There are no classes today because of the Thanksgiving holiday. I got to sleep in a half hour this morning and wake up slowly with the kids. I gave them breakfast and then played Nintendo with Nathan a little before taking Nate and Ellie over to Mom's house so I could grade papers. I have the house to myself and have iTunes on. I should be good to go for paper-grading.
The problem is I am still letting someone's comment from yesterday get to me. A student said the Learning Community students feel they haven't learned to write because I haven't taught them to write. I could let loose a huge diatribe here about pedagogy and what it means to be "taught to write" these days, but I feel like that would accomplish very little. It would only make me feel more self-righteous and angry.
Instead, I'm looking at the stack of student papers I have to grade. I can honestly say there has been visible improvement in the writing of 9/17 students who remain in the class. Of those 9 students whose drafts have substantially grown over the semester, I notice some trends. The first is that the most successful of those students come prepared for first draft days and then heed the comments left for them during the peer review day (including the ones I leave). The other trend I see is the students who have changed their writing styles and upped the level of critical thinking in their papers were also prepared for the mid-term conference and talked honestly to me about their writing at that time.
Of the 8 who remain in the class but have not had the same success, I just plain ole don't know about 1-3 of them because they keep failing to turn something in. There can't be any improvement in the writing if the writing is not happening. I understand writer's block. I understand shutting down when things get too stressful. But, honestly, I cannot do anything for a student in that situation unless the student decides for herself that she is going to make a change and try to do something about it. And I cannot help at all if the student continues to spin her wheels in isolation. If nothing else, the value of the Learning Community should be that there are two teachers. If the student is unwilling to talk to me about it, then why haven't they gone to Denise for extra help? There are so many different ways to get help. If the student hasn't sought help and continues to blame others for the lack of productive homework, then, well...I'm actually speechless here. I don't know what.
The other students (the ones who have been turning things in but do not see the grades going up)-- well, I can make a reasonable guess here. My guess is that in the past they were provided with step-by-step instructions about how to write. Writing consisted of so many paragraphs, and word count was more important than what those words said. Points were deducted for so many comma splices and run-ons. Teachers put marks on the papers; the students tried to decipher the marks and "fix" them and then turned in a final draft, again with more emphasis on the surface of the writing than the text itself. Students used to that approach will find me frustrating because I refuse (flat out refuse) to believe that writing is a step-by-step formula to greatness. In fact, I think that is often a step-by-step to mediocrity. And I will not settle for mediocrity.
That is also why the A paper I just graded actually has more marks on it than a D paper might. Every paper, I read it for what it is and for what it could be. I think students are here to improve beyond what they are to evolve into what they could be. If that makes me a frustrating teacher, then so be it. I believe that is the path to genuine learning. If you want to rip me apart in teacher evaluations or even go complain to the department chair, fine. But you know what? At the end of the day, I know I am doing what I am supposed to be doing to make my students stronger writers who question what should go on the page instead of merely following directions.
And now, hopefully with that off my chest, I can go grade the remainder of the papers.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
Thank God for the 11:00 class
I'm going to miss my 11:00 005 class when this semester is over. They really do make my day every Tuesday and Thursday. The students in the class seem to look forward to being there. I enjoy seeing them and hearing what they have to say. They are genuinely involved in learning. And they have fun. We joke around while getting the learning done too.
I'm glad it's an 005 class because that means I may have the opportunity to have some of them in class again as they go on to take 101 and 102.
This 005 class may be part of the reason I am so disappointed with the writing in the 101 class. These Basic Writing students are writing much better than my 101 students right now. I haven't told some of them yet, but I am positive a number of the students from this class will receive the proficiency rating and will be eligible to skip over taking the 006 class. I can't wait to tell them that they earned it.
So...if any of you happen to read this, thank you. Your participation and enjoyment has really helped me this semester, and I feel honored if I have been able to help you.
I'm glad it's an 005 class because that means I may have the opportunity to have some of them in class again as they go on to take 101 and 102.
This 005 class may be part of the reason I am so disappointed with the writing in the 101 class. These Basic Writing students are writing much better than my 101 students right now. I haven't told some of them yet, but I am positive a number of the students from this class will receive the proficiency rating and will be eligible to skip over taking the 006 class. I can't wait to tell them that they earned it.
