Sigh

I think one of my students in 281 may have plagiarized. No, let me rephrase: I know he did, in one way or another. Whether I can catch him at it is another story. His paper won't pass in any event, but if he plagiarized, I want to be able to point that out--and make him stop.

But really. All I can do is sigh.

I can sigh a little with relief, too: I did get the journal/logs marked for today's class--and went to my 9:30 meeting as well as my hours in Advisement. So, hah. And I got the last of the logs and study questions for Native American Lit marked for tomorrow, too. Again, hah. What I have now--and what I will carry into the weekend--are the journal/logs I collected from 102 today, and mini-papers from the two lit electives. Including the plagiarist.

Sigh.

The 102 went pretty well today. They ran out of juice a bit early, which was fine: I reviewed what they need to have ready for Monday and let them go. A couple needed to go over reading journals: one poor student had missed the class when I handed out the form as well as the class when I gave feedback, so--not knowing what else to do--all she did was produce a plot summary. I'm still uncertain whether she understands what she needs to do, but at least she's closer now--and I'm letting her revise the journal she turned in, plus the one she did for today (which was essentially the same thing). A couple of students were handing in journals late (because they'd been absent) but wanted them back before they had to write their papers: the fact that they realized the journals would be a tool for that is a minor triumph. (The journals are marked, sitting on the office door as I write, so they can pick them up before they leave campus today.)

Kayla and I talked about it, and I think I need to just ditch the word "journal" from the assignment. It just leads the students into areas where I don't want them. So, starting next semester, they will be idea logs, period, no /anything else.

The discussion was good in class--and I actually rather like the way Kayla and I work together (Can I keep her, please? Pleeeeese can I keep her? I'll take real good care of her, I promise...) I circulate quickly, drop in a comment and move on; Kayla digs in with them, following up with question after question. The students are also getting used to the doubles act--and my favorite moment came at the end of class. One very bright student has been getting crappy grades on her journal/logs, and she asked if she could talk to me about it after class. Instead, while I was talking to a bunch of other students, Kayla sat down with her and painstakingly walked her through what she needs to do. The student listened intently, asked questions; Kayla asked questions to pull more ideas out of the young woman.... At one point, I heard Kayla ask how the student would use a quotation in her paper, and when the young woman's jaw dropped open, Kayla hastened to reassure her: "You don't have to answer now...." By that time, I had no students needing my attention so I jumped in: "Yes, you do need to answer now. You need to write your entire paper right this minute." They both laughed: apparently my humor was starting to make sense to the students.

I got another laugh from that student earlier in class when she asked Kayla "Do our ideas have to come from the stories?" and I jumped in and said, "Yes! Where else are they going to come from? Your left ear?" And then I kept going, "That's where I get all my best ideas. Specifically your left ear, not my own." Modest amusement from the class, but at least I tickled myself. Still, I did get a couple of laughs from the class today, which always makes me feel like I scored points in the big game.

Kayla had some great questions for me, too, about teaching--and she was surprised and very interested that I had to go over basics like how to format a paper correctly, the need to cite all quotations and paraphrases, how to cite--and how to use their handbooks. She said it never would have occurred to her that it was necessary to do all those things, so as I was talking, she had her adorable little electronic notepad out and was furiously taking notes. (I was interested to observe that the students were NOT taking notes, until I rather firmly told them that they probably ought to--and even then, only a few took me up on the suggestion.)

Oh, and I know my faithful readers will be astonished to hear that the student who has the emotional affect of a flounder (possibly less) was not in class today: I told him if he didn't come to class with the story read and prepared to discuss, he was out--but apparently he doesn't understand that this means he is out of the class entirely. I sent an e-mail to students saying they need to get their handbooks by next week--and he replied to tell me that he got the message. That message, he got. The message about his responsibility as a student in the class was evidently not received.

I also had an interesting interaction with one of the brighter students in the class. He wanted to argue with me about a point made in one of his journals (on which he got a low grade), and he didn't want to believe me when I said that he was trying to draw too specific an inference from insufficient support. He really argued with me about it--and even though he eventually (and somewhat grudgingly) accepted the fact that he needed to believe my critique, I'm glad he had the moxie to take me on and to engage in the debate. In fact, I want to let him know that, very specifically. He's very bright, but he needs some bolstering, and I can provide it, I think, without endangering his progress in any way. Not enabling; support.

There were 17 students in the room today. Kayla wondered how many would be there and prepared on Monday. My guess? Fifteen would be great; twelve is more likely. Already, the class is cut in half, just because I'm making them work. Jesus, it's sad, isn't it?

Oh, but I want to end on a happy note, so I'll talk about the more mature student in Native American Lit. I need to come up with a name for her; I'll mull it over. Anyway, I just read her journals and study question responses, and they're terrific--especially the study question responses, which blew my socks off. Truly excellent, in every possible way. What a pleasure. And what a pleasure to write that great big "A" on her assignment.

But once again, I'm here much later than I intended, so I will wave farewell as I ride off into the hills....