I have plowed through 44 freshman essays...highlights include the word "maintenance" spelled like this: matiness. I had to sit there and stare at the sentence for about three minutes before I could decode it. Also, in a weird moment of synchronicity, Paul and I both read essays, mere minutes apart, that used the word "higher" instead of "hirer." As in, "Someone might not higher you for the job." This resulted in a volley of pot-smoking jokes, which was delightful.
I had good old Hale for my colloquim, and two of the slightly certifiable communications profs for my seminar, that rhetoric seminar. But I didn't have the same profs that Kate and Paul had. I can't remember their names, which sucks. But yeah, beating a dead horse. Right on.
My poor students are terrified that they will fail this essay, and a number of them have sent me emails, or sulked outside my office door, begging for mercy. Paul's students also sulk outside the door (we share an office) and Paul is great because he puts on this show, this act, where he gets all serious and tells them to sit down, he has some bad news. Paul keeps it up for 5, 10 minutes and the poor students are terrified. They think their academic careers are over. Then Paul tells them he's joking, and life is all better again. Furthermore, Paul now has this weird policy where if a student happens to stop by the office and Paul is engaged in a game of online chess (which is the case about 90% of the time), the student has to sit quietly and watch him win before asking any questions. These are the perks of being a TA....
posted by Jen at 10:46 PM link/comments
