tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-149216802011-04-21T11:13:55.079-07:00Here I am. Naked of my pride. What lies within are my experiences, observations, successes, and failures as a college composition instructor. What I hope to learn from them is this: (1) I am human, (2) I make mistakes, and (3) I can learn from them.miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.comBlogger561100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1158090205058431482006-09-12T12:19:00.000-07:002006-09-12T15:44:09.510-07:00

It seems like I have been nagged about this for months.Since school began, everytime that I'd walk by the department office, the division secretary and the division secretary's secretary would nag, sometimes in unison, "Did you get your package yet?" or "Did you give shipping and receiving a call?"What are they talking about?I wasn't interested in getting more junk mail from textbook publishers.

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1140572251488368952006-02-21T17:32:00.000-08:002006-02-21T17:37:31.503-08:00

Let's make this official -- this blog's on hiatus. I will post again in April!

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1134026342991403222005-12-07T23:03:00.000-08:002005-12-08T00:00:02.633-08:00

I suck.My Modal Confusion mantra is:Here I am. Naked of my pride. What lies within are my experiences, observations, successes, and failures as a college composition instructor. What I hope to learn from them is this: (1) I am human, (2) I make mistakes, and (3) I can learn from them.Well, I made some mistakes this semester. Now it's time for me to call 'em out. If I don't, how can I so-called "

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1133630917783797202005-12-03T09:28:00.000-08:002005-12-03T09:28:38.036-08:00

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1133250999646512512005-11-28T23:49:00.000-08:002005-11-29T00:40:41.336-08:00

I would get paid at least 2x as much.I could arrive and leave at my leisure, so long as I get my time in.Two words and one exclamation point: Happy Hour!I won't have to grade any more damn papers.I won't have to listen to any dumb excuses.I won't have to worry about putting my 3-5 years in before being taken seriously.In contrast:I would be respected.I would be sought out.I would be given pay

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1133104768734372892005-11-27T07:16:00.000-08:002005-11-27T07:38:56.960-08:00

This past Thanksgiving I was reminded of an ole saying of my Grandmother’s, a saying that she kept close to her heart and on a pot holder in her kitchen: “I had six theories about how to raise children. Now I have six children and no theories.” That’s how I feel about my “children,” my students.Like all parents, I thought/think that I have the best children – that they are the most well-behaved,

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1133220334696948892005-11-25T12:34:00.000-08:002005-11-28T15:33:21.026-08:00

Mr. Miyagi died today. Well, technically, Pat Morita died today, the actor who played the “wise and dry-witted” Mr. Miyagi in the 80’s classic Karate Kid starring then-rising-teen-actor (who never really rose), Ralph Macchio.For those who know me well (I mean really well), you know that I am a big fan of the Karate Kid. I didn’t really know it until just a few years ago, when the age gap between

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1132785586563786542005-11-23T14:27:00.000-08:002005-11-23T22:28:39.486-08:00

I wrote this little piece, a Sincerely Yours letter, about one of my favorite subjects as of late -- my face (see also part II) -- as a collection of several different writing strategies and sentence variety techniques that I would like for the students in my developmental writing class to develop for their next piece -- a proposal essay.The first step in writing this essay is to write a Peter

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1132195349024759492005-11-16T18:27:00.000-08:002005-11-16T19:02:40.870-08:00

As a gumshoe teacher, I have my good days and bad days. Some days, I just feel like an imposter, like a contestant on that show Faking It.This week on Faking It, Miss Jackie, a total bullshitter, tries to get a class full of freshman composition students to believe that she really is a legitimate composition professor!Seriously, that's how I feel sometimes. The longer I teach, the more

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1131500473124019672005-11-08T17:39:00.000-08:002005-11-09T12:49:49.503-08:00

Sometimes what you most don’t want to hear is what you need to hear the most.The beauty of having a spouse (or significant other in my case) is that you have someone who can be straight with you, someone who can look you in the eye and challenge you, and challenge you in such a way that you didn’t want to be challenged, but needed to be challenged.The person doing this has to be someone that you

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1130011378822345222005-10-22T13:02:00.000-07:002005-10-22T13:02:58.840-07:00

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1129572000985160722005-10-17T10:58:00.000-07:002005-10-17T11:01:11.756-07:00

I stumbled across this gem in an email forward.

