Finishing out this week is a welcome ending to a very chaotic series of events, both personal and professional. The best news of the week is getting an offer to be a full-time instructor over the summer in my beloved New Orleans. So now the frenzy begins – moving, checking out the summer rentals, working on when to officially leave road trip-style. It’s enough to make anyone feel completely overwhelmed!
But as you know, life never just hands you one thing to fret/get frustrated over. I had to grade huge piles of MLA research papers from my TWO Composition classes, totalling about 25-30 papers ranging from 5-10 pages in length. You do the math. But it wasn’t the fact that I had to grade these papers that made me feel discouraged, it was the overall content and organization of a certain set of papers that made me want to cry.
Let me explain. As an educator, I try to be as transparent as possible with my expectations for class participation, class discussions, homework, and essays. That is why I hand out very detailed syllabi with the breakdown of course material that will be covered every week of the semester. I painstakendly sculpted course material to advance gradually so students could steadily improve in their writing and critical content. Because a MLA research paper is chronically much more intense and difficult for students, I took great care in assigning simpler papers at the beginning of the semester, gradually intensifying the material to prepare students for this major assignment. I make myself completely available to students during office hours and via email. I spent many class meetings outlining the paper’s guidelines and offered MANY resources that students can refer to to help them in their endeavor. In short, I did EVERYTHING I was supposed to do.
Despite all of this active precautions and preparation, I have had to read papers that lack the basic guidelines I have outlined since the beginning of the semester in January. Essay headings are deformed, typos and spelling errors run amuck, in-text citations and peer-viewed drafts are missing in action, and repetition makes the reading stale.
I have been talking to my colleagues in the office and they are experiencing the same frustration with their own students. Somehow some students have forgotten the work ethic and professionalism they had learned from their college classes this semester. Is senioritis contagious? Can it be contracted through the campus air conditioning, drinking fountains or cafeteria food? I am afraid for everyone!
I think the reason why we educators take this so hard is because we care WAY TOO MUCH. I mean, this isn’t a profession known for its lucrative paychecks. You get into this profession because you genuinely LOVE what you do – you love mentoring and helping students ascend to their best selves “by any means necessary.” And that is why you stay up late crafting interesting course material, writing syllabi, and finding supplementary materials that we get you and your students excited about learning.
So to see the bright side of the situation, I refer to my students who really “GET IT” – the students who see what you see in the importance of this class and its material. They are the people I work for and give selflessly to. They are the light at the end of this very dark tunnel. Thank you for seeing ME the way I see YOU – empathetic critical learners, writers, and citizens of the global community.
I find a few things wrong with this blog post and I feel as if I am one of the students who “get it.” I often find your instructions and guidelines to be convoluted and hard to understand. I often have other students contact me for clarification about guidelines and instructions. Also, it is hard to contact you during office hours as many students have class then and often e-mails aren’t replied to. Other students are also afraid to approach you for fear of being talked down to. However, I do feel that the problems with the research paper are not completely your fault, the students are adults and should grab some initiative and get the job completed and do it well. Also, I feel the writing in the class did begin easier and was scaled to become harder. However, it went from very easy to very hard, very quickly. Again, I am not sure if this your fault. To close, please do not blame the students entirely for the lower quality of this paper’s work, as it was many factors that contributed to it.
I am sorry you feel that way but that was never my intention.
I have to comment on this post after seeing the first response. This is a learning class if I am not mistaken. Also, this is a class that only meets twice a week. The average English class meets three times a week. The people that are in this class is there because they had a slightly better placement rating, so they did not need the other half of the class. So with that being said, these students should have a better understanding of what is expected and what is required to be a successful student while in this class, since most of these kids are fresh out of high school. Take me for instance, I am an almost 40 year old who while in high school 20 years ago failed English and should of not graduated but somehow did. I am now back in school and wishing I had applied myself when I was younger. Our teacher is here to teach not become some ones BFF or let students slide by as apparently high school teachers do, speaking from experience. I am extremely proud to say, I have a 4.0, and I intend on keeping it. I will work my ___ off to do so. The past 20 years have taught me a lot about life and the way the world works. For someone to speculate or point fingers at a teacher for the failed success of obviously not too concerned students, is just not right. You may not agree with a teacher’s approach or may not care for the individual, but that is the way of the world. Everyone had time to see how they felt about the class and the teacher. If students didn’t like the class, they had the option of dropping it. Which I might add you do not get this option in the real world. You may not like some people but you need to learn to respect one another as individuals. I have at times whined about having to do work, or I felt that I was overloaded, but that is what makes a person stronger. (Can I add that I have a three year old that rarely allows me a minute to myself and that my husnand is away with the military, so I am basically a single parent right now.) I would never have thought that me of all people could have passed this class let alone maintain an A, but I have and all I can say is some people just need to grow up and take responsibility for their own self. Stop being so judge mental and learn to love everyone for their differences. Appreciate the opportunities you have here and grab a hold of them while you can or one day you will look back and think why did I do that. I do apologize for going on a rant which may be the result of the glass of wine I just had, but it was well deserved because of the accomplishments that I achieved while taking this class.
