Saturday, March 30, 2013

Yet another flaw

The class I'm proctoring (can't call it teaching, because I'm not) completely lacks samples of the assignments.  I included samples of all of the essays I assigned in both Composition I and Composition II.  My colleague leaves samples of past student work (all good) in his discussion board-based class. 

This class has no samples.  Nothing by which to show the students what's expected of them.  It also lacks step-by-step instructions on how to write the assignments.  They're handed an assignment sheet with a list of criteria the assignment needs to fulfill, and told to get to it without being told how.

This is not teaching. 

My best students are turning in papers that I would grant a C to because of how awkward they are, how badly focused and developed they are, and how repetitive they are (as in: the causal essay asks them to compare an original movie and a remake, then speculate about why there's a difference.  I've had more than one paper turned in with all of the reasons boiling down to the same thing: y'know, women are treated different now, because feminism). 

I hate the class.  I hate the form of the class.  I hate the set up.  I hate the assignment.  I hate that we're in week 10, and are only now turning in one of two major papers (hello, this is supposed to be a writing intensive class--there's supposed to be a lot of essays, not a lot of shit work worksheets). 

I cannot wait to get back to a class that I've designed.  And I do not think I'll be using the platform for anything other than posting the textbook, which will contain everything my students will need, from instructions to assignment sheets to worksheets (five, total). 

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