Frustrated!

Days like today make me want to throw my hands in the air and go back to retail management. I have assumed that many of my students just haven't read the instructions. The work they've done certainly doesn't address all (if any) of the instructions. I am not completely convinced that this isn't at least part of the problem. But for some of them there is a much bigger problem related to reading comprehension.

In a college-level literature course, I shouldn't have to explain the difference between identifying and describing. This is pretty basic vocabulary. On the first take-home quiz, 1/2 the class identified the cookies Harold eats in Stranger Than fiction as a symbol of change. (Based on the number of students who used this response, I can only assume they were sharing answers or they all decided to copy from Yahoo Answers or Ask.com). I'm willing to set aside the fact that in no way are the cookies a symbol of anything. I'm willing to entertain their interpretation (if this is, in fact, their interpretation and not some bull shit website not even written by anyone with real credibility) so long as they demonstrate through evidence from the textbook and the film that their interpretation has some validity. This defense is not present in their responses.

I wonder how many students in this class will not return next week. I know I lost at least one for sure. I want to know how many hours these students invested in this assignment. I want to know how many of them sought assistance via the Writing Center or a tutor in the Learning Lab. I don't expect to be impressed by these revelations.

I am thoroughly enjoying teaching this course, but I am just as frustrated as my students when it seems to me that they lack basic reading comprehension and writing skills. I can't make them get help in the Learning Lab. I certainly can't spend class time addressing such basic skills. I'm at a loss. I know what other faculty would advise. Let them fail. I can't accept that. So I've spent the evening so stressed out that I am physically ill. I know some of my students don't think I care. But I do. More than many in my position would. But I am also limited in the amount of time I have to give them. I'm at a loss. I don't know what to do.

A few students stayed after class, and we brainstormed some ideas of ways we could make some minor changes to the course that would help them learn better. We're implementing some of these changes we discussed effective as soon as we get back from spring break, including moving from class discussions to small group discussions where they'll begin work on these take-home quizzes together. They don't realize this, and most won't read this blog, but I am also paring the midterm down to just the scantron portion. They aren't prepared to do anything but fail the extended response portion of the exam. This and essay questions will be on the final. We'll spend the rest of the semester preparing for it. I hope the changes will help them in valuable ways.