Sunday, November 29, 2009

Disappointed, but not Surprised

My senior seminar students are peer editing tomorrow, so they were supposed to post their drafts to the campus system by 5pm on Saturday. That would give them Sunday to read each other's papers and be prepared to give feedback.

I'm disappointed to see that only 2/3rds have uploaded a draft. I haven't looked at the drafts yet, so there's room for even more disappointment, I suppose.

On the other hand, I'm really glad that 2/3rds at least have something draftish to post. That's a few papers that are likely to be reasonably well-written, right? (Hey, indulge my fantasy! It's all I have!)

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:57 PM

    Fantasy indulged (Guess this allusion: "so it shall be written, so it shall be done").

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  2. At this point in the semester (we only have 2 classes left) it's a miracle that they hear anything you say. I think I may as well just plan to be in class alone tomorrow. Of course, that would mean that I could grade, so . . . .
    Here's hoping that you find some nice surprises from your charges. :)

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  3. At least your students didn't stage a coup about peer editing. My 2:30 class flatly refused to do it for their final papers. I suppose I should have forced them. But now that I'm at the end of the semester, the end of this pregnancy, and the end of the job season, I'm also at the end of my rope. I don't have any patience for these students and their consistently disrespectful behavior. So if they want to hang themselves by writing their research papers the night before it's due (or plagiarize it), I figure let them. They're only hurting themselves when they don't play ball.

    My 4:00 class was very happy to peer edit, and they spent the entire period workshopping papers. They're better students overall, anyway -- probably don't even need peer editing. But they are dutiful and diligent, very hard working. They make me hopeful about first-year writing classes. Each of them has improved incrementally, and their efforts have been inspiring.

    However, I feel like every now and then I get a class that just resists every effort I make. The 2:30 class is just one of those bad classes. Can't wait to say goodbye to them.

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  4. Anonymous5:23 AM

    I have to agree with the Steel Magnolias here. Tomorrow morning is our draft day, and I've already packed a novel to read, as my guess is there will be no one in class.

    Somewhere out there is the Holy Grail of classes -- the perfect, participatory class. I hope to see such a heaven-kissed sight before I die alone in my office, smothered in cobwebs.

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