I Teach

I'm a hard grader, but maybe not in the ways that people would expect (Jess). I've had to let go of the English major inside of me and give up on getting any sort of style from my student's writings. Most of them are first years and more importantly most of them are taking their first sociology class. The concepts are difficult enough for the majority of them to get a handle on (not because the concepts are particularly difficult, but just because they're unfamiliar from the way life is experienced in every other way for most people). Thus, for this first writing response (due on Monday) I'm keeping the training wheels on. We talked about what a thesis sentence is in class the other day. I told them that the point of the conversation was not to teach them how to write a thesis sentence, but rather to let them know that if they weren't already familiar with what one is, then they need to go to the writing center and find out. The English major in me died a little bit that day. I would love to teach these kids how to write, but the time and effort it would take would distract from the task at hand, and in any case, there are professionals in the next building who are much better at it than I. So I told them that at least for this first assignment/opportunity they had to underline what they think their thesis sentence is (I know, they're only one poorly written essay away from diagramming subjects and conjugates). And I understand that what I get in terms of argument is often at the expense of style. Often students will tell me "Well, you know what I meant here." Whether I do or not is not the point. These essays are about telling me what you meant in a way which supports your overall argument. So I make it clear to my students that if the best way for them to do that is to write two pages of 7 word, monosyllabic sentences, then so be it. I'll take caveman writing if it means that I'll get Platonian logic. Eventually I know, as well as you dear reader, that the two will have to come together if they want their writing to advance, but there are 400 level English classes titled "Re-claiming the Center through Postmodern Body-Texts of Dickinson, Borges, and O'Conner" or something like that where they will need those skills. For now, I just want them to get really good at explaining why they hold a particular position about the U.S. school system.
> 4 comments