Teacher as Audience

After reading Dr. Cadle's blog entry, I started to think about the role my students may have cast me in as a reader of their papers. I've tried to give them a lot of cues. I explicitly downplay technical concerns. It's true that they are going to need to pay attention to formatting and grammar issues to do well in other classes. But those aren't really too hard to master. They really don't need too much of my help with that.

I tell them I want them to make a point, to tell me something in their papers, no matter what kind of paper it is. Any piece of writing has to have a point (whether or not it has a thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph), or else the reader will simply say, "So what?" Everything else is simply a matter of how well they make their point. Does the paper lack focus? Then it can't make its point. Is the language too general or loaded with private meanings? Then the reader can't figure out where the paper is trying to take them.

I don't worry about plagiarism. I just don't. I'm not the kind of person who burdens myself with other people's ethical choices. When a student emails me to let me know they have a migraine and won't be coming to class, my skeptical side realizes that "migraine" could be code for "hangover". When they have to miss for a "family emergency", I know that it could be totally made up. But so what? They're only hurting themselves if they're lying. I'm not qualified to judge anything but the effectiveness of my students' writing. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who gives me advance notice about missing class has the opportunity to do make-up work. It's not like many people actually ask about make-up work, and it's usually easier just to come to class anyway.

When it comes to plagiarism, yeah, it has to be addressed. We worked on quotation integration Wednesday, and several worksheets they turned in had "paraphrases" which used the original authors actual words, just in a slightly different order. So we talked about what it means to use your own words. But I'm of the opinion that labelling every form of academic dishonesty as "plagiarism" is counter-productive. Hiding differences where they exist isn't a great idea. There's a difference between having trouble putting something in your own words and ripping off paragraphs out of laziness or desparation.

I simply want to make sure they're not desparate. I want them to feel like I want to hear what they have to say. There's got to be a benefit to having a discussion-oriented class, where the instructor shows interest in each student's opinion. There's got to be a benefit to working with students, not trying to scare them into writing good papers. I know some of my fellow TA's take that strategy. We want to make the students know they can't pull one over on us. Sure, I remind them that I can plainly see what font they're using, and biggerizing it won't magically develop their argument more fully. But I don't try to give them the impression that college writing is going to be a painful transition--they have a whole semester to learn. I don't try to make them feel like they have to pull off something really impressive just to get my approval. I don't want my students to feel like I think they're inadequate. I just want them to show me some good work, and we'll work a little harder when they aren't succeeding.