignments (mostly papers for APA formatting). Yesterday, I graded my first assignment. The students didn't do particularly well because they messed up on APA formatting quite a bit. This is pretty standard for the first assignment in the course. However, three students went to the head of the department to complain about me and try to say that I needed to attend the course. They said they had no access to me (despite my email being on the syllabus with a note saying I would meet per email request). Then, I got several angry emails from students about the assignment demanding that I add points back to their grade.

The thing is my previous students have never been so hostile towards me about grading. Sure they've asked about grades, but I've never had any of them command I change their grades. In addition, I found out that one of the girls who complained about me to the head of the department was a girl who failed the Research Methods course I was a TA for last year. Evidently, she got all her friends to jump on the bandwagon.

My thoughts are that 1) the girl who went to the head of the department (without ever once talking to the professor or me) is angry because she failed last semester with me grading and this is some kind of revenge 2) the professor is somehow coming across as not having my back; thus, the students are trying to stomp all over me as the grader. Am I being paranoid? What should I do to improve the situation? Any advice would be appreciated (even if the advice is I'm overreacting).

[fuzzylogician]

What happened after the students went to the head of the department? Is there a chance you can refer all complaints to the professor and let them deal with it? It's not worth getting into fights in this situation, as the person with the least amount of power in the situation. Even if you think someone is getting a grade they don't deserve, it's not your problem if someone else decided to give it to them. I'd find a way to farm off problem students to be someone else's responsibility, if possible. If not, this might be a good time to start documenting everything and running everything past your professor (do they give you a rubric or do you make one -- either way, maybe you want to run what you do by them to get their approval, that way you can't be blamed for anything). However, before taking more drastic measures, it'll help to know if they had your back given these students complaints -- they might have, but just didn't do a good job communicating it. 

[TakeruK]

I agree with fuzzy and I would definitely advise that you try to talk to the course professor as soon as possible, and certainly before you talk to the students again or make any changes. Find out what the professor expects of you and assess to what extent they will "have your back". As fuzzy pointed out, you have the least power in the situation (compared to your prof and the dept head), so I would want to first find out expectations.

My other advice is to try to not take it personally or try to figure out why these students might act the way they did. I know this is easier said than done, but ultimately, it doesn't really matter what these students think of you. They cannot "command" you to attend the classes or to change their grades! In the end, your main role is to do the grading as the instructor provide and attend classes/do work as the instructor requests. So in that sense, I would try to put more barriers between you and the students when it comes to these "inappropriate" requests. Some strategies I have employed have been things like agreeing ahead of time that all grade changes / policy exemptions etc. have professor approval only and so when I get these emails, I forward them to the professor and copy the student.

In most of my TA jobs, there is a limit to how many hours I'm supposed to put towards that TA position. Attending class takes a lot of time so I generally sit down with the professor ahead of time and we talk about how they want me to spend these limited working hours. Generally, we decide that it's a better use of my time to grade homework or provide feedback on projects and plan/teach review sessions (especially prior to an exam) than it is for me to attend class. Often, if students comment on things like whether I have enough office hours, etc. I tell them to the effect of that I have a set number of hours and the professor and I have agreed on a work schedule that will hopefully best meet everyone's needs, however, I welcome their feedback. I only say the last part if they worded the question/request/comment in a polite manner. And I do pass on their feedback to the professor, but it's clear that students do not dictate how I spend my work hours as a TA!

[Quantitative_Psychology]

Thanks for the advice! It was actually pretty awkward when the students went to the department head because the department head went and talked to the professor. It was an odd situation because the students had never spoken to the professor or myself about the issues that they were having. I'm pretty sure the professor was embarrassed by the whole thing.

The professor created a very clear rubric for each assignment in this class, and I great exactly to the rubric. However, in both instances of my grading, he has changed the rubric retroactively to give students more points because he feels he did not properly explain something to them during class. I know he is able to do this as the professor, but I do think it may be what makes students take my grading less seriously. 

