I know the overabundance of exclamation points in this header is overkill, but that's how I feel right now. Honestly, I want to throttle a couple of college freshmen right now...good thing it's Sunday and I'm secluded in my office grading papers with no juvenile students within arms length.
That's the crux of my frustration: I'm grading papers. -sigh- I honestly don't understand why students are sooo lazy. I have them turn in rough drafts for each of their papers (they have to write five papers this semester) so that I can give them feedback and let them know where they need to make corrections, clarify, etc. before I give them a final grade. I cannot count the number of papers I have graded so far that I've stopped and thought, "Hmmm...I thought I mentioned to the student that this was a weakness." So I go to my computer and see the electronic copy of the feedback I've given the student and WHAMMO! Yep, I told the student and, hmmm...it doesn't look like the student MADE ANY CHANGES!!!
Why do I try? Why do they even turn in a rough draft if they're not going to take my advice? I know that ultimately any changes are up to them, because it's their writing. But seriously? Your punctuation still isn't correct, you still have incomplete sentences, and I'm still confused as to what you're saying. I assume any reasonable and sane person would try to correct those areas before their teacher (who was the first person to suggest the changes initially) grades you on the paper. You'd think.
(Big Sigh). I just had to vent before I exploded. This wasn't the post I planned on writing today. Maybe I'll write the more upbeat and optimistic post tomorrow.
2 comments:
Hahaha! Oh my, yes, yes, yes. It sounds JUST like my days as an English 101 TA. (And an English 311 TA for that matter.) Lovely. Frankly, I would probably just ream them out and then stop requiring them to turn in final drafts and hold them equally accountable for it. (Okay, let's be honest, I would up the accountability simply out of angst.)
Take deep breaths, deep calming breaths. Try the hee-hee hoo-hoos. I know what you mean about lazy students. Why they pay thousands of tuition dollars and buy fancy laptops to just sit and not learn a thing is beyond me. But you try and you keep doing what you do because you are a good teacher and you want them to succeed. Maybe not in your class, but somewhere you want them to learn and be successful people. When it all finally clicks I have no idea, hopefully the light bulb will turn on before their final paper is due. Good luck! You're an awesome teacher!!
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