I just realized that I have a student who very likely has some kind of learning disorder... something like dyslexia... and who probably has no clue and is undiagnosed. I don't know much about it. But now that I consider the way he writes, it seems blindingly obvious. Words are missing in what seems like no pattern at all that made sense to me. Also I think that dyslexia plus a spell checker is a bad idea. And suddenly I realize that my constant "please proofread more carefully" "take time to proofread" "look up subject/verb agreement in index" comments on all his papers were utterly pointless! I am going to try hard to get him to revise with help, and am advising him to read aloud or get someone to read the paper aloud to him. I figure that sub-vocalizing on the final might help as well.
And a student who missed a week or so of class, right at the time when I went over all the intense "citation and plagiarism" stuff, turned in a paper of bits glued together from several different online articles. I don't think she just used an essay bought from a service. I think she sat down and stuck bits together into a structure that she thought up. Often, I think she thought she was paraphrasing or putting things in her own words, when actually she was taking each sentence, changing its structure slightly or using a couple of synonyms, and thus replicating entire paragraphs. But I seriously don't think she did it "on purpose"... but from ignorance. Maybe I'm being dumb... I want to offer her revision as well, because she did miss those classes.
It's very upsetting... The whole thing is getting to me massively.
Everything seems like my own failure to realize how to reach the individual students - I know I didn't take enough time to do that and to communicate early in the semester. I put all my communication into the detailed comments on the papers! And not enough into individual feedback on more of a meta-level.
The students who did good work, especially the ones who improved over the semester, put some heart back into me. But when I think of the others I just want to cry. I know it's their responsibility to get help if they are messing up, but it is also my responsibility to help them do that and to figure out where the system or my own teaching is not helping.
You are going to burn out fast with this attitude, little chicken. That girl with the patchwork essay TOTALLY did it on purpose because she left her essay until the last minute. The one you think is dyslexic needs to get tested and identified. I bet your college has someone (or a group of someones) designated to deal with students with disabilities. Get him to go there, and they will also have a protocol for extra time and support on the exam.
My experience with this is often that the student already knows about the problem, and my be working with disability people but has not let his instructor know this. Why would it be relevant to his learning experience? Doh.
You need a little perspective on the responsibility aspect. What are your expectations? That everyone does well enough to get an A? That's not realistic. Think about what your criteria are for doing a good job, and then ask a colleague if they are reasonable.
Posted by: WhatLadder | May 15, 2007 at 09:16 AM
Missing a week of class does not excuse you from responsibility for that material! I know that you want everyone to do well, but when you are putting more effort into the paper than the student...you will get tired.
Through much of my college time I did notetaking for the disabled students union, often for people whose medical conditions meant missing a lot of class, or who couldn't take notes effectively due to dyslexia. It was good for me, too...made me not want to miss class and I learned to take beautiful notes. Often there is much more help available than people actually take advantage of.
Take care of yourself! From what you have said, you offer tons of chances and help to people. Don't beat yourself when they don't take you up on it.
Posted by: Lyssa | May 15, 2007 at 11:39 AM
News flash: you've never done this before. You expected to do it perfectly?
Posted by: Debbie | May 15, 2007 at 04:28 PM
you're all right... and I think one thing I need to learn is that pushing myself to keep working till midnight is not going to work not least because by that time, even if I'm still there mentally, emotionally, I melt down.
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Posted by: John | November 08, 2010 at 12:12 AM