Thank you, Deah! That was my EXACT intention!
WOW THANKS FOR PUTTING US ON BLAST!!!
Let’s be truthful, in your blog you failed to mention some important information like the timeline for the MLA research paper. In our textbook, it clearly gives a 7 week schedule on how to process a reseach paper, you on the other hand, gave us less than a week from outline to final draft, incuding a peer review. Monday we worked on our thesis and Wensday we went to the library for the MLA tutorial, even the librarian made a comment that you were not giving us a lot of time to get this done. I too talked with your colleauges and they agreed that your students were not given an appropriate time frame and your syllabus is vague and lack detail regarding a paper of this caliber. It speaks volume if the majority of the papers that you graded lack the quality and content that you expected then something is definetly wrong with this picture. Its not that we don’t “get it”, we just don’t “get” you.
I am sorry that you feel that way. I hope that you will gain some new insight and perspective from this experience.
WOW THANKS FOR PUTTING US ON BLAST!!!
Lets be truthfull, you failed to mention in your blog some important information like the time line for the MLA research paper. In our textbook, it clearly displays a 7 week schedule on how to process a research paper, you on the other hand, gave us less than a week form outline to final draft. Monday we worked on our thesis statement, Wednesday we went to the library for a MLA tutorial, and even the librarian made a comment that you were not giving us enough time to get this done because on the following Monday, final draft was due. I too talked with your colleagues, and they agreed that your students were not given an appropriate time frame, your syllibus was vague and lacked detail regarding a research paper of this caliber.
It speaks volume that if the majority of the papers that you graded lack the quaility and content that you expect then some thing is definitely wrong.
I am sorry you feel that way but I hope you gain some wider perspective on this issue for future classes.
I think that this whole post is pretty offensive and unfair to the college students who stay up until all hours of the night working on papers that they may be genuinely interested in whether or not they format them correctly. It has always been my belief that a teacher should inspire and motivate her students – not demean them especially on a public forum.
“Laurean Danielle Robinson
watching a segment on Good Morning America about a teacher who wrote negative comments about her students on her blog.
Note to all educators – no matter how frustrated and difficult your day (and/or students) can be, you need to use optimistic or neutral language on any form of writing, online or otherwise!!!
February 16 at 7:36am
3 people like this.”
I am sorry that you feel that way but I hope that you can a wider perspective on this issue for future classes.
I found the above Facebook status update with my classmate:
“Laurean Danielle Robinson
watching a segment on Good Morning America about a teacher who wrote negative comments about her students on her blog.
Note to all educators – no matter how frustrated and difficult your day (and/or students) can be, you need to use optimistic or neutral language on any form of writing, online or otherwise!!!
February 16 at 7:36am
3 people like this.”
According to this negative post I am, I suppose, one of those “students have forgotten the work ethic and professionalism they had learned from their college classes this semester” – meaning that I did not even hand in a research paper last week. I however did speak to my teacher that week explaining my then illness and my concerns pertaining to the time limit for such an in-depth and extensive research paper. The only response I managed to receive, however, was that I should have thought about just fulfilling the MINIMUM requirements of the assignment, five pages and two sources. Maybe it is just my diminished work ethic, maybe this is just a ridiculous excuse on my part. I know that even if this is the case, I have not received less than a 96% on any graded paper that has been handed back to me this semester.
The other part of this situation that aggravates me is the knowledge of other classmates with less work ethic than I, receiving amnesty on penalties for handing in late work. After telling an A student that the highest grade possible for a late assignment would be 10 points off if they crammed a BS paper out in one more evening, hearing a less consistent student (in terms of performance) getting special treatment is infuriating. Double standards, especially as someone who preaches ‘fairness’ and ‘equality’ quite openly, are frankly not qualities one sees in “empathetic critical learners and citizens of the global community.”
