I've put it off as long as I dare ... My workspace is tidy ...
My computer has been de-virused, de-malwared, defragged ...
There's no breaking global, national, regional, local news requiring my attention ...
I must delve into the "pile" of papers now occupying my Active Classes folder.
But it's dark and scary in there ...
I try not to preview submissions ... to (ahem) preserve that semblance of objectivity.
However, when college students who can seemingly effortlessly update their Facebook page, Tweet with abandon, while also texting the friend sitting next to them, but cannot seem to figure out how to upload a paper to Turnitin.com or attach it to an EMail, I end up getting sneak peeks.
I have already glimpsed papers lacking their required title page and/or acknowledgement of academic honesty policy which was clearly stated as grounds to refuse accepting the paper.
It somehow falls to me to finish assembling some papers as their authors "forgot" to include the reference page ... which, inflicting further damage to my soul, too often consisted of ONE (count 'em, ONE!) general audience article deemed sufficient to explore a controversial issue.
Well, I've finished this post ... wait, should I proofread it one more time?
(Such a quaint concept, proofing a blog post when so many students didn't give that effort to their first major paper!)
Does the dog need to go out ... ?
If the dog needs to go, just lay out some of the unacceptable work. Then, bag it up and hand it back to the students.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so that might get you fired, but I would love to see the looks on their faces when they realize what you've done to their work. They might actually learn that the standards are to be followed, though.
Mathsquatch out.
If "standards are to be followed," be sure you put in your syllabus the consequences for failing to follow those standards.
ReplyDeleteThen make sure that your higher-ups will back your play.
Then sock it to 'em.