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1129077595360224222005-10-11T17:21:00.000-07:002005-10-11T18:14:04.796-07:00

Plagiarizing is a piece of cake!Especially if the assignment is to summarize an article in your own words! (Ha!)Just follow these easy steps and then just sit back, relax, and wait for your “A"! You earned it!How to Plagiarize:Find an article to “summarize.” (Yeah right! As if you are actually going to "summarize" it. You know better than that!)Highlight five to seven key sentences. (Don't

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1128580769028772712005-10-05T23:37:00.000-07:002005-10-05T23:41:20.606-07:00

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1127890361596939822005-09-27T23:22:00.000-07:002005-09-28T00:14:13.406-07:00

Ironically, in the midst of procrastinating yesterday, I got something done -- the entire semester-long course schedule for my freshman composition class.What a relief! What a sweet relief. My time has come.So you may be asking yourself or me, more appropriately -- Miss Jackie, shouldn't that have been done a long time ago?Well ... it's a long story.The short of it is this:Since I began teaching

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1127357732650188722005-09-21T19:38:00.000-07:002005-09-22T00:44:20.316-07:00

Today a student cried.It wasn't that bawh-ha-ha kind of uncontrollable crying.It was that kind of crying that I do ... the kind of crying that no matter what how hard you try, a tear unexpectedly wells up in your eye and rolls down your check defying you and every intention that you had of not crying, of not being a crier.It was the kind of crying that causes you to look up, look away, look

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1127188780798649042005-09-19T20:18:00.000-07:002005-09-19T21:36:37.106-07:00

Today, my developmental writing class took a timed writing exam. It is week four.They took a diagnostic exam in week one, which was just like the exam they took today (perhaps a little harder), and since then we have been working specifically on timed writing strategies. That was less than three weeks ago.Teaching timed writing is no fun. It's no fun for me. It's no fun for the students. But

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1126752686864880102005-09-14T19:40:00.000-07:002005-09-14T20:00:06.123-07:00

Q: What student writes:Despite their image as leafy enclaves of higher learning shielded from the real world, universities across the United States are finding themselves on the front lines of the battle against identity theft.A: No student does. Reuters does.I cannot believe it! I am so angry. I typed the phrase into an internet search engine and there was her "summary" ... verbatim.A student

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1126566487478499652005-09-09T13:42:00.000-07:002005-09-12T16:25:03.606-07:00

As soon as I got admitted into graduate school, I applied for a TA (teaching associate) position at the university.At the CSU (all CSUs for the matter), there is a timed writing exam that all students must pass in addition to fulfilling their degree requirements in order to obtain their degree. The 75-minute timed writing exam – in theory – is looking for students to demonstrate a solid

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1126067446074253132005-09-06T21:16:00.000-07:002005-09-06T21:40:45.280-07:00

I am in mid paper-a-thon here and so far I have come across this same phrase so many times now that I am starting to wonder if I am becoming delirious:"Do you understand what I am trying to say?" they ask. This seems to be the number one question that I get on the reflective writing pieces that my students submit with each timed writing exam and paper."Yes," I reply in more ways than one. "I do

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1126041721018593342005-09-06T14:19:00.000-07:002005-09-06T14:22:01.023-07:00

I found this comic by Close to Home a little bit, well, close to home.

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1125542487976922582005-08-31T19:19:00.000-07:002005-08-31T19:55:21.816-07:00

I couldn't help but notice in class yesterday that I had a disproportionate number of male students. Of the 30 students in class, 20 of them were male.This got me thinking: Is this an anomaly or is this the same case in my other class and I just haven't noticed it?Quickly, I began to worry about the impact of the tight clothes and thong comment that I found on a teacher-review website earlier

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1125538841688849152005-08-31T18:38:00.000-07:002005-08-31T19:07:37.953-07:00

As the new school year begins, I begin to recall the sage advice that a longtime teacher passed onto me that another longtime teacher had passed onto her: "Remember, they's your bitches!"There's infinite wisdom in that simple phrase.Novice teachers just can't help but want to do everything for their students. Students are all lost looking and starry-eyed during the first week of school. You just

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122675974249667912005-07-29T15:25:00.000-07:002005-07-29T15:28:18.886-07:00

Sometimes I purposely put a lower grade on a student's paper and then cross it out and put a slightly higher one next to it. I like to make them sweat it a little. They seem more appreciative of the grade. More importantly, it keeps them motivated knowing that they just barely made it.

