Has a freeze come to the Land Down Under? (That would be Hell, not Australia!)After slogging through another batch of soul sapping drivel, er, student work, my heart sank as my Emailbox filled with student names.
Then I read one student's message:
"I would like to thank you for your patients ..." (yeah, I know but, read on ...)
"I did visit writing center and think I have figured out proper paraphrasing. In addition, I will no longer submit work from my previous classes." (shudder, but yay!)
"Thank you for your feedback, without it I would have assumed I was a good student doing good work. This is my first experience not getting straight As, and I thank you." (aww, shucks!)
"I will however, wish to take this class again, to prove to myself that I am capable of doing work at a level that is expected of me." (hello, what now?)
"Thank you for your honesty, I needed it."
Have I just been punk'd?
You'll know for sure when you see the upcoming enrollments--or perhaps a cycle after that.
ReplyDeleteI get this sort of thing from time to time and it's very gratifying. I just love it when students tell me that they actually LEARNED something in my class and, even better, that they apply what they learned in other courses and other areas of their lives. I recently had a mature student whom I taught many years ago, now himself a teacher, ask if he could sit in on my classes because he feels he can always learn more from me. My head swelled to dangerous proportions.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to share issyvoo's optimism, and I suspect that at least one or two of your students, A&S, really mean what they say. But it's a strange time of year. They're worried about their grades, we're worried about what they're going to say on evals, and everybody is behind, and so exhausted that they're moving at half normal speed, and so getting more behind by the moment. I do sometimes think that students who make an effort to tell me how much they've learned, at this point in the semester but no other, are trying to convince me (and perhaps also themselves). The proof, of course, will be in the actual papers.
ReplyDeleteThat's why it's best when they tell me these things months or even years after the fact. It does happen, not as much as I'd like but more often than I'd expect. I think one of my favourite moments was a when a really great student came by after final grades were submitted. She was shy and said little. She left and then came pattering back up the hall to tell me thank-you, she'd enjoyed the course, and "you're funny." She's one of the few students who ever got my rather caustic wit. Of course, this means she's brilliant.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I got a brief email from a former student. He said that the stuff he learned about hamster fur weaving was really useful and that it served him well at his job in the carding factory. That made my day.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to come away feeling all warm and fuzzy, but can't get over my queasiness at this: "This is my first experience not getting straight As." He/she was getting 'straight As' while writing in this fashion, not knowing how to paraphrase, and submitting the same written work for multiple classes?
ReplyDelete(Incidentally, if this is really the student's only non-A grade, he/she is obviously planning to retake the course to earn an 'A' to replace the current grade on his/her transcript, not really to "prove" anything to him/herself.)
They do it to deflect suspicion from themselves when they post their feedback on That Other Site.
ReplyDeletePossibly my favourite student is the one who worked his ass off to manage a low "C". Rather than being accusative, he was grateful for the time and effort I gave to him. He left the class having realized the fault was with the learning methods he had previously encountered and employed and a system that repeatedly let him move on prematurely rather than an innate and insurmountable lack of ability. He gained confidence that he had the capability to succeed if he put the effort in. I consider this my biggest teaching success to date.
ReplyDeleteFor all we whinge, moan and gripe on this page about the snowflakes, we should never forget there are also students out there with truly excellent attitudes. I believe it's important to be careful not to let past sour experiences (however numerable!) lead us into judging an individual on the basis of the actions of their peers.
"he/she is obviously planning to retake the course to earn an 'A' to replace the current grade on his/her transcript, not really to "prove" anything to him/herself"
Excessive cynicism! Those goals aren't mutually exclusive.
One of my favourite things about being a student is sending messages (after grades are in) to the professors whose classes I really enjoyed telling them just that. I'd like to think it makes their day a little better, or in the very least makes them smile.
ReplyDelete@Anastasia: like issyvoo, I welcome those messages, anytime from the day after grades are posted to years later (about 2/3 of the way through the term, when everything is looking a bit bleak, is a lovely time to receive them).
ReplyDelete@Stew: I absolutely agree that there are students with good attitudes out there. I've definitely run into the student who knows (s)he must struggle for a C, and does so, as well as plenty who say they simply want a B, and do good, solid work for what they recognize as a good, solid grade. I haven't yet run into one for whom a determined focus on being an "A student" was working well, but I've had plenty of good students who did get As, so maybe some of them just didn't mention that focus to me. I tend to think that over-focus on As tends to inhibit learning, since it often keeps students from taking the very risks that make significant cognitive leaps possible (but can also result in significant stumbles/falls). But I'm sure there are exceptions out there.