Inked and Instructing

This blog serves as an outlet for a tatted, passionate (yet sometimes frustrated) college English professor. If you teach or learn, it might be fun for you, too.

[inkedandinstructing]

Currently debating whether or not I should show this to my students next class. 

[inkedandinstructing]

BUCKLE UP!

[inkedandinstructing]

Re-reading your essays before submission MATTERS!

[inkedandinstructing]

Deep AF, yo.

[inkedandinstructing]

I had one of my former students share this with me. 😂

[libertarianhumanitarian]

My problem with Liberalism is that it’s more concerned with policing people’s language and thoughts without requiring them to do anything to fix the problem. White liberal college students speak of “safe spaces”, “trigger words”, “micro aggressions” and “white privilege” while not having to do anything or, more importantly, give up anything. They can’t even have a conversation with someone who sees the world differently without resorting to calling someone a racist, homophobic, misogynistic, bigot and trying to have them banned from campus, or ruin them and their reputation. They say they feel black peoples’ pain because they took a trip to Africa to help the disadvantaged, but are unwilling to go to a black neighborhood in the City in which they live.

The Culture Of The Smug White Liberal (via libertarianhumanitarian)

I’m glad I’m not the only one that has their concerns about this.

[inkedandinstructing]

Oh, hello, Summer School.

[inkedandinstructing]

[teachinginreallife]

When a quiet student feels comfortable enough to raise their hand in class

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Yasss!

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“I Deserve an A.”

“I worked really hard in your class.”

“I put so much time and effort into your course.”

“But I did every assignment.”

“I think/feel I should be given[insert special treatment here] because [insert reason why the student is special here].”

Over the past year, these are the kinds of sentences I receive in my inbox towards the end of each semester. There aren’t many of these emails, but there’s a few here and there which grind my gears enough for me to post my first blog ever. These emails are not only incredibly irritating, but they’re also worrisome and insulting.

Let me break down each emotional response for you.

Why it’s irritating: I get countless emails each day from faculty, staff, the college announcements team, and students. Receiving emails from students who think they deserve a different grade absolutely wastes every second of my time that I spend reading and responding to it. Grades are not something you can negotiate. Pleading for a different grade never works. If you’re reading this, you probably already know this. For the love of humanity, share this with everyone you know so we may have a more competent group of young scholars entering and exiting college. It’s also irritating because the way I’d like to respond is always vastly different than the way I eloquently and professionally respond.

Why it’s worrisome: I teach college students. These students are supposedly adults who function in the “real world” as such. This means they potentially work, pay bills, own/rent property, and have children. These are people who somehow function in a society filled with deadlines, expectations, and requirements, so when I get an email from a student saying they feel their grade should be different, I get worried. 

I’m sure many might think oh, it’s those millennials! You’d be surprised to know that it’s actually people of all ages that send me these emails. If they’re a younger student, this is a reflection of their upbringing in school and at home. If they’re a returning college student, it’s a reflection of how adults function in our society. Either way, this is a reflection of our culture, and it’s scary. Don’t fret: if you stomp around and complain enough, you’ll get your way. How have we decided that this is a great way to run our society, and what will be the repercussions of this? 

Why it’s insulting: Despite myself having this blog as an outlet for teaching, I truly, passionately, endlessly love my job career. It is simultaneously the most challenging and rewarding task I’ve ever experienced. Some days are so incredibly tough, but other days are pure magic. To receive a pleading email for a higher grade is insulting. Telling me that you deserve something different than what you earned is telling me several things that you think of me: 1. I do not know great or hard work when I see it. 2. I do not know how to grade assignments. 3. I am not properly doing my job. 4. I am unfit for this vocation. 5. I am easily swayed and a pushover.

Let me respond to each of the above: 1.I have seen horrible writing; it was so horrible, in fact, that I almost cried. I’ve also seen outstanding writing; it was so outstanding, in fact, that I almost cried. These students, as well as the others that fall in between horrible and outstanding, sometimes put in the hard work and sometimes do not. The horrible writing could be from the hardest working student ever, and the outstanding writing could be the student who wrote their essay an hour before class. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. This is a true reflection of how unfair life can be. I know which students work hard, but if the paper isn’t an A paper, then it’s not an A paper. Have you ever noticed that when instructors have grading rubrics, there is never a “The Amount of Hard Work Put into This Assignment” grading section? Think about it. Hard work is admirable, but it does not guarantee the desired amount of success. The answers to 2, 3, and 4 are all the same: If you feel this way, perhaps one day you can become an English professor and show me how it’s done. 5. If you spent an entire semester with me and still think this is how I work or how the grading in my class works, then you’ve clearly spent the entire semester daydreaming or staring at your lap while scrolling through your phone. You fool!

In addition to all of the insulting information above, asking for a different grade than the one you earned completely ruins the integrity of other students’ grades. The student who naturally isn’t the best writer but stayed up late, stayed after class to ask questions, put in the hours, and did the work well enough to earn a C suddenly has a grade that is meaningless when all you think you have to do is simply ask for a higher grade. 

It’s funny that teaching lessons to students never ends, even after grades are posted. To all my teachers out there: Be strong and never back down.

Ahhh. Venting Successful.

[teachinginreallife]

When I stay too late at school

My family’s like:

I’m like:

[inkedandinstructing]

Accurate AF.

[inkedandinstructing]

Extra credit, please? 

How about no. 

[inkedandinstructing]

My student thinks they’re funny.

They’re right. ;) 

[nprfreshair]

How ‘F-Bomb’ (And Other Words) End Up In The Dictionary

In 2017 alone, Merriam-Webster added more than 1,000 new words to the dictionary. Noah Webster himself might have struggled to define these new English terms — such as binge-watch, humblebrag, photobomb, NSFW, truther, face-palm and listicle.

But language is a “living thing” says lexicographer Kory Stamper, an associate editor at Merriam-Webster — and it’s constantly shifting in use and meaning.

“A lot of times people assume that English as we speak it is something that was curated maybe by some dudes in frilly shirts back in the 1700s,” Stamper explains. “But, in fact, a language is … always influenced by the people who come in and speak it or come in and conquer it.”

Stamper’s new book, Word by Word, describes the painstaking process of keeping the dictionary up-to-date. Five years ago, for instance, Merriam-Webster added the term f-bomb to their pages — an addition that reflected, Stamper says, the term’s widespread, sustained and meaningful use in society.

“People assume that … there’s boundaries set around [the English language], and that all the good stuff is on the inside and everything on the outside is bad or not worth using,” she says. “But it’s all worth using, and all of it is required to make the language flourish.”

Photo: Marian Carrasquero/NPR

[inkedandinstructing]

While creating umbrella thesis statements in class last week, my kid came up with this gem of an opinion.

[teachinginreallife]

When a student says they think the assignment is dumb

I’m like:

[inkedandinstructing]

That moment when they don’t meet the page minimum.