Realizing that only two weeks stands between her and the end of the semester, English major Jennifer Alexi hurriedly sketched out a plan last Wednesday to make up a semester’s worth of participation points over the course of five class periods.
According to Alexi, at the beginning of the semester she would justify her lack of participation by telling herself things like “there was no way to get a word in edgewise if the professor spent the whole class explaining the reading,” but admits that it will be harder to come up with similar justifications over the next few weeks.
“This semester just kind of flew by,” said Alexi. “Just a minute ago, it was week three and I had the whole semester ahead of me. I’m not even sure my professor knows my name.”
Alexi confirmed that while the majority of her classmates regularly had something to offer up during discussions and seemed to have developed a cordial relationship with their professor during office hours, she had little doubt that she could foster the same relationship on an accelerated timeline.
“It shouldn’t be too difficult,” said Alexi. “I’ll try to get the conversation going a few times. Show initiative. And then if I can get a little back and forth going about 10 minutes before the end of class, that will really leave him with a good impression.”
When reached for comment, Alexi’s professor stated that he has never actually given someone a participation grade lower than a B.
