This website is dedicated to the slow accumulation and gradual interpretation of knowledge through the play of research.
This website is dedicated to the slow accumulation and gradual interpretation of knowledge through the play of research.
I've gotten to thinking about why I assign papers and what I believe they accomplish for my teaching and the students' learning.
The end of a semester itself is a test. One of the things we test our students for is whether they can manage all the demands of their courses by meeting deadlines and producing product. Some measure the actual level of preparation by asking students to study for and take exams. But I prefer to use papers.
After the due date passes, immediately, before a single paper is graded, I know something about my students. I know which small percentage of them are checked out of the process. They may have not known the deadline. Or the assignment. They may have accidentally scheduled something that conflicted with their self-imposed duty to produce a paper. Or procrastinated. Or been impaired in some way. It does not matter, the results speak for themselves. Some students exhibit their lack of preparation right away. A few of these missing papers will later appear, and a few may even be something great. But most are missing due to a student's anxiety that he or she cannot meet the course's demands, because of the combined effects of her or his lack of effort, desire, and ability. And these will likely stay missing unless I meet personally with the students to beg them to work.
Just as the deadline itself tests the will and work and skill of the student, so does the requirement that papers demonstrate (college-level) mastery of technical skills such as: spelling, grammar, formatting, basic research and reading skills, paraphrasing, quotation, citation, and bibliographic record keeping. If students can learn and/or demonstrate these college-level study, typing, word processing, and writing skills, then their degree may actually be worth something.
At a higher level of evaluation, I am looking for evidence of vocabulary and reading comprehension, correct use of terminology, and the ability to describe, compare, contrast, and synthesize ideas, perspectives, facts, texts, etc. I also expect to find coherence and clarity, argument, and a point.
And finally, I hope that my students learn how to be citizen critics practicing critical interaction with interesting sources.