Posts Tagged: College Writing Skills

English language / teaching — 1 Comment
2
Nov 07

Feel Free To Mark Me Present

Being a teacher, I am always on the receiving end of student excuses. Some use the rare “mea culpa” card while others constantly cop out. At this point, I’m tired of them, even if they might be legitimate.

One dynamic duo has constantly strolled in late to my freshman composition course. The Bobbsey Twins, as I like to call them, casually walk in as if I don’t have a lateness policy in my syllabus. This week, I filled out some financial aid progress reports where I made notes on their progress and haphazard attendance. I also gave them copies of the progress report and noted that their constant tardiness is a highly disruptive factor in my course. Instead of owning up to it, they blamed it on transportation problems.

One “Bobbsey brother” claimed he e-mailed me an essay I never received. I looked through my e-mails and I couldn’t find anything matching the e-mail he gave me. I’m inclined to think he’s full of what the French call merde.

Then, here is a sampling of e-mails I got this week from absentee students*:

Mr. Evans I’m not going to able to make it to class today. I have a
dentist appointment. Thank you!!!

How convenient. I hope it involved lots and lots of Novocaine.

Mr evans. Im not gona make it into class today im not feeling well. Ill call a classmate to get what i miss. Feel free to mark me present.

Yeah, right! I only mark you present if you are present. An absence is an absence is an absence.

hello mr evens i missed class tonight because i am with my family there house burnt down. so i wanted to make sure they had me around to help i will see you on thursday please dont drop me from your class thank you joe student

It’s spelled Evans! It’s one of the most common surnames in the English language. Actually, Evans is a Welsh name and not a difficult one at that. There is not the excess of L’s, LL’s, and W’s, nor is there the absence of vowels. Actually, Evans has two common vowels and none of those consonants I just mentioned. I can’t see where anyone gets “Evens” from Evans at all. Enough of my name rant.

I know we’ve had a stressful week with the fires and many people’s homes did burn down this week in Southern California. I only have this young man’s word for his family home being a casualty of the recent disaster. However, it can be convenient to blame it on the fires and it would be inhumane of me not to accept the excuse.

In all the e-mails I’ve shown, I love the spelling errors and lack of punctuation. It’s not the first time I’ve received notes from students riddled with writing problems. Somehow, I wonder if these students feel any bit self conscious about it. Perhaps I should cultivate that Miranda Priestly kind of snobbery when it comes to use of the English language and rebuke those who abuse words, spelling, and grammar with gentle brutality.

*names and e-mail addresses withheld.

college / communication styles / English language / teaching / writing — No Comments
31
Aug 07

They Frakked Up

Last night, I learned from my Basic Composition students that the college bookstore had 5 books listed for me: two editions of College Writing Skills (one with a CD-ROM), two Keys For Writers (a grammar book which was optional, but showed up required), and Barbara Ehrenreich‘s Nickeled and Dimed. Some students, playing it safe, bought both copies of College Writing Skills and Keys for Writers. Gee, Langan and Raimes must be getting very rich from this, especially Langan as he seems to come out with new editions of College Writing Skills and English Skills every year. I cleared this up with my students that they only needed one copy of Writing Skills and a copy of Nickeled and Dimed, and that Keys for Writers was optional. I then told them they could return the redundant textbooks.

The bookstore frakked up in listing the books as five, when there were only two required and one optional. It could be worse. They could have not had the books for my course in their inventory, and that would delay lessons indefinitely. The copier would become my best friend, but that’s time best spent elsewhere.

I’ve used College Writing Skills in the past (in a previous edition), so I know more or less what I’m going to teach with that book. It has what my class needs to know for an essay (which I’ll keep revisiting until they’ll get sick of it), grammar, and some readings.

I’m looking forward to using Nickeled and Dimed. After giving my students a brief synopsis of the book, I know some of them feel they could write their own version of Ehrenreich’s accounts, more accurately for sure. I look forward to hearing their takes on it and seeing what they write in response.

college / communication styles / English language / teaching — 2 Comments
31
Aug 07

Perhaps Etiquette Should Be Taught In College

At one college where I teach, a certain professor has the knack for turning any bit of class participation, into a teaching moment. I’m not as gifted as he is, but I sometimes turn odd questions or comments into a pedagogical opportunity.

In my late afternoon class, when I was going over attitudes towards writing and what writing is, one student asked me about if they have to learn etiquette in English class. I have to admit I was thrown off by this. Would I have to walk my students a few blocks over to the University Club, show them how I eat holding a fork with my left hand and a knife with my right, and then arrange the silverware in the four o’clock position to let the waiter know I was finished? Or, should I teach them how to write Dear Sir or Dear Madame? Honestly, I was confounded, and I hate being confounded in front of a group of people.

So, within seconds (which seemed like an eternity), I responded that while etiquette is part of how we use language, we were not learning it in this course. I then shifted the subject to the issue of tone in righting. The odd question provided a nice segue for this, even though I didn’t plan to discuss it in this session. However, it was nice to see the students understood tone in writing and many of them even came up with various examples from life.

My student’s question brings up an interesting point. Perhaps etiquette should be taught in college. I’m not talking about which spoon to use (one scene in the Titanic provides that lesson in a throwaway moment), but students could use a lesson in civility. The Mindy Shatners of the world certainly could. These are the petty, spoiled, too smart for their own good brats who deserve a good kick in the pants, but my own decency prevents me from taking that action. And, of course, they’re always academic hacks and slummers.

While it may be tempting to knock some manners into Mindy’s noggin, she just has to learn not everyone is impressed with the likes of her.

If I could use an odd question from a student as a teaching moment, I can certainly transform the martini-inspiring moments of Mindy Shatner, her little sister, and her in-bred cousins.