I am sorry that you feel that way but I hope that you gain a wider perspective in future classes.
WOW THANKS FOR PUTTING US ON BLAST!!!
Lets tell the truth, you failed to mention in your blog some important information, like the time line for the MLA research paper. In our required textbook it clearly displays a 7 week schedule on how to process a research paper (chapter 19 pg. 536). However, you on the other hand, gave us less than a week from outline to final draft. Monday we worked on our thesis, Wednesday we were in the library for the MLA tutorial, and even the librarian made a comment that you are not giving us enough time to get this done, because the final draft was due that following Monday. I too talked with your colleagues and they agreed that your students did not receive an appropriate time frame and your syllibus was vague and lack detail regarding a research paper of this caliber. It speaks volume, if the majority of the papers that you graded lack the quality and content that you expect then something is definitely wrong. It’s not that we don’t “get it” -we just don’t get you.
I am sorry you feel that way but I hope that you gain a wider perspective for future classes.
I have seriously procrastinated about this post. I was not sure how to reply. Giving students less than a week to write a decent research paper was expecting a lot. Some students have families, other classes they take, and outside jobs. When a person chooses to be a teacher they have to expect not every student will do their best or feel they have the time to do their best. Some students are just struggling to make ends meet much less trying to attend school to better themselves for the future. It is unfortunate that some teachers need to blast students whether they deserve it or not. It is sad that some people feel the need to use a blog as a complaint board.
I am sorry you feel that.
I would like to start off by saying, this is pretty hard-core. But I digress. You mentioned that educators stay up late nights trying to put together basically a “lesson plan” that is interesting and whatnot. But do you, as an educator yourself, try to put yourself into the shoes of the students you are teaching? I know you probably feel like you have a life and you do what you’re ‘suppose’ to do; but everyone is not you. Your students have lives and some of them may be easy-going and some may be too horrific to mention, but you cannot always expect every single student you have to give 100% each time. At the very most, you can just hope for it. I’m not in this specific class so I do not know if you stayed with the syllabus or not, but some students try their best and sometimes their best efforts do not match your specific criteria. If their paper does not match your criteria, does that mean they did not try at all? No, it does not, and I’m not saying you should be lenient or strict, I just think maybe you could try to be more understanding.
I am sorry you feel that way.
First, I think it’s messed up for you to put your students on blast like this, especially when our homework is to read and respond to this blog. I get that you are upset that we didn’t do as hoped on the research paper, but putting us on blast like this is not right. There were other ways of handling this situation and this was not it.
Also, I don’t think it’s fair for you to completely blame us for the research paper grades. Yes I understand that you’ve said throughout the semester that we will be doing a research paper but only giving us a week was utterly unfair. You said that our essays and other assignments are laid out in the syllabus but not what the paper has to be about. So how exactly are we suppose to have planned out our paper when you told us Monday about the topic and then expected it to be done the following week. I understand we are in college and have to be adults about our work but we do take other classes, work and/or have families to take care of. In one of my other classes, the teacher told us EXACTLY what our research paper is on the first day and gave us four months to do it. I’m not saying we needed four months but we needed more then a week. In the textbook it gives a seven-week outline to do the paper so a week to write a five-ten page research paper was not fair.
Reading all the comments inevitably made me empathetic towards our professor. As a human being, I think that’s only natural. Whether it’s her fault or our fault at this point in the semester is irrelevant. EVERYONE had the option of changing professors within a two month period and at some point WE have to take some credit for our own work. To me, the way the class was set up as far as the scale of difficulty from the beginning to end was VERY clear. At the end of the day, we have to remember, she’s the professor for a reason and we’re the students for a reason!
Thank you for your widened perspective and insight!
I don’t want to talk about some things that are too repetitive in the comments above, like the time that you gave us for the research paper, or what you post on facebook (that I haven’t seen by the way), but the only thing that really bothers me is how you expressed yourself through this post. It is true that maybe some of us didn’t follow the steps that you gave us, it is also true that maybe we didn’t “get it”, but I believe that those reasons do not give you the right to express yourself as you did, knowing also that we were going to read this post after some time. As students it’s our responsibility to read the lectures and to do our homework, but what happen when those students are also part-time workers, and in some cases parents? I am going to be honest, I just moved here, I just turned 18 years old, I am not working right now but I am trying really hard to find a job; nevertheless, that doesn’t stop me to see how is other people’s life. So, what is basically the problem with this post? The way you talk about us, the students. A professor cannot criticize the students just for seeing them 2-4 hours a week. Each person has his/her own issues, and I think that everyone tries really hard to accomplish all they have to do. I am not saying it’s your fault, but I am not saying it’s the student’s fault either. We should all be empathic (we as students and you as a teacher) and try to solve this issue that has been with us since the last weeks.
