Monday, February 18, 2013

Reading Between the Lines

So the first significant step toward producing the difficult (but carefully scaffolded) Big Paper (which is noticeably different from the "research papers" many of my students have written umpteen times before, and would be happy to produce/recycle one more time) is due in class tomorrow. Some substantive questions are landing in my inbox, which is fine (there's nothing like a deadline to concentrate the mind, and we can usually make some progress in a round or two of messages), but I'm also receiving a lot of emails asking me to "clarify" what's due tomorrow, even though it's spelled out in great detail (with bullets!) in several places the course materials (which are online, on a site that uses the same password as email, so they haven't lost them).  Call me cynical, but in the absence of any sign of weather that might close school, I think the underlying message of many of these emails is: "please tell me I don't really have to think about all the stuff we've been discussing for the last month, and apply it to coming up with an idea of my own, sometime between now and tomorrow morning."

I think I should aim for an early bedtime tonight. Something tells me that tomorrow is going to be a tiring day (and that I really don't want to see the emails that come in at 2 a.m. tomorrow morning.  I'm guessing that's when the messages from people who suddenly discover they can't make it to class tomorrow will start showing up).

7 comments:

  1. Get one of your colleagues to teach your class tomorrow--one of the colleagues with a reputation for being ruthless.

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    1. The one problem with that is that I think I might *be* one of those colleagues (though I'm actually more of a softie than I appear).

      Besides, I kind of enjoy this process. It's fun to make them think in ways they haven't thought before. It just takes patience to keep herding them away from the familiar paths they so, so want to follow. And I'm not good at patience when I'm sleep-deprived.

      So I'll rest up, and prepare to spend tomorrow (as I spend many days) in sheepdog mode. Woof! pant, pant, pant. Woof! (Just practicing. I promise not to actually bark at my students when they come up with the sort of topics they've written on before -- though, come to think of it, that might get their attention.)

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  2. "I'm also receiving a lot of emails asking me to "clarify" what's due tomorrow, even though it's spelled out in great detail (with bullets!) in several places the course materials (which are online, on a site that uses the same password as email..."

    Shall we take bets on how many students hand in something that is essentially (or explicitly) a list of bullet points?

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    1. Well, it's an oral presentation, but I'm willing to bet that well < 50% will actually cover all 4 bullet points without further prompting (and that a significant proportion will have trouble even with prompting). It's an early stage of a challenging project. They're still struggling to get their heads around it.

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  3. I have the same thing regarding tomorrow, too! First paper of the semester due, they actually have to use their imaginations and lecture material. It's on the paper schedule that I handed out on the first day, I explained it in class, explained in mass emails (we're fixing to go to all Blackboard this semester), gave them a link to a related article to clarify, individual explanations after and before classes, and in individual emails. This morning I get-"Can you let me know exactly what the essay should be about?" How many words? I can't remember."

    I think they just don't want to read, and this is the worst semester regarding that yet.

    Can't wait until tomorrow.

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  4. I'd actually be really interested in both project and scaffolding. How do you set that up? I've been trying to find a way to get my research/argument freshmen to work bits and pieces of the Big Paper all semester while not ending up with students who hate their topic by spring break AND meeting the departmental requirements for number of assignments and word count.

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    1. Sorry to be so slow in replying, Snarky; it was, as predicted, a busy week (and we've still got some work to do, but things are a bit quieter today). I'm in a somewhat privileged position, since I'm teaching upper-level comp (basically, writing in the disciplines), and have word count requirements and learning goals to meet, but no set number of assignments I have to give. Given those constraints (and a 4/4 all-comp load), I've created more and more small scaffolding assignments, with lots of feedback but relatively low-stakes grading, and fewer and fewer full-blown "papers." This is partly because I think that approach works in general, and partly because it works for me: my biggest problem is returning graded assignments in a timely manner, and I seem to be better at turning around the feedback on the intermediate, low-stakes assignments fairly quickly. Also, I'm not at all sure that a significant proportion of my students *don't* hate their topic (and/or me) by mid-way through the semester (though I think they learn something from the experience nonetheless).

      I'd be happy to compare notes further via email (as my profile reveals, cassandra has a gmail account of her own; I'll try to remember to check it).

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