Situation normal

Three students today. Was four, briefly, but one canceled. In between times, I read through and commented on the next essay for the student I'm tutoring, my friend's daughter. (I should come up with a moniker for her, as I suspect she'll crop up periodically in this blog.)

One of the students I saw was in very early developmental stages as an ESL student--not even officially enrolled in the college yet but still in our language immersion program. One was a student who needed to write a literary analysis essay--and although she "loves" English, she had really zero clue what she was actually being asked to do. I had to read the assignment to her very carefully (no, you don't just talk about the specific passage you chose, you have to talk about how it exemplifies something about the novel as a whole--and Jesus, how many times did I have to say that to my own 102 students? About the work as a whole, about the work as a whole, about the work as a whole). And I had to work with her to show her what "analysis" actually means--and in fact, she had not read with the kind of attention that analysis requires, which is also typical. She didn't even really understand one of the sentences she wanted to quote; she kinda had the gist, but ... again, how many times did I have to say that in my own classes? The gist is not enough; a general sense is not enough. But I think I got her closer to what's required--and unusually, she's actually given herself some time to work on the essay, so it isn't due oh, say, tomorrow.

Student #3 was the one who made me want to bang my head on the table. First, he showed up with his laptop, not a printed copy of the essay. (Nope: go print it.) Then, he didn't understand that one of the handouts he had wasn't "the same thing"; it was information about the same assignment that was given (in overview) in the course syllabus, but it was important information elaborating on what the student needed to do. I was happy to see that it was talking about environmental concerns--yes, please, let's do some consciousness-raising there--but what he had to do was pretty simplistic: 1. summarize an article he'd read and 2. critique the article--answering three basic prompts the instructor had provided (does it make a persuasive argument, that sort of thing). Having made sure he understood that much (and specifically understood the difference between "summary" and "critique," which took a bit), I was ready to read what he'd written--but saw that the first paragraph didn't say anything about the article, so I asked him to tell me what the article was about. "Oh, I haven't had a chance to read it yet."

Wait. The assignment is for you to summarize and critique an article, and you've written two pages--and you haven't read the article??

Correct.

OK, so, what exactly are you looking for from our talk here?

I want to know if I'm doing what the assignment says.

Well, you're not. [Cue finale music, lower curtain.]

Again, this is a syndrome I am all too familiar with from my years in the classroom. Students assume that the assignment is always, "Talk out your ass about whatever" instead of understanding that they have reached a point at which it is important for them to understand and think about and in some way respond to/synthesize what other people think. Yes, all you little ducklings, you actually are not the center of the universe and what other people have to say is not only important, it's usually "better" than what you already have in your head, because it arises from knowledge you do not yet possess.

Oh, fucking argh.

But as for my tutee, she wants my help on this enormous assignment because she feels her approach so far is relatively puerile (though she didn't use that word). And it is an enormous assignment: if I assigned it to any of my students, especially in 101, there would have been open rebellion and my head on a pike. " it is a year long project that all sophomores begin in the fall and there is a rolling deadline sometime in the spring. It is meant to be scholarly and cite at least 10 peer-reviewed academic journals." And if the submission in the sophomore year doesn't pass, the student has to write an entirely new one in her or his junior year. That won't happen with this young writer--it will definitely pass--but she is correct in her assessment that it's not as deep or intellectually advanced as the essay she just finished. She's addressing Body Dysmorphic Disorder--but despite the research she's done (lots of sources, though only six meet the "peer reviewed academic journal" requirement), she's basically just retreading the old familiar territory: we have a thing against "fat" in our society; media images cause problems, the disorder is a serious problem, we need to allow people to be all sizes and shapes, blah blah blah. I suggested two alternative approaches that should lead her into more interesting territory. We'll see what she thinks about my comments.

And, of course, being me, I took advantage of my desire to lead her to more profitable avenues of research to engage in a little research of my own on the topic--and of course, I could have followed all those rabbit trails a good long way, except I called off my mental hounds. Research can be wildly frustrating, when one cannot locate the information one requires, but when one is just poking around to see what runs out of the underbrush, it is a blast. Or so thinks this particular hound. (And yes, I did a little more of my own historical research, with a less satisfactory result, but still.)

Now, however, I am just about finished with my stint in the WC. I have to go to the office at least to water the plants, but after this week, I've made the executive decision to switch "plant watering day" from Thursday to Monday, as I usually go to the office on Mondays. I won't next week: I'll be getting ready for the medical procedure I have to have on Tuesday, so I will head home the instant I'm finished here on Monday--and then I will take a day of sick leave on Tuesday. And how thrilled am I that I actually get sick leave for this position. I didn't think I would, so finding out that was part of this contract was lovely. Snow days and sick days. Manna.

In any event, that means I will almost certainly be off the radar again until a week from today, at which point I hope to post again.