Saturday, May 9, 2015 -- In-class Essays

Requiring in-class essays is just part of the job of a community college instructor/professor, and then reading and scoring them is mandatory. Student handwriting has gotten pretty bad since most of them rarely write with a pen or pencil and that makes reading them much more difficult.

Reading them would be easier if students would learn the material so they could compose quality, meaningful essays, but approximately two-thirds of them do not. For the most part, these are students who did not learn to be quality students in high school, so they are immature young adults and inferior writers. They all have the potential to write well, but they won't study and they won't practice writing.

So, my task today is to read and read and read. I'd rather clean house, pay bills, run a marathon -- I'm only "sort of" kidding. I continue to teach with the thought that a few of them will "get it" and want to write. I believe writing is such a powerful tool -- invisible and easy to transport to wherever needed.

Good night from Southern California,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol