So many questions

Today’s post is a small sample of the questions students have asked this week. Online learning is… confusing?

• What is my overall score 3+, 4-, 4??
  Fear not, I had put the final score on the assignment.
  
  
• Is it possible if you could proof read it before I submit? it would honestly mean a-lot. 
  Turns out that a good spell check & grammar check program works wonders – but I appreciate the vote of confidence for my editing.
  
  
• Hey Mrs P I have  a lot to do like apply for university and work for other courses is it ok if I give you this either between this Friday and Sunday ?Lemme know ASAP
  
  
• Is there any suggestions as to due dates for these assignments ?
  I mean, we actually have due dates. They are on the assignments and posted on the Google classroom.
  
  
• If data is “Facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis.” and contains “Raw figures and facts”, according to one website, then how can it be biased? Does it depend on WHICH data you collect resulting in the information that is then presented? Is it because of omission and selection of certain data that causes it to be biased? If information can’t exist, as it relies on data, how then is the information never neutral?
  
  
• I was just wondering if you had a chance to fill out the reference sheet that I gave you in an email a while ago? I don’t mean to rush you I just want everything to be finished so I can submit it before the due date before  March. 
  Got it done waaay before that March deadline.
  
  
• I have no clue what is going on.
  Ok, not really a question, but this feels like a question. We chatted; the student now has at least some clue about what is going on.
  
  
• Would you mind just replying to me that you did get this message when you have a chance??
  As you can imagine, this email was somewhat longer.
  
  
• How is the algorithm biased and what makes it biased? It must be us because we all have different lenses, right? So, the data we decide to collect is what makes it biased?
  
  One of the big ideas we discussed was how language shapes our understanding of information. But how exactly? Is it because language goes hand in hand with culture, therefore changing the way we decode and process the information? Or perhaps it is diction? 
  Look at these amazing questions.
  
  
• I just finished my applications for post-secondary studies and it said I need a minimum of 70 % in ENG4U so can you please let me know where I’m at?
  Pretty sure this question came from the same student who asked to turn their work in between Friday and Sunday.
  
  
• How do you take attendance? I was in class.
  Conveniently, this student had been marked present because, well, they were in class. I even double-checked.
  
  
• I might be slowly going insane, like that woman from The Yellow paper,  and I haven’t even gotten to the part where I connect what I’ve learned to other things.
  
  How do metaphors influence/determine what and how we think? Yes, metaphors can change the way we think about ourselves, others and the world, but how? These are only physical things to understand abstract concepts, yet how can it change our perception and rationality of things?
  
  For example, how can your perception change when I say “Jill is like an ugly duckling” compared to “Jill is like a rough diamond”or if I say “love is like a journey” compared to “love is like a fire “. I know we’ve watched a video in class about it, but I can’t grasp the explanation.     
  I feel like this student already deserves an A just for the thinking in the emails they’ve been sending.
  
  
• Hi Mrs. Potts, when is the review due?
  I swear I give due dates. Really.
  
  
• I had 2 questions to ask you one is that I can’t find the meet so can you please send the link or are we not doing one today? Also, I re-submitted an assignment. Can you re-grade that too? 
  Y’all, that meet link is in the same place it always has been.
  
  
• I’m just not sure where to start. Is there any requirements you’re looking for to get a good grade on it? 
  Yes, there is.
  

To be honest, I love that kids send me all these questions – and these truly are only a sample. I love how easily they communicate and how willing they are to reach out. That doesn’t keep me from giggling every now and then. I mean, who sends an email to their teacher that just says, “I have no clue what is going on”?

Thank goodness we’re back in person tomorrow. Covid notwithstanding, it’ll be good to see their faces and hear the questions they’ve come up with since last week.