I am sorry you feel that but I hope you gain a wider perspective for future classes.
I believe it is pretty clear as stated in the above posts how we, the students feel towards this post. It is negatively directed towards us, and our writing abilities in the class. First off we all have other classes that we are taking; this is NOT our only class. We have assignments, quizzes, exams, essays, etc, given in ALL our other classes as well. As listed in the syllabuses for our other classes, is a straight forward guideline of WHEN our Assignments are due AHEAD of time, it’s called planning, scheduling, whatever you want to call it! Not only are the dates given for the when it’s due also WHAT it is about, so we can manage our time accordingly. We are not entering into something practically blind folded.
You had told us we were going to have to write a research paper, yes! But you had not given us the page number in the textbook that our topics were listed. You had given it to us the last minute. And had also said, “Do not start your paper until we go to the library as a class”. Which half of us, including myself was dumbfounded by that, and started on it immediately. Not all of us work at the SAME pace. That would be a good thing to know as an instructor. I know the MAJORITY of the class spent the LESS than a week time period you gave us in the library struggling to finish the assignment. AND a week ago we had just had our SPRING BREAK, why was this not given to us to think about over the break? I strongly had wish you would have given let us know over the break and not wait until after to shove this 5-10 page paper down our throats!
Now we have all heard what you have to say; now let’s be fair and listen to “US THE STUDENTS” or in historic terms “WE THE PEOPLE”. Understand where we are coming from and listen to our thoughts. As a teacher its one of the foundation to making your teaching ethics better improve. For once you were a student. Hence “The student becomes a Teacher” I believe this “teacher” has more learning to do.
I am sorry you feel that way but I hope you gain a wider perspective for future classes.
Ahmed Ismael
Eng. 111
Some students just do not grasp the concept as easily as others. That combined with bad time management is a recipe for failure. Every student has the potential to excel so do not give up on any of them. A college professor is no easy task, for all the hard working, sleep deprived professors thank you.
Thank you for your insight!
Honestly, this post is insulting…saying you’re sorry and hopefully we gain new insight for future experience was a waste of time. You knew that we were going to read this, did you purposefully do this so that we would be offended? That’s how it seems. You’ve said in class, “I want more people on my blog tell your friends and family.” Why would I tell people about a blog that clearly insults me and my writing capabilities. At the beginning of our class you had us write a journal about specific things we were bad at and wanted to improve on, I said writing, this post means that you don’t care that I’ve struggled with writing since the 5th grade. You’ve posted “I hope that my students (even if my brother doesn’t ) see how I practice love as an action every class!” I don’t see it in this post. We are now you’re peers over the internet because blogging isn’t taught in your class room, this post of mine isn’t a homework post. So I know everyone wants to get famous on the internet today and all…but do you have any respect for us? Just because we’re the students and you’re the teacher doesn’t mean that you have the right to blog about us. Also, for our portfolio, it would have been nice if you told us that we were going to have to print old papers in the syllabus so that we could have saved them instead of just the copies you’ve graded. You frequently come to class and say “listen to this,” or “watch this, I just heard this on the radio twenty minutes ago.” Those aren’t on the syllabus. And if I offended you, you can’t be biased on my papers or presentation because you’re asking for my opinion and I’m giving it to you. I honestly think that us commenting on your blog about your personal life is unprofessional. I don’t want to know that Brandon doesn’t make as much money as you because he works at Lowes or how it’s hard for you to be in a long distance relationship or your roommate hardships. If this blog was ONLY about analysis on books you’ve read or movies you’ve seen then that would be acceptable, maybe, but reading about your life won’t improve my writing capabilities or inspire me in anyway. Reading this blog isn’t really helping me relate to you, understand you more, or learn how to analyze blogs better. If you truly wanted us to gain from this experience you should have created a web log specifically for your English classes to gain from and kept your personal life out of it. Now with all that said, I hope you gain a wider perspective for future classes.