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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > I'm still an English professor. Shoot.
 
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MoarFoarYoarTenbux
Oct 3, 2008

by The Finn
How do you TEACH people English-related stuff? How can you explain to people "this is what you need to do to become a better reader/writer..."? I've had only one professor who could do it and she absolutely blew me away, but I can't figure out her method.

* # ¿ May 4, 2009 21:17
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# ¿ Apr 30, 2024 04:08
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MoarFoarYoarTenbux
Oct 3, 2008

by The Finn

Brainworm posted:

Easy. I don't stay detached, and my grading is not at all equitable.

My first job is to get students to improve a skill set as much as they can during a semester. Evaluation is secondary, especially on essays (which, you'll remember, are lousy evaluative tools). So if I've got a student who can do better, but still wrote the best essay in the class, it's a B (maybe lower). My job is to make her a better thinker and writer, not to tell her it's OK not to improve. The same principle holds for less able students.

I can't believe no one's called you out on this. This is crap. You are crap for doing it. It's like stripping Ussein Bolt of his Olympic medal because he slowed down and beat his chest at the end and therefore didn't run as hard relatively as the other people in the race. You drat well better give someone an A for doing A-level work. If you must grade with some sort of bizarre "A for effort" system, you should make effort make up for quality, not the other way around. If I write something a little worse than someone but spent tons of time and used you for assistance, I should get more points than them because I get extra, not have them get fewer points. I can't believe no one's complained about this. That would be a completely legitimate complaint and you don't deserve to ever grade a paper ever again if you're just gonna pull that poo poo.

* # ¿ May 20, 2009 08:04
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > I'm still an English professor. Shoot.