Discussing Papers

Most of my free time this weekend was spent preparing for class this morning. I pawed through drafts slowly, writing insightful comments here and there, asking questions meant to provoke thought. I finished last night around one in the morning, and then crashed. Beeping groceries for eight hours and then reading intro level papers can lead to wonderful exhaustion of both the physical and mental state. Nonetheless, I prevailed.

The first time I graded* papers at this level I was a bit insecure - second guessing my comments, questioning whether or not they answered the assignment. I am one who sees a lot of "gray matter," and consequently I will stretch the parameters of an assignment. While this isn't always a bad thing, sometimes it can be a bit problematic. So far it hasn't. This is the fourth time I've graded papers for this class, and I'm finally gaining a sort of comfort writing comments, although I'm still a bit uneasy stamping a grade on a text. Unfortunately, it is something I will probably always have a problem with - this whole idea of a student "earning" an A, or a B all the way down to an F. I can see definitive levels in things, but it's the picking apart, the ranking that is difficult for me to do as I've grown up trying to find worth in everything.

Anyway, back on topic, today I had three groups to discuss papers with, and overall, it went rather well. The first time we had group conferences students were unprepared, not having read each others documents, which ended up having me discuss the person's paper one-on-one while the other group members sat there. This time only one student - that told me - didn't read one paper. The discussions were fruitful, and most students - I feel - walked away with a clear idea of what they needed to do in their drafts.

I realized something about my teaching, and my personality today. I can come off, and I probably am, a bit of a prig. For example, in one of the groups today, it was quite obvious that one of the students didn't prepare. She didn't read the draft, and had brief critiques that where half a page at best compared to everyone else's one-and-a-half page critiques. I asked the group to re-read the introduction and conclusion of a certain paper, and asked whether or not the two were related, and if they were pertinent to the information contained in the body of the text. A pretty standard question. I gave the students a few minutes to look the piece over, and then asked students to answer my question. Through out the entire discussion one of the students was mute. That's fine. That's the way I used to be, and still am in group work. It's not so much that you aren't prepared, but that you are uncomfortable with speaking in a group. I dogged her a bit, and asked her to speak multiple times. She didn't.

I'm stuck. At the college level do we require students to speak? Even if they aren't comfortable with themselves, they need to become comfortable with speaking in groups. The only way to do this is to call on them. They are not fifth graders. They are past scaring. They've already made it to a small private liberal arts school, they must be at least semi-intelligent. These are not difficult questions. Answer them. On the other hand, they are freshman. They are new to this world of college. They are trying to make new friends and become accustomed to being away from home, partying, and balancing school work. Cut them some slack. If they have prepared the work and seem somewhat attentive, let them be. Remember what you were like. The inner-battles you had when you wanted to raise your hand to share, but couldn't convince your muscles to do so. Hopefully, like grading this is something I come to grips with eventually and learn how to handle.


*The reflection essays are graded, while the drafts are given a check if they are four pages or more as four is the requirement. I do not grade the final papers as they carry too much weight to be put on my shoulders. So I guess technically I don't grade drafts. Not with a letter.