Back Yard Love

The romance in the back yard has continued! So today we bring you just another glimpse of the continuing excitement we watch daily. It was quite warm in the pool today, but that just enhanced their diving and spinning and singing to one another. As we joined them in the pool and the spa, they thought we might dive and spin and sing as well. When really, all we did was soak, but it was so enjoyable.

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On other fronts, I opened my "instructor" email today and wasn't sure I wanted to answer the request, but I did, and now think I will include much of it here. So someday I can read it again ~ ~ ~


Dear Student: Thanks for your email. I do want to explain that I just cannot read each student's drafts in order to offer help, suggestions, or advice. There is not enough of me or time to do that. So I would sincerely appreciate your not telling the others in class that I have responded to your request. I do have a busy weekend planned and I will not be opening my professor email until next week. I have tried to give some quick observation comments to help guide you as you move this draft into revision and improvement. Please see my comments below your draft:

On Oct 1, 2010, at 12:07 PM, the student wrote:
Hello Carol, I am emailing you because I a concerned. I am having a difficult time with these summaries. I got a "C" on the most recent project. I expected to do better. I felt like my summaries were good. Now that I have reviewed them, I can understand most of the things that went wrong. I am trying to get a early start on reviewing and fixing the new summaries I have done for Project 3. I was wondering if you could read the draft that I have attached in this email. I feel like this summary is the strongest one that I have done so far. I know you are super busy. But if you could get back to me with some input, I would greatly appreciate it. If not I will understand. I hope to make it to the Writing Center early this next week and would love to get some help there. Unfortunately I have so much going on right now, and my aunt has breast cancer and is having a double Mastectomy on Tuesday. I have been caring for her children through this difficult time. I just want to be able to do great in your English class. I feel like I already have learned a lot and am really excited about improving my reading and writing. I know everyone has issues in life and is busy, so if you do not find the time to give me some input I totally understand. Thank you, your student

(Her summary was right here)

So I gave her some specific comments about the draft and then this:

Finally, one general comment -- returning graded papers to students is always a serious moment. Students only want the highest grade, even though most students will admit they are sure they did NOT produce an excellent project. So expectations are quite idealistic.

Instructors, on the other hand, desire for students to build skill so they will eventually (with enough practice) be able to produce excellence every time or almost every time. Everyone in your class earned a "C" on Project 2 -- some earned a C-, some earned a C, and a very few earned a C+. I don't think anyone earned a B. I refused to put anything less than a C on anyone's project, which would be a non-passing score on the first graded project, but honestly the C- projects, and many of the C projects, did not qualify for a passing score. So technically I did "grade inflation" which would not please my colleagues in the English department. The topic of grades will be discussed further as we read more articles later this semester.

Possibly the wisest student I have ever had in my class was a gal last semester. When I returned the first graded project and was quite concerned about how my students would react to the grades they received (which were mostly C grades), she politely said to me, "C's get degrees," and then she smiled and walked back to her desk. I found her gracious attitude to be a breath of fresh air. When final grades were posted at the end of the semester, she was one who had earned an A in the course. I have never received more pleasure than I did as I wrote that A next to her name on the semester grade sheet.

So dear student, I hope you have a good weekend. I also hope what I have conveyed here makes sense to you and helps you.

~~Carol

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Watching the back yard love affair reduced the agony of grading student papers, reading their Friday emails, and wondering if I had responded appropriately. I think I might go sing to the back yard whales, spin, and do a dive!

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