Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 7476
Submitted: March 22, 2021 at 2:17:35 PM
First Name: Sophia
Last Name: Blanchet
Student Number: 20150754
Email: 18smb9@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BAH
Plan: ARTH
Level of Study: 1
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Code: LING 100
Term: Fall/Winter
Year: 2021
Petition Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,
I am writing today asking you to appeal the deadline of March 5th 2021, the last day to drop a course during the winter semester. The course I wish to drop is Linguistics 100.
I wish to drop Ling 100 as I do not see that it is possible for me to pass the course. The combination of my anxiety and the online format has presented extenuating circumstances beyond my control that has made it very difficult for me to be successful in this course.
In the first semester of this course, I was worried about my performance leading me to reach out to a TA who connected me with Professor Bjorkman. Upon further discussion with my professor I believed that I would be able to balance out my grade during the second semester as many students find the second semester to be much more manageable. The professor encouraged me to attend the Thursday class rather than the Tuesday class. This is because the Thursday class did not include breakout rooms which cause me a great deal of anxiety. Attending the Thursday class was helpful but I also did a fair amount of my own research online to try and understand the material better. However, even with this additional effort I still struggled in this course and the extra time devoted to this class caused me to sacrifice a lot of my time for my other classes.
Linguistics is often referred to as ¿¿the math of language¿ and is generally taught in a similar way. I have always struggled with math but found success when I was able to sit down one-on-one with my teachers and have them walk me through the material. This is impossible in an online class format and I found that getting extra help through zoom to be insufficient. Like in math, I learn through visual cues with the teacher, which I was unable to do through an online format. In a normal year I would spend a lot of time during my professors' office hours to get help through visual learning.
On March 2, 2021 I received a 80.5 on my linguistics assignment. This was great news and caused me to be under the impression that I was improving and would be able to bring my grade up. After the March 5th deadline, I received a very poor grade on my assignment, meaning that I would not be able to get my grade up and pass the course. At this point it was too late to drop the course.
This course is different from all of my other courses. With my other courses there isn¿¿t always a ¿¿right¿ answer. Instead, my other courses ask you to be more creative and defend your answer. With Linguistics there is usually only one right answer. The answer with which I don't usually arrive at. I am much more successful in courses that require creativity, like in my other courses when I¿¿m asked to do a writing assignment.
This course has caused a great deal of excessive stress and anxiety and if courses are online again next year I will avoid selecting a course that requires in-person help in order for me to succeed.
Sincerely
Sophia Blanchet
I am writing today asking you to appeal the deadline of March 5th 2021, the last day to drop a course during the winter semester. The course I wish to drop is Linguistics 100.
I wish to drop Ling 100 as I do not see that it is possible for me to pass the course. The combination of my anxiety and the online format has presented extenuating circumstances beyond my control that has made it very difficult for me to be successful in this course.
In the first semester of this course, I was worried about my performance leading me to reach out to a TA who connected me with Professor Bjorkman. Upon further discussion with my professor I believed that I would be able to balance out my grade during the second semester as many students find the second semester to be much more manageable. The professor encouraged me to attend the Thursday class rather than the Tuesday class. This is because the Thursday class did not include breakout rooms which cause me a great deal of anxiety. Attending the Thursday class was helpful but I also did a fair amount of my own research online to try and understand the material better. However, even with this additional effort I still struggled in this course and the extra time devoted to this class caused me to sacrifice a lot of my time for my other classes.
Linguistics is often referred to as ¿¿the math of language¿ and is generally taught in a similar way. I have always struggled with math but found success when I was able to sit down one-on-one with my teachers and have them walk me through the material. This is impossible in an online class format and I found that getting extra help through zoom to be insufficient. Like in math, I learn through visual cues with the teacher, which I was unable to do through an online format. In a normal year I would spend a lot of time during my professors' office hours to get help through visual learning.
On March 2, 2021 I received a 80.5 on my linguistics assignment. This was great news and caused me to be under the impression that I was improving and would be able to bring my grade up. After the March 5th deadline, I received a very poor grade on my assignment, meaning that I would not be able to get my grade up and pass the course. At this point it was too late to drop the course.
This course is different from all of my other courses. With my other courses there isn¿¿t always a ¿¿right¿ answer. Instead, my other courses ask you to be more creative and defend your answer. With Linguistics there is usually only one right answer. The answer with which I don't usually arrive at. I am much more successful in courses that require creativity, like in my other courses when I¿¿m asked to do a writing assignment.
This course has caused a great deal of excessive stress and anxiety and if courses are online again next year I will avoid selecting a course that requires in-person help in order for me to succeed.
Sincerely
Sophia Blanchet
Documentation
Professional Letter: SMBAppealDocumentation.PDF
Professional Letter Detail: SMBAppealDocumentation