Education Rant

[birdgirl78]

Sorry in advance for those of you not interested in the current teaching of undergraduate English.
Feel free to skip this entry.

Those of you who know me IRL know that I'm a pretty laid-back teacher.  I want my students to do well; I want them to feel that they 'run' the classroom (although that is, to some extent, an illusion); I want them to make

Comments

[birdgirl78]

Thank you so much for sticking with me and reading through all this. I also love that she didn't try to argue for any standards of the "A-level" writing her class did. Apparently, she's been in this battle all term. The creative writing program runs its teaching pods differently from the composition unit. She was meeting (in her class) with the 2 creative writing directors when the problem first came up.
One of the directors did look at the stories and marked them with the grades she would give. This instructor was incensed that the director said it was a bad plan for one of the students to turn his recent real-life tragedy into a story. This woman automatically assumed that the director just didn't like his choice of story. But I, too, have forbidden my students to write on 1. the death of a parent or grandparent, etc, 2. their children or pets, and 3. their religious experiences. And I do that FOR the students. Because I'm going to have to grade the actual *written* work, but they are not professional writers who can take a step back. They will only feel that I am somehow grading their experience and, by extension, them as people. And that's where her argument heads, and it really worries me.

Oof. sorry, got on a roll again XD
Also, I don't usually do this outside of a classroom context, but I *totally* judged her writing--and it was mediocre. *blush*

[trishtrash]

You're clearly a far more professional teacher than this woman, despite your self-deprecation; your off-limit topic list makes perfect sense in the teaching/grading arena.

I *totally* judged her writing--and it was mediocre. *blush*

I did think her email sounded like something one of her students should be scolded for writing... far too emotional for the degree of respect she was expecting from the directors of the programme/whoever else was downgrading the work.

[birdgirl78]

awwww thank you!

She obviously didn't think about the genre of her email...or maybe she did, but thought that the emotion would be more effective. I don't know, but everyone seems to be officially keeping quiet on this subject (though we are all chatting amongst ourselves). So maybe it will all blow over soon. *crossing fingers*

Thank you for your kind compliments and, even more, for your continued friendship.
Birdie luffs Trish