Okay faithful reader(s),
It is that time in the semester again. Ah yes, another round of student papers. I am only on my second of 23 (one student has elected to offer a list of cobbled together excuses as to why he has not turned one in instead of actually writing one), but I am reasonably certain that nothing will top paper #2. nothing, nothing, nothing.
Gem #1: " I believe the painting shows an individual taking a hit on the crack pipe." In my comments, my goal is to gently guide the student to an understanding of why you cannot just drop sentences like this into the middle of a paragraph with zero warning and zero analysis. Wish me luck.
Gem #2 (Really, this one is a treasure trove): "The painting definitely suggests that crack is wack."
As I was grading, I instinctively put brackets around the sentence, but I honestly have no clue what to do with this sentence. I'm hoping that inspiration will strike later.
On an up note, I am really starting to enjoy the students in the class and class has been going well. Yesterday there was almost a fist fight* because one student said that all middle easterners filled him with hate and terror, and another student "mildly objected" to this statement, but hey, that's what the classroom is for.
*verbal, not literal. Thank goodness.
oh my gosh! I LOVE IT!!
ReplyDeleteAnd in my own crazy grading, I had a student tell me that the curtain hanging in the upper window of the house in "American Gothic" was the husband and wife's effort to hide their child with Down's Syndrome. And that this hidden child was the tension in their marriage that was making them get a divorce.
My first response? "HUH???"
Apparently, your students must know my students, and they all must share writing tips. That's the only explanation I can come up with!