Devon Hensel is an old friend of mine from school (since 2nd grade, I think, though I’m not sure if she’d want to admit knowing me that long). She’s currently a professor at Indiana University and occasionally gets frustrated with her students. As a way to vent those frustrations, she would write “Dear Wayward Student” status messages on Facebook such as the following:
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Dear Wayward Student: thank you for the email.
1) “Hhhhhheeeeyyyy there prof, I’m not it class cuz imma kickin’ it on beak on Paaaadrrreee.” I was not aware that the University had started “beak” four days early, but this clearly explains your five week sabbatical from the course.
2) “Like, here’s my paper. I wanna be sure to turn it in on time.” Class is from 6-8:40 pm on Wednesdays. It is now 3am….on Friday.
3) “It was aweeeeesome writing on my first relationship….I hope I get full credit for this paper.” Unfortunately, this paper was actually due three weeks ago….You know, the same day you missed the exam.
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I admit, I sometimes feel the same urge to stab myself in the brain when I read stuff like that. What goes through some of her students’ heads is just… wow. But there are always likes and comments whenever she writes a new one (it’s probably related to the “rubbernecking” phenomena when people really need to see the results of a car crash).
I don’t remember exactly what inspired me to do it, but I consulted with Devon briefly, then created a very basic “Dear Wayward Student” page on Facebook. It sat there, cold and alone, begging for some attention, but alas, nothing. Until Devon wrote a new Dear Wayward Student status message recently, at which point I reminded her about the page and BOOM! People get to start reading stories without having to surf through her timeline.
As a bonus, other teachers have been adding comments to the page that go through their heads, but they’re polite enough to not say anything out loud. Comments like “If you have to introduce yourself to me at the end of the semester, chances are your bid for higher participation points won’t work.”
So if you want to indulge in a little bit of Interwebs-based rubbernecking, Dear Wayward Student has a Facebook page and a Twitter account. One caveat: if you stab yourself in the brain, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
