No, not really. This is especially true when you have to go over why their projects were horrible and why they all failed. It was funny, although, when I showed one craptastic set drawing, and one student said, "That's horrible." His group member turned and quietly informed him that it was theirs. They laughed at the gum wrapper on the paper, but were upset when they didn't do well. One girl cried and said that she wouldn't get into college because of me. Tears streamed down her cheek, making dark, smudged mascara lines that stretched from her lid all the way down to her cheeks. She and her group had worked half hazzardly on the project and, on her daily grade, she had stated her lack of effort. Yet, it was my fault that she failed. I was unclear; I was unfair; I expected too much from them. Before handing the projects out, I gave them a new copy of the instruction sheet and went through it. I had them jot down the important information and underline the key ideas. They had no issue understanding it then.
It was humorous that as we went through it I heard students whisper, "Oh." They hadn't followed the directions, they hadn't listened to instructions, and they knew the consequences would be grim. Although it was clear then, when they saw their graded project they claimed it wasn't clear in the past. How could clarity escape them so fast? Why won't they just take responsibility and say, "Hey, we screwed up." But no, blame me for everything. I just write, read, and repeat instructions for my own ears. If they choose not to listen then it's all me.
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