Week 2

Ideally, in the first lesson of this week I should have been giving feedback on the diagnostics and we should then be moving on to the main focus of the course. However, because of all the movement of students, only about half of the class had actually completed an essay. So, instead I spent the first lesson of the week having a closer look at the syllabus. I did this by giving students a quiz. Syllabi, of their nature are not particularly interesting documents to read. I guess they should only be considered a point of reference to be consulted as and when issues arise throughout the semester. However, it regularly occurs that students claim ignorance after they have been penalised in some way. Therefore, I posed a number of questions related to problems that students had last year in interpreting and applying the rules laid down in the syllabus. Students seem to think that instructors are capable of carrying out complex mathematical equations such as deducting 15% of a student's grade as a penalty for absences. They think I will work out eg. what 15% of 74 is and then deduct that which will still give a student a passing grade. However, the reality is that the maths is simply 74-15=59 which is an F. Life is that simple. This seemed to be a revelation to most. Also many were surprised to hear that I am not into "curves". Don't they realise that writing instructors avoid maths as much as possible - it simply isn't our forte. I hope the quiz has helped to clarify what is and is not expected.

However, I know there are still students around who misinterpret what is said/written. I had a strange phone call just as I was about to rush off to class on Thursday. It was a student who lives on the next hill calling to tell me that he had set off in his car to come to class but had returned home because of poor driving conditions caused by snow. I looked out my window and saw a few snow flakes but they weren't "sticking". Being polite I thanked him for calling and told him that he should do whatever he thought was best. Later, from reading his blog, I learn that he believes that by phoning me, he in some way excused himself and that I would mark him present in class. I hope no other students think this or else I can expect my phone to be ringing constantly before each lesson.

As I expect students to keep a weekly blog, I had to make sure that I explained how to set it up in the second lesson of the week. Already the end of week 2 and we haven't really got started. About one or two students in each class had heard of or were keeping a blog already and so I had to spend quite a while explaining what it is and how to set it up. Initially I asked how many students actually like writing. I can't say I was surprised but for a writing teacher, it is disappointing to learn that, if one is lucky, as many as 1 or 2 students in each class actually enjoys writing. So, we are already at a disadvantage. If someone were to ask me if I like writing, I guess I'd have to say no - not really. It's hard work but then it can also be very rewarding. Although students may not actually be converted and say that writing has become their favourite pastime, I hope that they will, at the end of the course, at least feel more confident and take pride in their work.

So, now that they have all been instructed on how to set up their blogs it will be interesting to see what they say at the end of this week. I can already anticipate what some of it will be...