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Teacher remarks and down this week *vent* - anon
Posted: May 18, 2010
This has been a difficult MT week for me. I was having a really difficult time with a test I had to submit and asked for some direction from my teacher. She pointed out bluntly what I had wrong and chastized me in my thought process of how I came about the answer.
I relistened, researched with her direction, and still was unsure. I vented my frustration saying that I was discouraged that maybe I was not cut out for MT, as my GPA is 90% 4 sessions away from graduation, and I was unsure about how I could improve my skills.
Not that I expected a pep talk exactly but some additional assignments or further direction would of been nice instead of the reply "No, not every student is cut out to be a medical transcriptionist" and continued to give me direction on something I had already corrected and was not asked about in this email.
While I have a pretty thick skin, I must say that this has shaken my confidence on what I can do. I am a smart person I had a 4.0 in the 2 other degrees I achieved so I know that I should be able to do this. I am having a hard time jumping back on that horse and trying again so I am taking the day off from schoolwork until I can have a better outlook.
Some thoughts for you - sm
[ In Reply To ..]The thing about education is that the only way to gauge yourself is to realize the truth. Sometimes it is good, sometimes not so much.
Chances are she was trying to teach you how to think about the problems you were having in the test and maybe went overboard.
MT work cannot be judged by another type of work. It is a horse of a different color in every way.
A 90% will make it difficult for you to get a job - not impossible, but difficult. The quality expectations for MTs is really high. Your grade point average is a direct reflection of your understanding of what you've studied.
Sometimes it is hard to take in the truth but if you know how examine your grade at this point with what will be expected, you can make an informed decision on whether you want to or should continue.
If you want to e-mail me, I would be happy to talk to you about how to look at this situation.
Wishing you well either way.
Either way I will continue to finish the program - anon
[ In Reply To ..]I am not someone who will quit. The education may help me get a job in general transcription typing medical seminars or something.
I fully understand that 98% is expected of me in a medical transcription position field. What upset me with her email is that I was asking her for help and direction to help better myself, I did not get it. At this point I am still learning. I will make mistakes.
Decided to pick myself up and dust myself off - anon
[ In Reply To ..]Work up this morning and thought to myself, you can to keep going along hoping you will get it or you can take what was said and grow from it.
I made the decision to stop submitting any further assignments and go back to the beginning and retake EVERY test that I have taken so far.
While this will not change my GPA, I feel it will help me improve my confidence in myself and show me just how much I actually have learned, as well as adjust my new sound card settings. (I think I choke on taking the tests because I am putting so much pressure on myself to raise that GPA.)
This will set me back I am guessing about a month, and I will have to pay for an extension to finish my program.
Good for you. Just do your very best. - nm
[ In Reply To ..]nm
a few thoughts - sssdt
[ In Reply To ..]I went to M-TEC. No idea if you are there or not, but I can tell you that at M-TEC, the grade you get often depends on your teacher. They all grade differently (just like all QAs grade reports in the real world differently) and some there are simply not good at teaching.
My teacher refused to answer emails or phone calls. When she did answer, she would talk about something completely unrelated to what I had asked. I'm sure she wasn't the only teacher there like that.
But here's the thing: Despite my pretty low grades, I still got a job eventually. It took a very long time, but I got a job. If you test well, you'll get a job regardless of your GPA. I suggest not mentioning the GPA when applying and making them find out for themselves.
Oh, and if you're going to M-TEC, I should warn you that most of the jobs listed on the Career Opportunity Board say don't apply unless you got a 95% GPA or higher. M-TEC won't tell you that until AFTER you graduate, of course, because they're jerks. But I applied to these places anyway despite my low GPA, and I suggest you do, too. (If you get a good grade on your final, tell them THAT grade instead, something like "I received a 98% on my final exam with Blahblah School.")
Take a day off, relax, and come back to it and just do the best you can. Do more practice if you think that will help. Then decide if you want to go ahead with it or not. I suggest finishing since you're so close, it'll be a nice resume item if nothing else. Good luck.
I'm not so sure - about some of that
[ In Reply To ..]Even if your teacher didn't do a good job grading that usually means you get a higher score because they didn't catch something.
I always considered low grades and poor credit the same as high grades and excellent credit: They are all earned.
