6 posts tagged “community college”
I am taking a break from correcting papers. I'm only through about ten of 'em (and have another twenty to go), but I find that I can only read so many versions of the same answer before my eyes start to glaze over.
I just finished one student's exam and I feel the need to write about the question he has inspired me to ask every single time I have corrected an assignment of his. Is this individual lazy or is he suffering from some kind of LD.
In every single assignment when he has been required to write out an original sentence (or more) he always includes incorrect/inappropriate homophones. The most recent example that I have come across is his substituting "razed" for raised. As in, he thinks that parents raze their children. And I'm sure that some parents do, but law enforcement does try to catch such behavior before the child has been completely demolished. In the context of the essay, though, using the word raze makes no sense.
As I indicated above, this is a problem that I find universally in his writing. My question (never to him, and now that it is th end of the semseter and I probably won't see him again it's a little late to ask) is whether this student who has proven himself to be articulate and intelligent when speaking is lazy or suffering from a LD.
How difficult is it for someone to make sure that he is using the proper words: threw or through, fair or fare, their or there, roll or role?
This isn't, of course, something that spell check will catch. So what is it with this guy?
I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt and think that it is probably some LD.
That would be me. It's almost time for my next class, and I'm finishing up the grading of some late papers (you all know I'm a softy...so, yes. I do accept late papers.)
*singsong*
Guess what I found!
*/singsong*
That's right. Another student has plagiarized their paper. This time, I'm being smart about it (and I don't have the problem of having pitied this student because of his struggle with the class from the very beginning! Huzzah!). I have made a copy of his paper for my very own to keep. I am highlighting every single bloody copied sentence (So far, I have - oooh! Just one in which the words have been manipulated so it isn't exactly the same).
Redz- I'm gonna need to channel you tonight. My class starts at 6:00 PM Central Standard. I'd prefer to speak with the student AFTER class, so I'll be in mental contact with you around, hmmm, 7:30?
Thanks!
Mais oui!
I am so ready for this bloody semester to be over! (And I'm the professor, so I have the easy part!)
I "confronted" Suzy-Q this evening about her plagiarized paper.
It didn't go so very well...for me.
I have a problem with being too nice.
SHIT!
Suzy-Q stayed after class, by my request. I sat down with her and listed the things that she had done wrong as far as her paper was concerned.
Item 1 - Used only one website, when I specified that the students had to use five sources, only one of which could be a website.
Item 2 - Did not provide a bibliography or a sources cited page (her response to that one: What? Did we need one of those?)
Item 3 - Did not cite her source with in the body of the paper as she and the other students were instructed. (Again with the "Uh, I didn't know I needed to.)
Item 4 - PLAGIARISM!
Her response to Item 4 was "But...I made some changes."
Redz, laugh it up, toots, because you will think that this is hilarious...you, too, Lurkertype. Yes, I am this naive!
It was if Suzy-Q honestly felt that she hadn't done anything wrong! Can you believe the audacity? Even after I spelled it out for her "This is plagiarism, and you can't do that," she got all defensive "I know! I changed some words around."
OY!
She even had the muchos huevos grandes to ask if she could have a chance to re-write her paper (um, did she mean "re-copy" I wonder?), and if I knew of any books, journals and/or websites that would be good to use for her revised paper.
So, what did I, the great big softy do?
I swear to god I hate myself!
Sure, I gave her the option of re-writing her paper.
*stupidstupidstupid*
I'm pretty sure that nothing she produces will convince me that she deserves anything but an 'F'. I also don't really expect her to get the revised paper to me before the end of the semester.
I hate me.
I hate her.
In my next life I want to come back with muchos huevos grandes. I really need them.
I once wrote that some of my entries will revolve around the community college where I work part-time, and the students to whom I teach the Introduction to Anthropology course.
I also wrote of the semester blahs that I was experiencing - bored with the material, not feeling like I was doing the material justice, like I wasn't engaging the students.
Oh, how I wish I could go back to those good old days!
The semester is almost over - only 4 class periods left (hooray!) - and we're moving into the section in which I force the students to get up before their peers and present a brief synopsis of their term paper.
We've also moved in to the period in which I get to correct said term papers. I generally enjoy this part, despite how long it takes me to work my way through thirty-plus papers. This is when I get to see what interests my students AND I get to accumulate more knowledge. I was surprised, during my first semester of teaching, by the two papers I received that dealt with the culture of Hip-Hop. Not knowing anything about Hip-Hop myself, this was a real eye opener for me, and I enjoyed it.