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122655111701628652005-07-29T09:17:00.000-07:002005-08-05T01:40:33.496-07:00

I finally gave Modal Confusion the facelift and personal touch that it deserved. No longer shall it suffer under the dictatorship of Losing My Mind, whose template had the tendency to override any customizing that I had done for Modal Confusion. I guess it was jealous of my "new" blog.After a few unconclusive e-mails from Blogger support and consequential months of toiling over this decision, I

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122652698708274742005-07-28T00:00:00.000-07:002005-07-29T08:58:18.710-07:00

90 one to two page papers in 3.5 hours.Do you think that I can do it?Only a holistic grade is required, but to be nice, I may even add a few high-level comments.

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122652728939852732005-07-27T00:00:00.000-07:002005-07-29T08:58:48.940-07:00

Jeff and I decided that I should wear Grandpa panties everyday next semester and see how that goes. A student would have to try really hard to make a "hot for teacher" comment about that, right?

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122652809200220232005-07-25T00:00:00.001-07:002005-07-29T09:00:09.203-07:00

I had one of those nightmares again last night about being unprepared.I go to class. It's full.I have no idea what I am doing or even who is supposed to be there.Students ask conscientous questions. I don't know the answers.I should know the answers.I have no focus, no plan.I get by, stintedly.The next day, only a fraction of the students return. They sit recklessly huddled in the four corners of

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122652759750113812005-07-25T00:00:00.000-07:002005-07-29T08:59:19.753-07:00

I was checking my current enrollment for College A online and I noticed that the classes were filling up rather quickly. I took a quick investigative detour to a professor review website to find an explanation.This is what I found:"She's really hot but brainy at the same time. Her glasses make her look even more hot. She wears tight clothes and you can always see her thong. I'm a girl, so don't

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122652839804603712005-07-18T09:00:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:00:39.806-07:00

FIFTEEN YEAR-OLD STUDENT: How old are you?TEACHER (Me): Twenty-eight.FIFTEEN YEAR-OLD STUDENT: Umm ... that's not too bad.If they only knew ... twenty-eight is just the beginning.I wouldn't trade it to be fifteen (or twenty-one for that matter, which, by the way, is when -- as my little sister puts it -- "there is no more to look forward to") for the world!Even the 19 year-old Miss Jackie would

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122652913764299372005-07-13T09:01:00.001-07:002005-07-29T09:01:53.766-07:00

Just the other day as I was hauling ass through the mall in my usual power-walking, get-me-out-of-here pace, I spied a student.I think that he spied me too. For he was subtley pointing in my direction as if to tell his friend, "Hey! That's the _____ the failed me." (You fill in the blank.)As they were going my direction and I was going theirs, I almost ran right into them. Luckily, we all

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122652894875158272005-07-13T09:01:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:01:34.880-07:00

I haven't been teaching very long, but over the few years that I have been teaching, I learned that I absolutely must ask students this question right off the bat: Why are you here?I leave this question intentionally vague because I am interested to see, especially for writing courses, the wide range of answers that I might get.The answers give me a sense of a number of things:A student's

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122652861936814232005-07-13T09:00:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:01:01.936-07:00

Today I discovered that the Expo Dry Eraser 4-Packs were on sale for practically half of their usual price, a mere $2.o0!Once I was able to [price]check my disbelief, I loaded up on dry erase markers as if I was visiting from some third world country where they didn't exist. I took two sets each of the classic and spring colors and headed to the counter to make my purchase.Joy! Complete and utter

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122652935420493642005-07-08T09:01:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:02:15.420-07:00

Okay. I wrote that last post feeling pretty confident that I could chuck those stale, crusty ineffective bastard markers in the trash in favor of my sparkly, shiny new ones, the favored markers. But alas, they cannot be found.I've looked everywhere. (Frantically too.)That's what I get for being such a bi-oatch about the last set, huh?Karma.That's all I have to say.Karma.