That doesn't make sense - sssdt
[ In Reply To ..]If a teacher is inconsistent in grades, and is even taking points off for things that shouldn't even be graded, how could I possibly get a better grade out of that? It's not logical.
Speaking of logical, if QA is inconsistent, so are teachers. It's the exact same principle. The inconsistency means you are told one thing and then, when you do exactly what your teacher told you to do, you get points off because the teacher has changed her mind/forgotten what the rules are.
But you sound like the kind of person who thinks someone whose credit was ruined from huge emergency hospital bills deserved it, so I'm not sure why I'm even bothering to reply.
To SSSDT - why did you
[ In Reply To ..]not request a different instructor? Also, my instructor always told me that you have to have a certain GPA to be competitive in the job market. I had a very high GPA, but I have earned it, and I am proud of it.
why do you think I didn't? - sssdt
[ In Reply To ..]The reason I know teachers graded differently is because I had 3 instructors: The original who graded things on whim, the one who graded while she was on vacation, and a 3rd after I asked for a new instructor. Then the final test was graded by a 4th person. They all graded differently.
The OP had problems with her teacher that sounded just like the problems I had, so I wanted to commiserate with her and tell her my own personal experience. I'm not going to apologize for that just because you want to insist that our worth as an MT is based on our GPA while in school.
I did not have a good GPA but have worked full time for several months. I was off QA after 2 weeks and have been contacted about errors only twice. I'm proud of the work I do, and the GPA I got does not reflect my ability.
I think that's important for the OP to hear, too.
Well, sounds like - MT
[ In Reply To ..]while you may not have liked how they graded your work, M-TEC succeeded in preparing you for work as an MT (despite your poor grades).
Just dont' take it personally - sm -
[ In Reply To ..]You will probably be told worse at some point. Instruction/corrections should be constructive. As long as they are not being nasty and yelling at you, try to learn from what they tell you. Again, don't take it personal, I understand that can be hard to do but you need to separate emotion from the picture or else you will go crazy. I have had issue with several MTs I work with when cross training them on multiple accounts. Total prima donna's, I pointed out some mistakes to both, nicely and both threatened to quit (guess they are independently wealthy). One was just putting in commas way too much, possibly correctly (thought there were a lot) but the doctor in question did not want commas even if they were grammatically correct. You only put one if he dictated it, otherwise, no. She took offense at that. The other one made some mistakes she shouldn't have with someone with 10 years experience, tubiligition (should have been tubal ligation) and laws (should have been loss-- talking about bone loss, not bone laws), just dumb stuff like that on a consistent basis that should not have been happening. Both freaked on me and went crying to the boss, was truly amazing. The one lady has since quit (someone else ticked her off) and the other is still there but I just don't deal with her anymore as she gets very abusive when you try to correct her; why she still has a job I have no idea.
I expect that on the job of course - anon
[ In Reply To ..]I would expect that on the job, but I am in school learning and asking her for help and that is what she told me. She did not say... here are some extra assignments. She did not come up with plan that I did to help (to go back through old tests and redo them). She gave me no direction.
I am prepared to hear those things from an employer if I am not up to their standards but not a teacher who should be teaching me.
I did not take your post personally at all. I am just making the point that I understand the difference between an employer stating constructive criticism to me in the future, and a teacher not giving me direction when I am asking her for help.
Maybe talk to her supervisor at the school - sm -
[ In Reply To ..]and see if they can help you, that is if you have not tried that already, or tried discussing with the teacher/instructor already. She is right that some people are just not cut out for this, but that is obviously not a smart thing to say to someone trying hard to master their course and who really wants to do this. She should be encouraging you and suggesting ways you can do better. She could just be a sucky teacher and have no patience for it. If she totally ignores your questions, then email them back again, highlighting them in a bright color, saying, but you did not address my concerns, please help, what do you suggest I try in order to master/get more competent, etc. If you have a phone # then call her. If she cannot help you or answer your questions then she has no business being a teacher for the school. Good luck!
Are you asking questions about a test before you take the test? - Just wondering
[ In Reply To ..]I don't agree that teachers should be all warm and fuzzy. They are there to teach. They don't need to be mean and snarky, but their job is to help students think and learn to find answers for themselves. Once they've taught you the skills to be able to do that, they don't need to praise you when you aren't doing well. It's better to just tell you that you need to do better are you aren't going to make it in this career field.
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