Thanks for a good, and almost normal, semester

[Zellmer, Robert]

I hope your finals are going well.

I want to say thanks for a good semester.   We're almost back to
normal.  At least we've had in-person lectures.  I like being able
to do demos.

I know I didn't get to know all of you. At least I got to see parts of
your faces during lecture and some full faces during my exhilarating
Zoom office hours but not for most of you.  I saw some names during
office hours and in e-mails and I may recall them in the future if I see
them.  I'm disappointed I didn't get to see more of you since I won't
recognize you when I maybe run into you, unless you're still wearing
a mask and I recognize you from the eyes up.  Since you got to see
my picture on Carmen or my whole face during office hours please
say hi and introduce yourself.  Forgive me though if I don't remember
your names.  As the years go by I often don't remember names for
very long.  Hey, I've had close to 30,000 students so far in my career
That's a whole lot of names and faces.  They say your life flashes
before your eyes when you die so I figure it will take awhile for me to
die if I have to go through all the faces I've come into contact with.
Besides, my stubborn side will make me hold on as long as possible.
There's so much I still haven't seen or learned.

Thanks for your cooperation at the final.  We got set up pretty quickly
and things went pretty smoothly.

I want to say a special thanks to those who continued to come to
lecture.  I'm grateful for that.  It's much easier to lecture when people
are there.  I enjoyed the more personal interactions being in person
and doing demos.  I hope no matter what the outcome, you can say
you learned something.  I think there were times we actually had a
little fun and laughed a little, even at my bad jokes.  Hey, I'm not
getting paid enough to come up with good ones.  Whoever thought
you would be able to laugh during a chemistry lecture.  Maybe you
even learned something new and found a few things interesting (like
how geckos can walk on walls or you can drink boiling water, etc.).
Sometimes even the simple and mundane parts of life can be really
interesting when you know something about the underlying reasons.
Please continue to learn as much as you can and educate yourselves
about life around you.  It will come in handy someday (like walking
up a wall like a gecko or Spiderman).

A shout out goes to those who asked questions.   Asking questions
in lecture is good.  I will say I got more questions when lecturing
remotely last year than this semester in person.  Perhaps people
feel more comfortable asking when not in person.  I can understand
that.  People are shy or afraid to speak up because they think their
question is "stupid".  Get over that.  You learn by asking questions
and if you have a question it's a sure bet someone else has that
question or maybe didn't even think about it.  It also lets me know
what you don't understand and hopefully do something to fix the
problems you're having right then.

A special shoutout goes to those who came to office hours.  That
kept me on my toes and I didn't get so lonely waiting for people to
show up.  Plus, it helped me to realize what people were still having
trouble with and when time allowed go over it again in lecture.

A very special shout out goes to my new workout partners who tried
to rip the pop cans apart.  All in good fun.  You'll know what I'm talking
about if you attended class lecture.  Also, a special shout out to all
who helped with other demos.

Finally, thanks to all of you who caught errors in the textbook, the
solutions manual and Mastering.  It helps all of you when I can send
the corrections out and helps Pearson make things better for future
students.

I know this course is tough and we cover a lot of material in 14 weeks.
Chemistry is done so you can all rest a little easier.  I know some of
you are done for good and are probably really happy about that.  I know
some of you have to take Chem 1220.  You'll use quite a bit of what you
learned this semester.  Look back over 1210 material during the break
if you're taking 1220 in the spring, especially if you were struggling.
Pay particular attention to Ch 11 and 5 since you'll use that material
right away in Ch 13.

I know some of you may have to repeat.  That's not the end of the world,
as you may think right now.  It is not the worse thing that will happen to
you in your life.  We all know this now with everything that's going on.  It
happens now and then, even to the best of students.  If you will be
retaking the course, please speak to me before you do, even if I'm not
your instructor. I'm sure if approached properly anyone can pass this
course and do well.  I don't want you to have to repeat a second or third
time. Repeating a course will not put an end to whatever your dreams
are.  Believe me.

You can go on to 1220 with a D in 1210 but you could struggle if you
don't make sure you learn the material better.  Also, once you go on to a
subsequent course in Chemistry and later repeat a previous course to get
a better grade, the grade in that course isn't forgiven.  Keep this in mind
if you plan on going on to 1220 with the intention of going back and
repeating 1210 for a better grade.  Your original grade in 1210 would
then not be forgiven and still factored into your GPA.  Besides, it doesn't
make sense to go on to 1220 if you plan on repeating 1210.  Repeat
1210 first to make sure you know the material.

The final exam, total scores and grades will be posted as soon as possible.
I know it feels like forever to get your grades.  I realize it can be excruciating
wondering what your grade will be.  The Vice Chair will make grade cuts
and we'll discuss them.  Your grades should be in Carmen soon, probably
on Monday.  They won't likely be in BuckeyeLink until Monday.  Please be
patient, it's not an easy task for the office staff to get grading done for ~4000
students in our first-year courses in just a few days.

Once you get your grades,  before e-mailing to ask if there was a curve think
about what a 'normal' grading scale is and then look at your score and your
letter grade.  When we say we "curve" the grades a lot of people think it
means we add points to your raw scores or percentages.  That's not what
we do.  We adjust grade cuts.  In high school maybe you needed a 60% to
pass with a D but now maybe it's 53% (just an example).  We adjust the
grade ranges (cutoffs) slightly based on the points (percentages) everyone
received for the course as a whole, not each individual piece.  Your
percentages do not change.  I mentioned this in a previous e-mail.  It's also
addressed in the syllabus.

Our class had on-line quizzes for recitation.  This will be taken into account
when the grades for our class are set.  I won't go into details but I want to
assure you, the lower recitation average compared to some other 1210
sections because you had quizzes and other sections may not have will
not adversely affect your final letter grade.  This will be taken into account.

If you wish to inquire about your grade, you can but again think about what
it would have been w/o any curve.  I may not be able to answer e-mails
immediately.  I'm already working on stuff for spring semester.  I'm also in
the middle of what's turned from a minor renovation into a bit of a mess.  I
should have learned from all those renovation shows on HGTV. I will try to
answer e-mails as quickly as I can.

It really was a pleasure this semester.  It was interesting being back in
person.  Things may still not be quite normal but it's getting there.  Maybe
by next semester they'll fix the problems with the audio/video equipment
and lights in 1000 MP.  It certainly made things interesting.

Have a good break.  Enjoy yourselves and rest up.  Good luck next
semester and in the future.

Dr. Zellmer

P.S.  One more bad dad joke I heard awhile back.  You might have to think
for a few seconds.

What did the bear say to the bear hunter when they met in the woods?

(scroll down)



Moo!
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