Pass/fail
Ah, midterms. Today's book discussion with my obnoxious class went pretty well; between small group work and a whole-class discussion we managed to fill the hour nicely. Unfortunately I can't rest on my laurels, because what fills an hour in the loud class won't get the same mileage with the quiet ones, but hopefully the group work will help.
As an opening exercise I had them go around the room and give a one-word summation/review of the book (The Cheese Monkeys). I knew it wasn't an overly popular selection, and it was 8:30 in the morning, but pretty much every word I got was negative (some highlights: perverted, unrelatable [the assigned essay was on an aspect of the book they related to personally], trippy, uninteresting, optimistic, and confusing]. Luckily I had anticipated at least some negativity, so I used it as a transition to the rules of book discussion and how value judgments wouldn't be accepted without qualification using specific examples from the text. And luckily the book isn't a favorite of mine, so my feelings weren't hurt.
On the train home I read through their essays and was pleasantly surprised to find that despite their negative reactions, most of them had no problem identifying with something in the book, whether it was a character, a situation, or a lesson (the book is set at an art school). Even the girl who professed to find the book "unrelatable" wrote a very competent essay about an experience with the high school art teacher who helped her find her calling in art.
This is the first formal writing assignment they've had (their weekly homework is generally "write me a paragraph on ...") and it's a major part (20%) of their grades. However, "grade" is a relative term, because this is a pass/fail class. Initially I thought that not having to assign real grades would make my job easier, but in reality I'm having a hell of a time trying to figure out what I should accept and what to let slide. If they turn an assignment in and fulfill the basic requirements, does that constitute passing? If there is obvious effort but they totally lack basic communication skills, is that enough? If their analysis is couched in sarcasm, do I let it slide?
So far I feel like I've been very lenient, which I don't think helps my already-tenuous credibility. My department chair, who also teaches the class and whose syllabus I'm using, accepts things that I would probably reject. This is, after all, freshman seminar, and she's all about rewarding ideas and writing encouraging comments on every assignment. For the most part I've tried to go along with this.
However, one of the papers I received today is causing me a major ethical dilemma. It's almost unintelligible. It's pretty much a stream of consciousness. There is basically no punctuation, the majority of the words are spelled wrong, and a good deal of it is written in text messaging language. The essay wraps up with this sentence:
these are a few things i found i relate to not much i know but its all i got from this book also i'm sorrie for boreing u with my storys its the only way i know how to write about myself and sorrie for all the spelling errors and punctuation errors im not to great with punctuation and spelling words im dont normaly use. i guess ill end this horror fest of an eassay/journal thing lol.
I showed it to a couple of colleagues who were similarly horrified. One teaches mainly upperclassmen and is known to be a tough grader--she said if it was her she wouldn't even look it. Another, who also teaches fresh. sem. but has something in his syllabus that says he won't accept papers with more than 5 spelling/grammar errors, said he would reject it as well.
Then I took it to my department chair, who is a wonderful teacher and who I respect a lot. She asked if I thought the student was writing that way intentionally, to be a smartass--unfortunately, I don't. She winced but said that she would probably accept it, recognizing that freshman seminar is not an English class and that the student will never pass freshman comp with that type of work. Ultimately, though, she said it was up to me.
My syllabus does not say anything about a maximum number of errors, and the assignment specifications mainly addressed formatting (typed, double-spaced, 2-4 pages) rather than basic conventions of writing an essay--naively, I didn't think I had to spell out the fact that basic English was required.
This student is part-time, meaning that my class is his only "academic" class this semester. Next semester, there's a 50-50 chance he'll be in freshman comp. If not, it will be a full year until he has to do another real written assignment. And, of course, there's the question of basic academic abilities that results from our open admissions policy. I can't believe this would be accepted by a high school teacher, but I have no idea what high school he went to, either.
So what is my responsibility here?
Today, I'm leaning toward giving him an incomplete or an F for his midterm grade and giving him the opportunity to resubmit the essay, written as a formal academic paper, sans text-speak and with the understanding that spell-check and proofreading by someone literate are required.
Does that seem reasonable? Overly lenient? I can't decide.
As an opening exercise I had them go around the room and give a one-word summation/review of the book (The Cheese Monkeys). I knew it wasn't an overly popular selection, and it was 8:30 in the morning, but pretty much every word I got was negative (some highlights: perverted, unrelatable [the assigned essay was on an aspect of the book they related to personally], trippy, uninteresting, optimistic, and confusing]. Luckily I had anticipated at least some negativity, so I used it as a transition to the rules of book discussion and how value judgments wouldn't be accepted without qualification using specific examples from the text. And luckily the book isn't a favorite of mine, so my feelings weren't hurt.
On the train home I read through their essays and was pleasantly surprised to find that despite their negative reactions, most of them had no problem identifying with something in the book, whether it was a character, a situation, or a lesson (the book is set at an art school). Even the girl who professed to find the book "unrelatable" wrote a very competent essay about an experience with the high school art teacher who helped her find her calling in art.
