"Why do our journals seem to be less of a journal and more of a 3 page paper?"
This question was posed to my entire class today. It is the culmination of all my pet peeves.
There is no subject to the class-wide email. There is no salutation. There is no signature, though of course we can see who sent it.
It is not honest. It is not productive. It says "I wonder why my homework seems to be so demanding" but it means "I think our teacher is completely unfair but I'm not brave enough to say so."
It encourages student riot via response. It is a call for mutiny. It is utterly selfish.
The student who wrote this inelegant and disingenuous email thinks that writing more will cover up for the fact that he has not done the reading. He writes long, winding, vague, and inaccurate journal entries where a single paragraph of commentary and examples would suffice. He gets frustrated when I grant him a C for his work.
And today, he transferred his frustration into my frustration.
To the credit of my other students, no one has responded to this email. I'm not sure if this is because no one else writes such ridiculously long response papers. Or if they like me and dislike him. Or if they see the passive-aggressive act for what it is and decline to participate.
I see that and I wonder at the diversity in my class.
It might be appropriate to send the student a curt, two word message: "See me."
ReplyDelete[No "Please...".]
I have some students who write essays that don't address the readings (and barely the topic du jour). They think they're slick... and that we were born yesterday.
"Dear Student,
ReplyDeleteExcellent question! In our class, journals are a kind of paper, since you type them up and turn them in, like any other sort of academic work.
You are welcome to make your personal journal, blog, podcast, vlog, diary as long or as short as you like.
Love, Me"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1zzau_genesis-no-reply-at-all_music
ReplyDelete@Monkey: The photo you selected is appropriate. Treat this like it's a child's soliloquy. He could just as well be staring up at the sky and wondering aloud, "Who am I? Why does there seem to be no meaning in the world? Why must I suffer?"
ReplyDeleteYou could reply with, "Wow, such deep and profound rumination. You amaze me. A+"
But I would go along with BurntChrome: No reply at all.
To be fair, I send out all my emails to my professors with a formal salutation and complimentary closing, and I often get back replies with neither.
ReplyDeleteSo nyeh! NYUK NYUK NYUK
Well, Schmitty my lad, when you wear the professor pants, you can skip the salutation and closing when you need to. It's kind of like "my kid has to call grownups Mr. or Ms. Lastname but they don't have to call her Miss Lastname." I generally do use both for everyone, but occasionally I'm in a hurry.
ReplyDeleteBut Academic Monkey! Good for your other students for not taking the bait!
@Monkey: as I'm sure you already realize, BCC is your friend when composing whole-class emails (we're actually required to use it for "privacy" reasons, though I'm not quite sure why, since they can find each others' addresses elsewhere, and they can find out each others' names when I call the roll). But some learning management systems -- and, of course, class e-lists, which have legitimate functions -- make it too easy for a student to email the whole class if he/she chooses.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad no one responded (and I favor Dr. D's response -- to the student alone, of course).
As far as the student goes, I'd guess that he's confusing his own prolix response papers with a formal essay of the same length because he's never bothered to actually write more than one draft of a formal essay, and so doesn't realize there's a significant difference (as we all know, it can take 3 or 4 times as long to write 1-2 tight pages as to say the same thing in 3 or more looser ones).
@Schmitty: I always respond to my students' emails at least as formally as they address me, with a proper salutation and closing on the first reply. Occasionally, if we're working something out (usually amicably) over the course of a series of emails, their replies (especially if composed on a smartphone) may drop the salutation and closing, and I may do the same. I'm occasionally tempted to be more curt when (I feel) a student is being a nuisance, but I usually end up being elaborately polite instead.
@Cassandra
ReplyDeleteIt's a blended course, not an accidental email. Students are required to email weekly responses to each other. This student simply used that function for some "personal expression" I suppose.
An update: the student has sent an apology to me and a "clarification" email to the class, in which he said:
"It has occurred to me that my phrasing was not very well thought out. What I meant was..." insert rather stupid sounding inquiry a la "What is basket weaving?"
And still no one has responded. HA!