i AM effective, damn it
NaBloPoMo, Day Twenty-Four
Cookies Eaten: None
Cups of Coffee: One
Vegetables: Does lettuce count? What about a jalapeño?
Naughty Words: Yup.
Mexican Food: Weird lemon-chicken fajitas, beans, rice, TORTILLA.
- - -
We here at the University of Arizona English Department have a general consensus. When it's time for students to turn in papers, it is also time to moan and groan and generally just complain. We also get to complain during student conferences, which are the most efficient way to get our ideas across to students in a more intimate environment than the classroom. Some teachers do one-on-one's, some do group conferences, and some do pairs. Personally, I prefer the pairs conference.
With one-on-one's you have to take the time to read through every student's rough draft and make thoughtful comments, and then you get to spend ten to fifteen minutes intimidating the hell out them (I always used to cry during one-on-one's with my professors--actually, um, I kind of still do, but that's an entry for another day). With group conferences, basically no effort is required on your part; students just come in in groups of four or five and for about an hour, and take turns giving constructive criticism to each other's papers. It is essentially a teacher supervised peer workshop. I don't mind this idea in theory because I like feeling all bossy and teacher-like, but the logistics of it give me a headache. Not only do you have to find an hour where all five group members can meet, getting all of them to turn in their assignments to each other is like trying to make my cat take a bath: not a good idea.
For me, pairs are perfect. You get the students to pick a partner of their choice, which makes them happy. Some students get stuck with duds, but for the most part, partners are good (and when they're not, I pick up the slack in the conference). And then I make them pick a time to come in for a twenty-minute conference. I have them email each other their essays twenty-four hours in advance of their conference, and they fill out paperwork . The paperwork is key because otherwise, most students would come in, sit down and go, "Uhhhhhh." Either that, or they'd be done with their "critique" in about five seconds. ("It was so good, OMG, I loved it. You're so smart." "This is horrible, make it better.")
But here's the deal: I don't agree with the consensus. I LOVE conferences.
When the students actually show up, not only do I get a relatively long period of time alone with them in which to hear their thoughts about their paper that they are somehow too freaked out to actually come and say to me without conferences, but I get a chance to be way more specific and detailed in my feedback for them. It's too hard to get everything you want to say to them on the back of a single sheet of paper, and the classroom necessitates a broader approach. I also really enjoy putting them on the spot with each other, as I'm convinced that in class they try as much as possible to get the least amount of work done, especially when we're workshopping. This way, I get to see what they're saying about each other's papers, and they feel tons of pressure to do a good job in order to impress me. (This hasn't stopped a good few of them from still sucking SO HARD.) Also, since I'm stuck in a room for three days in a row for like six hours each, in between conferences I can totally get all my work done. Today I read all my research for one of my papers; I was SO productive (Can I have my prize now, Abigail?).
Everybody is always whining about their conferences, like, "Oh poor me. I just had to sit through like six hours of conferences, I'm EXHAUSTED;" "If I have to hear one more complaint from a student I'm going to knife myself;" "BLARG." But I'm just like, suck it up, biatches. LEARNING IS FUN. Do you hear me, whineholes? FUN.
Rant over. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've been dealing with frakking students all day and I'm frakkiing exhausted and I want to shank myself in the eye.*
*"I feel used and violated and I need a lozenge."
Cookies Eaten: None
Cups of Coffee: One
Vegetables: Does lettuce count? What about a jalapeño?
Naughty Words: Yup.
Mexican Food: Weird lemon-chicken fajitas, beans, rice, TORTILLA.
- - -
We here at the University of Arizona English Department have a general consensus. When it's time for students to turn in papers, it is also time to moan and groan and generally just complain. We also get to complain during student conferences, which are the most efficient way to get our ideas across to students in a more intimate environment than the classroom. Some teachers do one-on-one's, some do group conferences, and some do pairs. Personally, I prefer the pairs conference.
With one-on-one's you have to take the time to read through every student's rough draft and make thoughtful comments, and then you get to spend ten to fifteen minutes intimidating the hell out them (I always used to cry during one-on-one's with my professors--actually, um, I kind of still do, but that's an entry for another day). With group conferences, basically no effort is required on your part; students just come in in groups of four or five and for about an hour, and take turns giving constructive criticism to each other's papers. It is essentially a teacher supervised peer workshop. I don't mind this idea in theory because I like feeling all bossy and teacher-like, but the logistics of it give me a headache. Not only do you have to find an hour where all five group members can meet, getting all of them to turn in their assignments to each other is like trying to make my cat take a bath: not a good idea.
For me, pairs are perfect. You get the students to pick a partner of their choice, which makes them happy. Some students get stuck with duds, but for the most part, partners are good (and when they're not, I pick up the slack in the conference). And then I make them pick a time to come in for a twenty-minute conference. I have them email each other their essays twenty-four hours in advance of their conference, and they fill out paperwork . The paperwork is key because otherwise, most students would come in, sit down and go, "Uhhhhhh." Either that, or they'd be done with their "critique" in about five seconds. ("It was so good, OMG, I loved it. You're so smart." "This is horrible, make it better.")
But here's the deal: I don't agree with the consensus. I LOVE conferences.
When the students actually show up, not only do I get a relatively long period of time alone with them in which to hear their thoughts about their paper that they are somehow too freaked out to actually come and say to me without conferences, but I get a chance to be way more specific and detailed in my feedback for them. It's too hard to get everything you want to say to them on the back of a single sheet of paper, and the classroom necessitates a broader approach. I also really enjoy putting them on the spot with each other, as I'm convinced that in class they try as much as possible to get the least amount of work done, especially when we're workshopping. This way, I get to see what they're saying about each other's papers, and they feel tons of pressure to do a good job in order to impress me. (This hasn't stopped a good few of them from still sucking SO HARD.) Also, since I'm stuck in a room for three days in a row for like six hours each, in between conferences I can totally get all my work done. Today I read all my research for one of my papers; I was SO productive (Can I have my prize now, Abigail?).
Everybody is always whining about their conferences, like, "Oh poor me. I just had to sit through like six hours of conferences, I'm EXHAUSTED;" "If I have to hear one more complaint from a student I'm going to knife myself;" "BLARG." But I'm just like, suck it up, biatches. LEARNING IS FUN. Do you hear me, whineholes? FUN.
Rant over. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've been dealing with frakking students all day and I'm frakkiing exhausted and I want to shank myself in the eye.*
*"I feel used and violated and I need a lozenge."