Reasons I'm having trouble getting through these papers:
Bad papers make me wonder if I'm a bad teacher.
When people I like write bad papers, I feel even worse.
I shouldn't personalize this. It's not about me. It's about spring fever, senioritis, jobs, children, other papers due, time crunches, illness, stress, lack of sleep, and remembering that it's better to turn in something than nothing. It's about recently-acquired skills deserting stressed writers.
Right? Tell me it's not about me.
4 comments:
It's not about you.
Although I tend to think the same way, sometimes (resulting in exceedingly long assignment handouts).
I've often wanted to say to students: "it's not that I like good students better. It's that students who are succeeding don't make me feel guilty." (though, sometimes they do too)
It's not about you.
The papers are getting better. I think I just hit an unfortunate run of bad papers from students I really like and want to succeed. A quiet type has pulled off an unexpectedly good paper, and a student with a crisis nonetheless did an excellent job, so I'm feeling much better this afternoon. Thanks for your reassurance, though, that it's not me!
It's not about you, but I know exactly how you feel.
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