There are times when a poorly written essay feels like a literal "mind trap:" a labyrinth of poorly expressed, chosen, and inadequately organized ideas that requires what feels like an infinite number of re-reads so that I can effectively pinpoint on the rubric and articulate in my comments what wasn't working, and the more I read the essay, the ( Read more... )

I have a detailed electronic rubric I can use to give feedback for these online essays.

Nevertheless, I seem to be physically incapable of grading these with the rubric only: I inevitably feel I have to leave written comments as I fear the students won't learn without those comments, but this takes a lot of time.... Too much time, unfortunately. I ( Read more... )

I have a student who--I'm going to assume this was a typo because it doesn't fit the flow of the sentence--left the word "die" in the assignment's message. Literally, it was written in a sentence that was, I believe, meant to sound the exact opposite (was meant to sound thankful), but that one word.... Talk about a misstep!

I have some students who ( Read more... )

Sometimes, grading these essays feels like force-feeding myself. I need time between bites (aka readings), but because there is limited time, I can't really stop, so I just have to open the next booklet and start reading the first sentence, and I just have to force myself through each essay like a robot. This doesn't mean I can't engage with or ( Read more... )

Just when you think you know grammar, you go and read something like...

"On her face was an odd expression for a newborn-puzzlement perhaps." - Sagan, 1985, Contact.

I can't decide if this is passive voice with "an odd expression" being the subject (the thing that "was" something was the "odd expression"), or if this is active voice with a ( Read more... )

So I finally finished putting together the report instructions after hours of pedagogical research and preparation....

But I still have to assess my lecture slides and likely alter portions....

As well as decide on the next minor assignment....

And it's 6:30 a.m.

And class is at 12:00 p.m.

I fucking hate myself lol

1 part perfectionism and 1 part ( Read more... )

( Yay school is done now / feelings from the past )

At the end of every term, I critique myself and find myself revising my teaching methodology in what feels like significant ways. I continue to build and revise each time, hoping to perfect the way my students engage with and internalize the skills I hope to guide them toward. I love the pedagogy aspect and I love building on existing strategies, ( Read more... )

I wish I'd spent more time on the slippery slope fallacy with my students today because the majority are using it to forward their argument for this one prompt and it's worthy of a Picard facepalm.

v_v

Extreme (and often vague / generalized) hypotheticals do not an argument make!

I'm grading student essays and this current one brought tears to my eyes, both happy and sad: happy because the student included a well-stated personal anecdote to prove her point, and sad because the anecdote is about her friend who has experienced lack of parental acceptance for how that friend self-identifies--when that source of unconditional ( Read more... )