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Setting the Bar too High
For some crazy reason (it seems to be an inexplicable pattern lately, doing things that I should say no to yet I do them), I decided to change my habit of how I respond to students' poems. In the past, I am content to scribble directly on the poems, circling words, writing in margins, hurrying my thoughts on the page. Students seem content with this method, though I know that at least half my words they do not understand simply because they are illegible. It is too much effort for them to have me personally transcribe them (admitting defeat perhaps), so they merely gloss over them, picking out bits here and there.
So, with the start of the semester and a small poetry class (ah 12 is perfect and the ideal workshop size), I decided I would type responses to their poems. This crazy typing of responses I did my first semester (notice only done during the first of 13 years) of teaching composition, very dedicated to ensuring that students got wholistic comments. As with any endeavor, there is the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The good is that I am slowing down and being present in the task. I am not distractedly writing comments in between other things. When I sit and type and think (like when I write my blogs), I actually have to take the time to process what is going on. Slowing down the process also makes me carefully analyze the poem, much like I would a work of literature. This, I believe, is probably the best type of feedback I could give student writing. A colleague of mine tends to edit, crossing out words/lines that don't work for the reader. This doesn't work for me since it feels too heavy handed and functions more like an editor rather than a reader. So, in this first batch of typed responses, which averaged a full page of single spacing, I was able to do clear paraphrasing of stanzas, posing questions and working my way through an analysis of the poem as if I was reading Dickinson and trying to figure out the placing of imagery and language.
The bad is that it sets a precedent I don't believe I can sustain throughout the semester. While it's early in the semester and I'm not feeling overwhelmed with schedule nonsense, hiring nonsense, and project/papers from other classes, I have the leisure to devote 1/2 hour per student. And I did spend about 2+ hours responding to four poems, delighting in the process, yet constantly aware of how much time was involved.
The ugly is that I know pedagogically it makes sense. These students will read my comments and care about how their work is interpreted. The feedback is delivered in a manner that goes with my philosophy, hopefully guiding students through how I'm interpreting their words and thus allowing them to make decisions based on that, rather than a didactic command like remove this. And it's ugly because even though I know this method is the most useful for students and me, it is virtually impossible for me to deliver without working 12 hour days and burning out.
Stay tuned for my resolution as the semester progresses.