Both @fuzzylogician and @TakeruK are probably on the money that I need to meet with him to voice my concerns about students. Originally, I felt like he wanted me to handle all grading issues, but he might not have had this kind of situation in mind when he said that. Surely this is outside the realm of normal TA grade resolutions. Thanks again for the advice!

[cowgirlsdontcry]

I worked as a TA to professors during my MA. Although I did not grade for them, I did meet with students about their papers. Occasionally, something would be so bad, I would tell them they had to rewrite it. Sometimes, they would try to go around me and ask the professor to read their paper. The professors would always ask if I had seen their paper, because I would tell them when a student paper was so bad I had to ask them to rewrite it. I could not attend every class I TA'd for, as I would have been on campus all day every day. But, over the two-year period, I had attended enough of the classes to know what the professors wanted. What I'm getting at here is that you need to talk to the professor about this to be sure you are on the same page. 

This is completely superfluous now that I see your last post, but might explain why the professor changed the rubric to give students more points. The other thing of note is whether you are grading too hard on Style (APA in this instance). One thing I learned when I taught my first section of composition last year, is that many times, other departments expect the English department to have taught all of their different styles in first year writing. We do not do that. We teach MLA, our own style. It gives students who are not English majors an opportunity to begin learning how to use style, but individual departments need to teach whatever Style they wish for students to use. Even university writing centers may only know MLA and Chicago. I was really careful as a TA to go over MLA (the style English departments use) in both class and when going over papers with students. It takes time to understand Style. I still use Purdue Owl for reference as MLA had its 3rd change in 5 years in 2016, and I have to keep looking at how things are handled. Unless the rubric specifically discusses Style and assigns a portion of the grade to it, I discount a grade very little for poor usage of Style, unless the student is an upper level.

[Quantitative_Psychology]

@cowgirlsdontcry You're on point about grading too hard on APA style. As much as I personally dislike it, at least half of the points for assignments are APA formatting. My rubric states I need to take off 1 point per mistake. Students, of course, find it very unfair, but I can't change the rubric a professor gives me. I think it has to do with the class being Research Methods. So the point is for students to understand the writing style standard in the psychology field.

[cowgirlsdontcry]

1 hour ago, mav160 said:

@cowgirlsdontcry You're on point about grading too hard on APA style. As much as I personally dislike it, at least half of the points for assignments are APA formatting. My rubric states I need to take off 1 point per mistake. Students, of course, find it very unfair, but I can't change the rubric a professor gives me. I think it has to do with the class being Research Methods. So the point is for students to understand the writing style standard in the psychology field.

I understand that upper level students need to understand the style and there's nothing you can do about it, as it is not your class. Makes it really difficult for you to do your job. The professor should make it clear to the class that this is his rubric and you simply follow his instructions.

[maxhgns]

On 7/20/2017 at 5:29 PM, mav160 said:

Both @fuzzylogician and @TakeruK are probably on the money that I need to meet with him to voice my concerns about students. Originally, I felt like he wanted me to handle all grading issues, but he might not have had this kind of situation in mind when he said that. Surely this is outside the realm of normal TA grade resolutions. Thanks again for the advice!

 

Yeah, you can totally kick all the grade complaints up the chain of command to the prof in charge of the course. If the professor notices a mistake or changes the rubric, then it's up to him or her to tell both you and the students how to go about re-grading. Meet with the students when they ask to meet with you, and explain why they got the grade they did. And then if they still want more credit, tell them that you don't have the power to change their grades, that has to go through the professor (even if it's not entirely true, you won't get into trouble for being overcautious). Wash your hands of it completely.

I've TAed a lot at this point, and I almost never change the grades myself, even when I have the power to do so. If I made a mistake, I'll email the prof on the student's behalf to confirm that I made a mistake, but that's it. They can talk to me about their grades, and I can advise them about how to present their cases to the prof, but I don't do the regrading myself.