Re: Any English teachers here?


<DAFG3030@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9fbc5eb2-3ca4-48b8-8b8e-422766b64223@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Jun 24, 6:51 pm, sru...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:38:37 -0700 (PDT), DAFG3...@xxxxxxx wrote:
Well, the teacher just deducted points off of his last submission
because he ended it with something like "Even though I am not fond of
reading, I found Willde's story to be compelling." She wrote a
comment about how he must avoid negative comments like that.

I am an English teacher. I agree with his teacher that the sentence
leaves something be desired. I think it's nonsense, though, to tell
students they should avoid negative comments. One of the best papers I
ever wrote in college was on Emerson ... and I was plenty negative, I
assure you, he isn't always my favorite.

The problem as I see it is that an analytic essay about Wilde (or
whoever) doesn't need the first half of the sentence. For that matter,
while I don't care if students use "I" in their papers, he's just
being wordy in this case. The better alternative to the above is
simply "Wilde's story is compelling." Gets the job done in four words
instead of fifteen.

I have very few rules when I teach writing classes. One of them is to
Know Your Audience. In school, your audience is whoever is
reading/grading your essays. So I suggest being fairly generic until
you get some feedback so you'll know the kinds of things each teacher
is looking for.

But I would never tell students not to use certain words. I'm teaching
them to write, think, and analyze ... I'm not training them to join
the circus. If they succeed at such an assignment, they'll have
produced a parlor trick, not an essay. Every second spent at the
keyboard trying to avoid using this or that word is a second not spent
actually writing, thinking, or analyzing.

There is a huge difference between looking at what you've written and
realizing you've stuck "very" where it isn't needed, and staring at
your monitor, petrified because your teacher gave you a bunch of words
you couldn't use.

Steven



I should have clarified..that sentence he used was a posted response
on a Discussion Board, not in an essay. Can't use first person in the
essays. So, it was an informal posting...and that is what was so
aggravating. The Discussion Board was set up by the teacher to be, as
she put it, a forum where students can post their thoughts and ideas
about what they have read. But then she chooses to stifle his
opinion. I really hate teachers like that. My son really struggles
with writing and now he is afraid to even voice his opinion on an
informal discussion board because he is afraid it isn't going to be
what she wants. It shouldn't have to be if it is what she said it was
to be.

I appreciate your thoughts, and I feel the same way. I understand that
"very" is often overused, but if it is used intentionally to indicate
a degree of dislike perhaps, and it is only used once, then where is
the crime in that?

It really bothers me because this is the son who had absolutely no
intention of going to college. He was going to go into plumbing
because he always hated school and struggled in it, although he was
always good in math. English was always pure torture for him and I
watched him struggle through it his whole life. He finally decides
that he wants to try out the whole college thing, because he'd really
like to work with computers, and this is the first class he takes
because he wants to get it out of the way. He has spent numerous hours
and hours working on these papers and she nitpicks the littlest things
and then won't provide any assistance or explanation for anything.
Just tells him to go back and read the writing handbook. Well, he
already read it and used it during the writing of the paper and now he
needs more help. I don't see why she feels that it isn't her job to do
so. He is now questioning whether he is "college material." Obviously
I am right behind him propping him up and reminding him that this is
the only English class he has to take, and that writing is essential,
etc. etc. Cannot wait until this class is over and it comes time to
review that teacher. I will be sure to assist him with filling out
that paperwork!

For now he is making revisions to his draft of his Emerson paper which
is due by Monday morning. Hopefully it will somehow meet her
expectations.

This is one thing I was wondering...and my apologies if you'd written it in
your initial post...if this was a high school
or a college course. Her standards/expectations (along with a somewhat
lofty reading list) would be appropriate for college.
For high school....well, I tend to agree with what mr. Longyard wrote about
trying to get students engaged in reading.
If there's one thing that I've heard time and time again from my friends who
teach high school English, it's that they often want to scream
when they see what's on the required reading list, knowing how far removed
these choices will be for a good many students.
As for the writing requirements....knowing that this is a high school
course, I'd cut the students a bit more slack (and wouldn't
find the use of the word "very" now and then to be that big a deal). More
than anything...and maybe I'm shaped by where I teach...a cohesive
and clear sentence that's free from errors would be enough to make my day.


.

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