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122652954187053432005-07-07T09:02:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:02:34.186-07:00

Yesterday I was reminded of how impotent I could feel when I have 10,000 dry eraser markers (okay, eight -- but isn't that plenty?!) and not one that works.When I am teaching, I use the board a lot.Let me say this again, I use the board a lot.I know that I don't retain much unless it is written down and I have found from observing my students (and from their feedback) that many of them are the

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122652983199313132005-05-31T09:02:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:03:03.200-07:00

B B BB B BC B BB B BB B AB B BHow is this possible? I graded, graded, and graded. Then I tabulated them. (Okay, I just threw them into my spreadsheet. Same thing.) What did I get? This. Grade monotony.Almost all of my students in my freshman composition course got a B, though in varying degrees. One or two got an A. One or two got a C or lower. This is strange. Usually, I get a nice range of

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653010388582742005-05-30T09:03:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:03:30.390-07:00

Class ended last week, last Thursday to be exact.Already, within days of it ending, I have received several e-mails:What is my grade?What is my grade?What is my grade?Of course, the first student to kick this all off was the ever-elusive Ms. Choy (see two previous posts). Go figure!Also included in this motley crew was Mr. Parmar, who, by the way, still seems to believe that I have a choice in

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653031908019522005-05-26T09:03:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:03:51.910-07:00

(To the tune of Whitney Houston's "Where Do Broken Hearts Go")Where do graded papers goCan they find their way homeBack to the handsOf the student who wrote it thereAnd if a student loves itWon't they always love itI look at the gradeAnd I know that some still care, about writingI gotta huge pile of graded papers, enough to start a nice, little bonfire on the beach with smores and all. Yet, I

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653081204093312005-05-25T09:04:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:04:41.206-07:00

I am in such disbelief.She arrived to take our final exam 15 minutes late. 15 minutes into the exam, she took a phone call and left the classroom. She returned with 15 minutes to spare. Once the exam was complete, she left, offering no explanation. It was a 90-minute exam. It was 10% of her grade. What is wrong with people? What should I do or have done? I wanted to just pick up her things and

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653062363984962005-05-25T09:03:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:04:22.363-07:00

A grade is a grade is a grade ...Sob story: a sentimental story (or drama) of personal distress; designed to arouse sympathy. Mr. Parmar currently has a D in the course. He must earn a B or higher on the final project to pass. Upon his request, I did a preliminary review of his work. It was C work. Not enough to pass the course.He accepted his circumstances, but then proceeded to tell me why he

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653200640403262005-05-24T09:06:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:06:40.643-07:00

Incest: sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry.Class-cest: sexual intercourse between persons in the same college course.COLLEGE TIP #1:Avoid class-cest at all costs; wait until the class has ended.CASE IN POINT:He is brilliant, but unmotivated. He submits unfinished works of art that little meet the assignment requirements at the last minute

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653163147655512005-05-24T09:05:00.001-07:002005-07-29T09:06:03.146-07:00

This just in, an email from a male student of mine:"Sorry that I had to leave early. And sorry that my pants were falling off."Hilarious! Absolutely hilarious.That (above) is practically all that the email said.For those who may be curious, Mr. Scott left class early last week. Given where he was sitting in the classroom, he had to get up and -- in front of everyone's view -- cross the room. He

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653138063126882005-05-24T09:05:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:05:38.063-07:00

I have really been breaking out these past few weeks. I attribute it to stress.Jeff thinks that's crazy: "Stress doesn't cause pimples."I beg to differ, but I have little to no proof other than my face. I don't think necessarily that the act of stress causes them. I think it is the habits that come with it.CASE IN POINT:Yesterday, as I was in the midst of grade-a-thon, I wearily rested my head in

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653107868631442005-05-24T09:04:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:05:07.870-07:00

It's the end of the semester and it's the same ole song and dance, just a new set of students:What's my grade?What's my grade?What's my grade?Can I do this?Can I do that?How can I improve it?Extra credit please.Extra credit please.Extra credit.What's my grade?What's my grade?What's my grade?Point Prostitutes seem to care only about their grades. It seems that they go as far as to lie, cheat, and

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653233359080462005-05-23T09:06:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:07:13.360-07:00

