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English Professors
Sam
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My department has a LOT of instructors who seem to basically want to be everyone's friend. They grade papers extremely smoothly, and I recall one who would give quizzes that merely checked if someone had glanced through the reading (i.e the first line of a poem with a blank for you to fill in)
Some did even less than that, and just berated the class for non participation, adding that quizzes were pointless because he used to fake his way through them.
I guess I was wondering what makes them want to be like that. Some seem to literally hand out only A's and B's to everyone, given how much love you hear about them.
Some did even less than that, and just berated the class for non participation, adding that quizzes were pointless because he used to fake his way through them.
I guess I was wondering what makes them want to be like that. Some seem to literally hand out only A's and B's to everyone, given how much love you hear about them.
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When I was in High School I took my English classes very seriously. When we read The Grapes of Wrath EVERYONE followed the same cookie cutter no critical thinking neccesary thesis for their essay. I wanted to do something else, think outside the box. I did and got a C- where the stoners got a "A's" for following the thesis my teacher helped point out throughout the entire book.
Pissed me off.
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
When teachers give you an assignment in High School you write what they want to hear. It's homework, you're not writing a master's thesis.
I frequently recited the same words my history teacher used in class in my essays and he loved it. A+
no.
Oh.
Make a thread about it?
Seriously what's this thread for?
I've never had a really easy college English professor as most of them are brutal and want real indepth analysis with a bunch of sources and give very loose guidelines so that students have to work to come up with an idea.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
I've also noticed that English teachers tend to dislike making actual grade guidelines and prefer to just grade based upon how you contribute to the discussion, so the reason why the tests are easy and just require you to read to thing is because they just want to insure everybody keeps up.
All of my essay assignments have the grading criteria listed after the assignment, including a breakdown of exactly how many points each category is worth. Usually I break it down in to "argument and analysis," "structure," and "mechanics," but I throw "formatting" in there too if it's a composition class and they are new to MLA.
While I don't want to be anyone's "friend," I am friendly and I do go to great lengths to make myself available and open to discussion. Teaching English, depending on the level, the course, and a ton of other shit, is different from teaching other topics. A good teacher will teach someone not only the facts and the history of a text, but they will (or should) also teach students how to read something critically. Part of teaching this is coming up with engaging topics to discuss in class that rely heavily on developing a rapport with students and having them actively participate. Is it possible you're mistaking this type of class participation with some type of desire for your teachers to be everyone's friend?
This is obviously just as anecdotal as the experience in the OP, so it's obviously not going to be true for everyone.
Let's talk about lawyers though. I hear they're all assholes and just want your money...
you do realize that highschool teachers develope their own curriculum right?
they have latitude in grading metrics as well.
its not like they have to grade and teach as they do. they have certain topics they have to cover... but covering might be "playing scrabble while watching the cartoon adaptation of macbeth"....
I had a history professor last year that absolutely hated when you wrote what you thought he'd want to hear. He loved when students challenged him, brought new ideas/theories to the table, and taught him something. Consequently, he is probably the best teacher I've ever had.
On the other hand, the teacher in my management class this semester (she was also the teacher of my macroeconomics class last year) is totally useless. She also likes handing out As, and the people who work hard get the same grades as the ones who are useless lazy assholes.
At our school, each professor/instructor is allowed to submit students who go "above and beyond" in their classes. It's a nice little recognition, and both of these teachers nominated me (so that's two cool little things to throw into resumes). However, the useless teacher put every person in the class in for the award, even the one who decided to not show up for half the semester. I mean, I'll still take advantage of that piece of paper, even though it means nothing to me.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
And god help anyone in the harder sciences, there are classes with F averages taught by people who can't speak English. And not because they're from another country.
Are you from Texas?
I don't know, didn't you read the OP
I feel like sam presented some pretty compelling evidence
I am in such a class right now. This professor obviously will not be doing any such thing, as a glance at the syllabus show. I'm wondering what makes instructors up to the 300 level be all buddy buddy though.
Note that I don't consider any instructor I've had to be incompetent. I just think it's somewhat insincere.
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Sam: Are you upset because people are being pleasant even if they don't like you...? Some people just like to be nice.
i think all of those professors liked me in the way they basically like everyone.
Perhaps what I'm really miffed about is uneven departmental evaluation standards.
A Goddamn Livejournal thread