This semester wasn't really any different from the previous two. There were some really excellent papers, and there were some students who were a little daunted by having to write a term paper - they struggled with the written word.
The greatest difference was in the blatant plagiarism of one paper.
I don't want to consider how many students are smart enough to get away with plagiarism - students who know enough not to turn in a paper that is a step above what their writing, vocabulary, and sentence structure has been all semester. I was lucky to catch this one due to the, as I said, blatant differences between the assignments Suzy-Q has turned in during the semester and the term paper she turned in last week.
It's tough to say how I feel about this.
There are many moments when I give a rather Gallic shrug and think "well, that's the way it is, isn't it?" People cheat. If they get away with it, they cheat more. Sometime, they'll get caught. Suzy-Q probably has done this before (but lordy, I hope not...because that might mean that the teachers she has had either didn't care or were completely obtuse). Despite the consequences of her actions in my class, she'll probably do it again. My being disappointed in her probably won't influence her at all.
There are other times when I wonder how obtuse I've been, and how many other students have gotten away with plagiarism. Probably a few. I think I should feel both duped and ashamed for not having caught them.
Mostly, beyond a vague disappointment in Suzy-Q (and a concomitant decision to NOT help her improve her grade, as I was trying to help her to do) and an annoyance that I can't trust my students, I feel apathetic. Either people cheat, or they don't. Either I'll catch them or I won't. I'm not going to lose any sleep over this, nor am I going to change my ways very much with regards to teaching. I am not the morality police and I am not going to try to be Big Brother (or Sister, in my case), watching so closely that my students won't have the opportunity to be dishonest. These people are adults and they are making their own decisions.
I think I must also have a burning anger, becuase every now and then I think about how satisfying it would be to stand up before my class and announce that Suzy-Q cheated on her paper - to make an example of her. I won't, but I guess I'm angry enough to think about it. As I said - she's an adult. She needs to face the consequences of her actions. Because this is the first offense (that I've caught), I will only give her an 'F' on her paper. There is so much more I want to do, but I won't.
Man, have I been cranky lately! Seriously, if you showed me a glass partially filled with water, I'd definitely see it as half empty. Why is that?
Well *settles down into armchair psychologist mode* we haf here a sit-yoo-a-shun in which I - the subject - am bored with zee class I am teaching.
That is to say, I'm bored with the topic, not the students. I'm teaching cultural anthropology - and don't get me wrong: I am so very glad to have this job, adjunct professor though I may be.
My degrees are in archaeology and physical anthropology. For those of you who are familiar with the subfields of anthropology, you know that I have just covered two of the four. I never touched linguistics (it simply didn't exist for me). That leaves cultural anthropology - definitely a lesser favorite.
Don't get me wrong - cultural anthropology can be fascinating. It just doesn't hold my interest the way that physical anthropology does.
I luf the skeletal system - it is a beautiful thing both in form and function - in growth and development - pretty much in any way that you look at it.
I'm most fascinated with the human skeleton, but in a pinch, any skeletal system will do. It's that fascinating.
Hand to god, I am that much of a skeletal geek...nerd...whateva.
However, I am teaching cultural anthropology - part-time
Sigh.
I can really tell a difference in the way the course is going this semester - it's my third time teaching this wonderful course. I'm just not as enthusiastic about the material I need to pass along to my students.
In return, my students are bored (I think). At the very least, they don't discuss as well as I would like them to.
Whine, whine, whine, mope, complain, whine.
I need to get over this.
*****
Okay, I'm over it. I'm getting back to work.
Still, you can't blame a girl for trying.
Why am I here? Well, not for the blogging capabilities of Vox - great as they are.
I'm not even here to be seen.
My pictures, though, please take a gander through them!
As you might be able to guess - by the sheer number of the photos of my cats - that I heart kitties.
I may talk about the wee 'uns - Mike, Megan, and O - the most on the blog.
This will be followed by posts about my adorable nephews - Ray and Kasey.
Only slightly less important will be my comments about how my class is performing - I teach one section of anthropology at a local community college.
Finally, I shall sprinkle references to my husband - we've only been married for four months - throughout.
When I write, that is.
Enjoy!