I am getting sleepy. Very sleepy.I am slowing chipping away at this towering pisa of papers. One of these days I will be done. It certainly won't be three days from now, though. That's D-Day for papers. That's when the biggest set of them all loads in. It's finals week.I am running out of lead (literally). My eyes are heavy from fatigue.Grading takes a lot out of me. This sunburn that I gained

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653269091782772005-05-19T09:07:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:07:49.090-07:00

Somehow I was inspired to make myself savvy enough to copy and paste some html coding into my template to create a stat counter (see sidebar). Even smarter, I was able to disclude my own hits, thus not fluffing up my own numbers.Now I can see how popular (or unpopular) my blog might be. Not that popularity motivates me, but it does help to know that I am being heard. Anyhow, this may turn out to

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653295215980172005-05-18T09:07:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:08:15.216-07:00

Upon stuffing my bag full of graded papers and other such gems, I zipped it up. The moment that I did so, I jolted my hand back in pain; my fingertip was throbbing. I was quite certain that I cut it.I looked at it. No cut. No blood. It was slightly pink."What in the hell," I wondered. "Why did that hurt so bad?"Oh yeah, all that I did yesterday was grade papers. My fingertip was actually sore

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653320016049882005-05-17T09:08:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:08:40.016-07:00

Just when I thought that MLA errors were technical issues usually resulting from not knowing the proper format, today a student of mine took it to a whole other level. She really showed me how wrong it could really go.I don't consider wrong being not using the right format or not using MLA at all. I consider wrong being trying to use the format, but really screwing it up. Again, let me stress

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653342269824382005-05-16T09:08:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:09:02.270-07:00

My brain is in retard mode. I know that I have a lot of work to do, but I just can't bring myself to do it. It's like I'm on an involuntary mental holiday.

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653367858569192005-05-12T09:09:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:09:27.860-07:00

After devoting gobs of time to teaching citation methods in class, my developmental writing students still complain that "there were too many rules."We literally did a Works Cited piece together in class. Then, armed with their books, they were asked to do three others on their own. They simply could not wrap their head around it. It took about an hour to get the assignment done. It took my

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653383492677812005-05-11T09:09:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:09:43.493-07:00

"Because of you, I am thinking about becoming a teacher," said Moncia, a dental-assistant in my developmental writing course.Monica returned to college to study art; she's now seriously considering getting a degree in rhetoric and composition. "Everything that you talked about is so interesting," she said, "I've been talking about you and this class since I enrolled in it. My parents are asking

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653408724270132005-05-10T09:09:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:10:08.726-07:00

I am so burned out.I am so tired of grading paper after paper.I am still trying to figure out my developmental writing class.What's wrong with them? Do they just not care?Okay, some do.I digress.I am tired, but filled with pent-up energy.The semester is ending.And so my cage door will open.Then off I'll go into new adventures, temporary adventures.More work, of course.But with cubicles and

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653432473687212005-05-02T09:10:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:10:32.476-07:00

I just graded a short stack of revised papers. I couldn't be more disappointed. I think I am, in part, to blame. You see, students in my first-year composition course have the option to rewrite papers on which they received a grade of C or lower. (The option is voided, however, if the student did not participate in the draft workshop prior to the deadline.) If a student chooses to rewrite an

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653452470392522005-04-30T09:10:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:10:52.470-07:00

I am about to grade a stack full of papers. As someone before me so perfectly put it, "I have mixed sense of curiosity and dread."

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653474308551442005-04-29T09:10:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:11:14.310-07:00

While I was in class discussing the long-term benefits (and showing an example) of an annotated bibliography that students will, in turn, be creating for themselves for an upcoming research project, I looked up at the clock: It was 12:20. Yet, not a soul was packed up and ready to go. Not even one student was shuffling around, shoving papers into his or her backpack. They wanted to know more.

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14921680.post-1122653503033208032005-04-26T09:11:00.000-07:002005-07-29T09:11:43.033-07:00

... and there was nothing that I could do about it. College is like that. Too many deadlines all at the same time. It's unpredicatable. Unnerving. "You will be stronger because of this," I wanted to say, but who wants to hear that, even it's true and I can validate it with my own experiences and the experiences of many of those before me.College is a challenging time. I think that's what

miss jackiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17877661117956026977noreply@blogger.com0