Like Cheyney I received another essay late as well, and it came with a bit of manipulation. This is from my student who said, "I think the topic is stupid, so I didn't write on it." But he turned in two pages two days late and said, "it's not very good so go easy on me." What does that mean? Trying to soften me up? Well I've got news, it's not nearly long enough, and it's two days late. You're already starting at a below passing grade. I don't do well with subtle forms of manipulation.
I started reading the essays and so far my biggest complaint is the one I was most worried about: generalizations and cliches. I've read a lot of "marriage is about communication" already and I'm not even that far into them. Plus one of the essays argued how Bartels was a better husband than Edelman a wife because Bartels cooked food and put up with his "horrible wife." That's a quote from the paper. Oh, and the student called Edelman "the queen of misunderstanding." I wanted to write a comment like, "I think you're misunderstanding what these essays together can tell you about marriage." Instead I told him to avoid using such charged language.
But I do have something to be excited about. I got some reading responses on Thursday (less than I should have of course) and they are finally doing what I want them to!!!!! I read one and I just wanted to put happy faces all over it! I was so excited. He did not even digress into "I think" or "I believe" once, which must have been really hard for him. I think he might deserve a gold star.
So at least I started off my weekend grading with a little bit of brightness.
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