Assignment+1+-+Personal+Narrative

Tom Kowalski Professor Rhon Teruelle CCT205 26 January 2012 Personal Narrative Last semester, I enrolled in an introductory geography course offered at the University of Toronto at Mississauga. It is a full year course so I am still taking it in present day. One of the requirements for the course is that students complete two of the six field trips offered during the course of the year. They are worth fifteen percent each and are the premise behind my personal narrative and the power I had to strategically overcome. It was my understanding, as I interpreted in the first lecture of this class and read in the syllabus, that students were able to select any two field trips throughout the entire year. As per usual, the professor stressed that students sign up for the earlier field trips as there was limited space for each and they could not have everyone signing up for the last two. But as a typical student, I observed my schedule and decided that none of the three dates offered for the trips in my first semester conveniently worked with the rest of my schedule. With that, I decided that I would fit two field trips into the second semester. The rest of the first semester came and went, and with it many assignments from my other classes that seemed to be coordinated with the field trips. I was very pleased that I did not sign up for any of the field trips in the first semester. As the final month of first semester approached however, I received an e-mail. An e-mail addressed from my geography professor, it stated:

“ I notice that you have not signed up for a field trip this term. You have one field trip option remaining - November 12th. Please sign up for this trip on portal immediately - see the course syllabus for details on how to sign up. If you do not complete this trip you will lose 15% of your course grade.”

One can only imagine the horror I felt upon receiving this message. The other two dates for the field trips had passed, and the professor was claiming that I must attend this last one in order to receive a grade. To further the despair I felt through this e-mail, I double checked my schedule. I had three final assignments due the week following the November 12th field trip, not to mention the fact that students were required to complete a field report for the following Friday after the field trip. I was devastated and replied to my professor stressing that I had understood incorrectly that students could choose any of the field trips. This is what I wrote:

“Dear Professor (Let us call him Mis-Communicator), this message comes as quite a shock to me as I understood that “students may select any two field trips” to attend, as is stated within the course syllabus. Also in lecture it was made clear that any of the field trip dates throughout the entire year were available as long as there was space. Nowhere was it mentioned that one trip is to be completed in one semester and one in the other. Now I am positive I will be unable to attend the Nov 12 trip as I have other binding school appointments.  It would be great if you could reply with an alternative solution to this issue.  Thank you, Tom Kowalski.

 I do acknowledge that I perhaps should not have taken such an aggressive stance towards this issue, but still, I was furious. It was stated in the course syllabus that students could choose any of the field trips! To further my anger, all I received was the equivalent of an automated e-mail from Professor Mis-Communicator. This is what it read: “Please consult the course syllabus relating to missed term work policies and submit the required documentation to Sabrina Ferrari. All petitions are reviewed by a department committee. You will be informed of their decision by email.”  I was outraged. Of course I could not receive a petition as my only reason was, “I’m overwhelmed with other school work.” I felt it ridiculous that the Professor did not even acknowledge my claim that the course syllabus contained faulty information. Still, I did not even bother mailing the petition committee; I knew my chances were less than slim. So what was my only option? I strapped on my motivation, sucked up my pride, signed up and attended the field trip. Needless to say, the following week came with no sleep and extreme levels of anxiety. Finishing assignments with minutes to spare, I still managed to finish them all, and I achieved quite some decent marks in the process.  I have already signed up for an earlier field trip this semester in hopes of not having to repeat what happened last semester. I can only hope that Professor Mis-Communicator looks over the course syllabus and adjusts the field trip information so as to not confuse future students.

 Please consult the course syllabus relating to missed term work policies and submit the required documentation to Sabrina Ferrari. All petition are reviewed by a department committee. You will be informed of their decision by email.