So...if any of you happen to read this, thank you. Your participation and enjoyment has really helped me this semester, and I feel honored if I have been able to help you.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
the 13th week, and I'm sick
This is the 13th week of classes. There are 16 weeks in the semester, plus the week of finals.
It truly amazes me how few students realize how little time there is left. These are the students who just let classes happen to them. These are also the students who (once they realize how little time there is left and what their grades currently are) expect me to be available for them 24/7 when they haven't been doing what they were supposed to be doing all semester long. I want to look at these students and say, "You do realize there are only 3 weeks left in the semester, right? What do you expect to accomplish in those three weeks that you haven't accomplished in 13? And why do you expect me to be supplying you with a lifeline? Shouldn't you be the one doing all the effort here?" At the same time, any effort that someone can exert should be exerted....but it ought to be student effort, not teacher effort.
It's just that I have no more energy to give to the students. I am sick. I have the kind of cough that keeps going until something is coughed up, and the more I talk, the more something somewhere decides it needs to be coughed up. So I am a coughing, wheezing, head-achy mess. But I am here. I am here so the 005 students can have every possible moment to work on their portfolios before turning them in and I am here so the 102 students can have feedback on their research paper progress. I may cough up a lung while I am giving the feedback, but I am here.
And that is why I am especially crabby about the 13th week of classes. Despite feeling horrible, I still come to work to do my job. I don't just hole up somewhere and pretend the world doesn't exist and then expect to pick up precisely where I left off as if my absence really did stop the world for a moment. Some students seem to think it actually works that way. And then they expect me to do the work of catching them up for them. Where does this come from? Did their high school teachers do this? Do their mothers do this for them? Whose life honestly works that way?
When I'm sick and recuperating in bed, it means I get up to twice the laundry and the dishes and the kids feeling especially needy or the stack of papers to grade is twice as high or whatever. That work doesn't just go away. I don't just buy more towels or underwear or paper plates and hand the kids over to someone else for a week. Granted, the kids have gone two days without baths, but hey, they are fed and in clean clothes, so who's going to notice the linty line in the crease in their necks, right?
I just really hope the 11:00 and 2:00 classes have their homework done today. That's all I'm asking for. I'm here to teach. Just please come prepared, so I don't feel like I am dragging my half-dead body here for no reason at all. If the students are not here to learn, then what do they honestly expect from me?
It truly amazes me how few students realize how little time there is left. These are the students who just let classes happen to them. These are also the students who (once they realize how little time there is left and what their grades currently are) expect me to be available for them 24/7 when they haven't been doing what they were supposed to be doing all semester long. I want to look at these students and say, "You do realize there are only 3 weeks left in the semester, right? What do you expect to accomplish in those three weeks that you haven't accomplished in 13? And why do you expect me to be supplying you with a lifeline? Shouldn't you be the one doing all the effort here?" At the same time, any effort that someone can exert should be exerted....but it ought to be student effort, not teacher effort.
It's just that I have no more energy to give to the students. I am sick. I have the kind of cough that keeps going until something is coughed up, and the more I talk, the more something somewhere decides it needs to be coughed up. So I am a coughing, wheezing, head-achy mess. But I am here. I am here so the 005 students can have every possible moment to work on their portfolios before turning them in and I am here so the 102 students can have feedback on their research paper progress. I may cough up a lung while I am giving the feedback, but I am here.
And that is why I am especially crabby about the 13th week of classes. Despite feeling horrible, I still come to work to do my job. I don't just hole up somewhere and pretend the world doesn't exist and then expect to pick up precisely where I left off as if my absence really did stop the world for a moment. Some students seem to think it actually works that way. And then they expect me to do the work of catching them up for them. Where does this come from? Did their high school teachers do this? Do their mothers do this for them? Whose life honestly works that way?
When I'm sick and recuperating in bed, it means I get up to twice the laundry and the dishes and the kids feeling especially needy or the stack of papers to grade is twice as high or whatever. That work doesn't just go away. I don't just buy more towels or underwear or paper plates and hand the kids over to someone else for a week. Granted, the kids have gone two days without baths, but hey, they are fed and in clean clothes, so who's going to notice the linty line in the crease in their necks, right?
I just really hope the 11:00 and 2:00 classes have their homework done today. That's all I'm asking for. I'm here to teach. Just please come prepared, so I don't feel like I am dragging my half-dead body here for no reason at all. If the students are not here to learn, then what do they honestly expect from me?
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