Barbiedoll1: You know, like, I can’t believe I did so bad on this paper.Barbiedoll2: Yeah, I know.
Barbiedoll1: I worked, like, sooooooo hard on it. I spent practically all weekend writing!
Barbiedoll2: Yeah, me too!
Barbiedoll1: Like, I actually put a lot of effort into this! All that time and all that work and all I got was a fucking D!
Barbiedoll2: Yeah, he gave me a C minus.
Barbiedoll1: Such a hard marker! What an asshole! Hey, what does “vague” mean anyway?
by ChrryBlstr
If she doesn't get "vague," I wonder what she'll make of "awk." :o)
ReplyDeleteA student's parent once called to berate me for writing rude comments all over her kid's paper. Such as? "You wrote AWK all over it! Why couldn't you write something helpful?"
ReplyDeleteA "awk" is a big bird isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I'm not fond of "awk" myself (the comment, that is; avian auks look sort of neat), which is, indeed, not very helpful to a student who can't tell a well-written sentence from a hopelessly garbled one (which we'll presume is why they write the garbled ones in the first place -- well, that, or laziness/not budgeting enough time to get beyond a shitty first draft).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm pretty sure the parent wouldn't like the alternative I'm sometimes tempted to suggest any better: withdraw, go home, and spend most of the day reading a a selection of well-written prose adapted to various audiences, purposes, etc. for a year or so. Then come back and try again.
@CC, if only they knew how hard we restrain ourselves from commenting as we WANT to... or stapling the McDonald's restaurant application form to the essay (as someone suggested on here once).
ReplyDeleteWith the first AWK or two, I expand--"this is garbled and difficult to understand. How else could you write this?".
ReplyDeleteOMG. I love love love the McDonalds app idea!!!
@Annie:
ReplyDeletedepends on who your students are, I guess, but I've found that using ideas about reader expectation (e.g. Gopen / Williams) has reduced the amount of feedback that expresses dissatisfaction regarding clarity, but doesn't perhaps help the student move forward.
Their ideas on placement (or misplacement) of information really do seem to work.