This is the first formal writing assignment they've had (their weekly homework is generally "write me a paragraph on ...") and it's a major part (20%) of their grades. However, "grade" is a relative term, because this is a pass/fail class. Initially I thought that not having to assign real grades would make my job easier, but in reality I'm having a hell of a time trying to figure out what I should accept and what to let slide. If they turn an assignment in and fulfill the basic requirements, does that constitute passing? If there is obvious effort but they totally lack basic communication skills, is that enough? If their analysis is couched in sarcasm, do I let it slide?
So far I feel like I've been very lenient, which I don't think helps my already-tenuous credibility. My department chair, who also teaches the class and whose syllabus I'm using, accepts things that I would probably reject. This is, after all, freshman seminar, and she's all about rewarding ideas and writing encouraging comments on every assignment. For the most part I've tried to go along with this.
However, one of the papers I received today is causing me a major ethical dilemma. It's almost unintelligible. It's pretty much a stream of consciousness. There is basically no punctuation, the majority of the words are spelled wrong, and a good deal of it is written in text messaging language. The essay wraps up with this sentence:
these are a few things i found i relate to not much i know but its all i got from this book also i'm sorrie for boreing u with my storys its the only way i know how to write about myself and sorrie for all the spelling errors and punctuation errors im not to great with punctuation and spelling words im dont normaly use. i guess ill end this horror fest of an eassay/journal thing lol.
I showed it to a couple of colleagues who were similarly horrified. One teaches mainly upperclassmen and is known to be a tough grader--she said if it was her she wouldn't even look it. Another, who also teaches fresh. sem. but has something in his syllabus that says he won't accept papers with more than 5 spelling/grammar errors, said he would reject it as well.
Then I took it to my department chair, who is a wonderful teacher and who I respect a lot. She asked if I thought the student was writing that way intentionally, to be a smartass--unfortunately, I don't. She winced but said that she would probably accept it, recognizing that freshman seminar is not an English class and that the student will never pass freshman comp with that type of work. Ultimately, though, she said it was up to me.
My syllabus does not say anything about a maximum number of errors, and the assignment specifications mainly addressed formatting (typed, double-spaced, 2-4 pages) rather than basic conventions of writing an essay--naively, I didn't think I had to spell out the fact that basic English was required.
This student is part-time, meaning that my class is his only "academic" class this semester. Next semester, there's a 50-50 chance he'll be in freshman comp. If not, it will be a full year until he has to do another real written assignment. And, of course, there's the question of basic academic abilities that results from our open admissions policy. I can't believe this would be accepted by a high school teacher, but I have no idea what high school he went to, either.
So what is my responsibility here?
Today, I'm leaning toward giving him an incomplete or an F for his midterm grade and giving him the opportunity to resubmit the essay, written as a formal academic paper, sans text-speak and with the understanding that spell-check and proofreading by someone literate are required.
Does that seem reasonable? Overly lenient? I can't decide.
posted by Madame Defarge at 4:52 PM
2 Comments:
Wow. We truly are going to hell in a handbasket. I totally feel for you on the stream of consciousness essay. I asked my students to give me an outline for their editorials (thinking this would force them to give their argument structure)and I still wound up with students writing out the entire essay while lacking a thesis or any coherent supporting arguments. I had one girl, a native Russian speaker, who plagiarized the entire thing from the web. I go back and forth between deeming it lazy or incompetent. Either way it makes me want to tear my hair out.
As for you're dilemma, I think given the fact that it's a freshman seminar, it's probably a good idea to let him rewrite the paper. (I usually do something like - you can rewrite it, but you can only get as high as a C) Considering it's college, you're probably being a bit lenient, but I think that's what I would do, too. I mean, somebody has to hold this kid accountable to standards, for crying out loud. Doing it this way puts the burden on him. You won't accept crap, but if he wants to make a legitimate effort to improve, he has the opportunity.
I've always wondered how a pass/fail class would work. Maybe if they do at least 70% of the work with a C or better, they pass? It seems more complicated than I thought.
I'm so proud of you with the classes! It's not easy, but it sounds like you're doing really well. Isn't it funny how you can have such a different class from one day to the next? The chemistry of the class can totally change with just a few students, and they can make your activities succeed or fail. It sucks when you have a crappy reaction from one class and an awesome reaction from another. I always wonder then, am I a good teacher, or a bad one? I guess the secret is to be versatile, but then not to beat yourself up too hard if you don't win everyone over. You have to be happy with the ones you do reach, and I bet there are a lot of them. College or not, they're still kids, and kids are much better at criticizing than praising. You'll be surprised at how many are actually enjoying your discussions, they just don't always say it.
Bravo my friend. Welcome to the front lines...
I don't know how it works in most pass/fail classes, but in this one there aren't really even grades--we're just supposed to write (encouraging) comments on everything. Everything is pass/fail, not just the class--either they do the assignment satisfactorily or not at all, and they participated satisfactorily or not at all. I've been told that no one has actually failed freshman seminar (yet, since I have one student who hasn't shown up since week 1 and will definitely be failing), so you can see that there are no real standards.
Tomorrow I have "office hours" in lieu of class, and the ones who haven't turned in all of their assignments have until the end of the period to turn in their stuff or get a failing midterm grade. The student in question came in and interrupted me in a meeting today to ask what time he needed his stuff in, so I assume that I'll be seeing him. I guess I'll give him a warning that he still won't be getting a passing grade at midterm, because there's no way he'll turn the essay around by then. Not looking forward to that conversation...
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