First Day Back

The first day back at BCCC went reasonably well. I used my new diagnostic assignment in both writing classes (remedial and regular freshman comp). I copied three letters written to advice columns, and had the students respond to the one of their choice. In the remedial class, the only really unexpected thing I encountered was some truly horrible spelling--did you know that the plural form of "you" is "use"? People pronounce the plural "you" that way in this area, but I'd never seen it spelled that way before.

A few students displayed moderate misunderstanding of the letters that they were responding to, or gave answers that didn't make much sense. One of the letters was from a woman who was going back to school full-time, and had quit her job. Since she left work, she's been doing all of the housework, and is feeling like the maid. (It's unclear from the letter if she and her husband discussed the housework arrangements before she made the decision to stop work.) Several students answered that she should get a part time job to help with the bills, since it's not fair for her husband to support both of them.

This answer reveals a lot about the students' backgrounds--apparently, not working, even in order to go back to school, is a totally foreign concept--I guess they just didn't grok that the woman was saying she didn't have enough time to go to classes and do all of the housework. Which totally makes sense, given that most of the students at BCCC are working, going to school, and running their own households (often with children). I suspect a combination of unfamilliar cultural context and low-ish reading comprehension led to some students not quite grasping the letter-writer's complaint.

Another of the letters was from a mother whose 12 y-o daughter had been invited to a sleep-over--at a boy's house. The students were almost universally in favor of allowing the girl to attend the co-ed sleepover, but offered good suggestions as to how the mother could be more comforatable with it: questioning the lad's parents about the sleeping arrangements, supervision, and refreshment plans; requesting that the boys and girls sleep in separate rooms; or, if she just couldn't handle the sleep-over aspect, letting the daughter attend the party for a while but come home at a reasonable hour. However, one (male) student wrote, (in his persona as Dear Abby), "Don't worry your little pretty heart about your daughter at the co-ed sleepover....I know you want to protect her, but you can't always be there." I'm glad I decided not to comment on individual papers for this exercise, because I wouldn't know where to begin.

All in all, I think the advice letters made a good diagnostic assignment--unlike the "introduce yourself" paragraph that I've used in previous years, this exercise gives me a chance to assess reading as well as writing skills, and also lets me see how much (or little) the students already know about considering an audience when writing. In the "introduce yourself" paragraph, "considering audience" comes across a lot like "sucking up," which many are much better at than they are at other kinds of considering audience--and other students know how, but are unwilling, to do. This new exercise also requires stating and defending a position, so it's more similar to academic writing than the "introduce yourself" paragraph. I recommend it!

When I was looking for letters to use, I strove to find at least one letter from a male, since I figured some of the men students would be uncomfortable or awkward giving advice on a woman's problem. Some of the men--including the one quoted above--had no problem with answering women's letters; however, about half of of the men students did choose the man's letter to answer, (and nearly all of the women chose one of the other two) so I'd recommend that anyone using this exercise include letters from both genders. Unfortuantely, most advice columns geared specifically to men either require specialized knowledge (about sports or men's health, for instance) or are not appropriate for the classroom (such as sex and dating columns), so wound up trawling through Dear Abby, where I had to look at something like a dozen columns before I found one with a male letter-writer, and I wasn't very happy with it. (It was from a man who likes to go hunting and fishing, and his wife gets upset when he's away overnight. The students' advice: a) take the wife and kids along on some of the hunting and fishing trips, or b) make sure she gets to go away to do her own hobbies an equal number of times. The answers were all so samey that I think it must have been obvious what the "right" answer was.)

In the British Lit. class, I did use the "write a paragaph introducing yourself to me," exercise, because I've never taught it before and I did want to know what expectations, preparation, attitudes, etc. the students are coming in with. I found that most of them are majoring in other subjects (I have one English major--she must be transferring to another school, since we don't actually have an English major, just a generic "liberal arts" major), most have not taken a literature class since high school, and a surprising number profess to be excited about reading Chaucer. (One of the things I suggested they write about was "which of the authors or works on the syllabus are you most excited about reading?" I was aware that most of them probably wouldn't have a favorite, but wondered what they would put.) Now I'm left wondering why Chaucer? A fair few reported having read Beowulf, some Chaucer, some Shakespeare, and "A Modest Proposal." I doubt that many have read the specific Chaucer and Shakespeare that we're doing, so I'm not too worried about recycled-term-paper-land.

Now, I'm sure you have been wondering, "Who is this reasonable person talking in a sensible manner about legitimate pedagogical concerns? I want to hear ProfessorDog complain about idiotic students."

Well, okay, since you asked so nicely. So I have this student. Her "introduce yourself" paragraph begins, "I have but only one goal in life, and this is to fulfill my purpose as God's creation according to His guidance and will. Which is why I sit in this very class right now." Then she goes into why God thought it best that she leave her previous (religious) college last year (I'm not going to say, because, privacy. But it's a hair-raising story). It's not clear exactly how God brought it to her attention that he wanted her to take British Literature I.

Scary in a different way, I have this other student whose paragraph says, (among other things), "I am not a big reader...the biggest thing that I am hoping to get out of this class is a good grade." I'm a bit relieved that I only had one person come out and say that in the paragraph, actually, although I have a few others who gently talk around the idea that they are, as they say, reluctant readers. I'm debating whether to make an announcement from the pulpit that those who don't like to read might want to meet with their advisors while the add/drop period is still open--I probably won't, because that's the kind of thing that can look bad if a student goes and tells someone in the administration about it. And heck, it's possible that my reluctant readers will be swept up in the gestalt of the class and become just as excited about Chaucer as the others are.

So--Mood, still cautiously optimistic, although a bit worried about the Girl God Sent To My Class.