The scenario: 0ut of twenty-two students, two submitted all required materials while twelve did not submit rough drafts and twelve did not submit reflective writings. The syllabus policy allows but does not dictate that twenty students receive F grades for not submitting everything required. This occurrs approximately midway through the semester.
Since this is not the first paper the students have turned in, I can assume that they knew what was required and how to fulfill said requirements. Therefore, the only logical explanations are 1) the students somehow thought that the rough drafts and reflection essays were not due for this particular paper, 2)the students did not care enough to remember to turn in their rough drafts and/or write the reflection essays, 3) the students decided that requiring these materials was stupid and refused to submit the rough draft or write the reflection essay, or 4) the students did not have time to write reflective essays because of other coursework, jobs, personal crises, etc.
I am not a good mind-reader, so I would ask my students as a class why they did not turn in all of the materials. If the students were resistant, I would find out the reasons why they resisted the policy and consider whether it should be revised to better serve my students. If it was a misunderstanding, then I would make sure to clear it up. If they were apathetic, I would try to impress upon them the importance of the rough drafts and the reflective essays to them as writers and me as a grader. If they were overwhelmed by coursework, I would give them another chance to turn in the required materials without penalty and implore them to let their instructors know ahead of time when they needed extra time on particular assignments, like reflection essays. In all cases, I would not assign grades until I received the required materials. For the next paper, I would explicitly state what they needed to turn in with the final draft.
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I agree that there are numerous scenarios as to why they didn't turn everything in. Some may be miscommunication and some may be lack of caring or other situations. I gave three options for what to do because I don't know what to do. I don't know that I could give an F to everyone because I don't want my students to fail, but at the same time I can't baby them either. I do like what your options were and something I would consider too. This is just such a tough situation because of the various circumstances and the fact that it is the end of the semester. On one hand students should know by now what is expected but on the other hand everyone is stressed and forgetful.
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