The only thing I can put my finger on is that our fall semester composition students are all going through homesickness and culture shock. They don't have friends yet, and college isn't what they imagined in some way. But by the spring, they have or know how to make friends. They're a bit more relaxed about being challenged intellectually, and less anxious about grades. They're more reliant on one another and vulnerable. It makes a huge difference.
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Carrie Shanafelt (carrideen@c18.masto.host)'s status on Monday, 19-Feb-2024 02:47:43 JST Carrie Shanafelt
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Carrie Shanafelt (carrideen@c18.masto.host)'s status on Monday, 19-Feb-2024 02:47:44 JST Carrie Shanafelt
The weirdest part, though, is that the papers I got from the fall term students were pretty great, actually. They wrote papers that were artful, peculiar, expressive, informative, rhetorically sophisticated... They just seemed to hate every minute of it. I had to beg some of them to spend more than 5 minutes on reading each other's work. They made excuses not to be in class all the time. It was pretty grim.
This term, it's the highlight of everyone's day. They show up early and stay late.
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Carrie Shanafelt (carrideen@c18.masto.host)'s status on Monday, 19-Feb-2024 02:47:45 JST Carrie Shanafelt
It's incredible what a difference a group of students makes. Last fall, I had a composition class in which everything on the syllabus was the worst thing ever--writing 3-4 pages, reading 6-10 pages, doing peer review, discussing, presenting research, attending class.
This spring, I'm teaching exactly the same material and assignments to a class who thinks it's all hilarious and fun and exciting. They get carried away with writing and discussion and peer review. They're excited about learning.
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