I started seeing rough drafts this week.
About a third of the students just had one source in each paragraph, a sort of "book report" style essay which many high schoolers are wont to do.
I sat with two of them in a group conference and had this discussion:
Student 1: I didn't know what "multiple" meant.
Hiram: Even though I explained the concept in class, and on the handouts? Do you remember me drawing on the board, showing multiple sources going into one paragraph.
Student 1: Yeah, but I didn't know what "multiple" meant.
Hiram: Well, then why didn't you look it up, or ask me, or ask anyone?
Student 1: I figured if you wanted me to know you'd tell me.
(Pause)
Hiram: What about you? Why didni't you use multiple sources in each paragraph.
Student 2: I didn't know we had to.
Hiram: You didn't know? You didn't hear me say it in class every day for 2 weeks?
Student 2: I didn't know you were talking to me.
(Scene)
Hiram, they are broken. They really are.
ReplyDeleteYes, somewhere along the way they learned that everything they need will be given to them individually.
DeleteEven the funnies have realized it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/comics/king_sally_forth.html?name=Sally_Forth
I've been enjoying this plot thread, too. My only objection is that Ralph's adjunct job supposedly pays well enough for him and Jackie to afford their baby on the way. Admittedly he's teaching business, and the b schools always seem to manage to pay a bit better, but still -- a baby on an adjunct's wages? And is he getting health insurance? I very much doubt it.
DeleteSad, but I recognize these exact comments. I have also drawn pages on the board, and then used different colors to indicate diffierent sources. And showed how each page had different colors on it. I also was trying to show that each paragraph began and ended with black writing (their own writing, according to my legend) so that they could get a visual for the idea that every quote needs some introduction and then some tie in and explanation. [I don't like "They Say I Say" at all, actually, believe it or not.]
ReplyDeleteYes, rather like I was teaching kindergarten.
I don't like "They Say I Say" either. Of course, I'm trying to get them to take the next step beyond synthesizing (say something original by applying the ideas in the scholarly conversation to a case/example/etc. that hasn't -- gasp! -- been mentioned there), and getting frustrated because all they want to do is synthesize (though no, they don't necessarily do that well, either, and they need to be able to do it first).
DeleteI, too, have drawn the convoluted subway map of lines across a document, and then asked that they do the same on their own documents. Some can do it. Most don't understand why it's important so simply plunk in random shit that doesn't go together. Cohesion seems lacking in their brains, too.
Delete"...plunk in random shit that doesn't go together."
DeleteYeah. I hate that.
"I didn't know you were talking to me."
ReplyDeleteNice.
How can someone not know what "multiple" means and still get a SAT score anywhere near good enough to get into anything but the worst institutions. But I'm a bit out of touch regarding admissions: how many places don't want SATs?
ReplyDeleteI have had students who didn't know what "national" and "superficial" meant. And that's after using the words in a content-driven lecture where they were explained in the context of the assignment. Complete with examples.
DeleteI think "I didn't know what x meant" is just standard excuse #366, probably derived/degraded from some inane "following directions" exercise they did in 9th grade, which called for looking up any words they don't know. They don't even notice what word "x" is at this point. Actually, Aphra's account of the excuses she gave (see a few posts up), and what she was really thinking, might be relevant. A lot of our students' excuses boil down to the fact that they feel overwhelmed, and are not at all sure that they are equal to accomplishing the task we have given them (probably because it is new), and that they have, in their short lives, had very training in or experience with finding positive ways to cope with those feelings, do their best nonetheless, and learn from/through the experience. Theoretically, all that time spent on athletic fields/courts should help (no one gets ball/racket skills right the first time, and there's always room for improvement), but somehow it just isn't translating in the ways that everyone seems to assume it will/should.
Deletethat should read "very *little* training or experience"
DeleteYeah, I don't believe they actually don't know what "multiple" means. They just need an excuse and "I don't know," or "I didn't know," has worked for them in the past. I had a student tell him he didn't know he could check in online for his flight b/c he claimed he had to arrive at the airport five hours early to stand in line to check in (thereby missing our midterm exam).
DeleteAnd this, of course, is why we shouldn't believe them when they say "my K-12 teachers never taught me [fill in the blank]."
ReplyDeleteReally, the only solution is to keep failing them until they hand in assignments that meet at least the minimal criteria we've stated, but, given the attitudes described above, that's incredibly time and energy consuming (and likely to result in bad student evaluations).
"my K-12 teacher never taught me [fill in the blank]": Why do they think that learning ends at high school graduation?
DeleteI don't ask anymore why they didn't do "X" or "Y." I just tell them they didn't do it and that's why they failed. They seem to magically realize how to do it by the time the next assignment rolls around (or not).
ReplyDelete