I found English Lit & Poetry incredibly boring. Still do.
I enjoy reading Dostoyevsky, Machiavelli, Medical Journals, Philosophy, Quantum Mechanics, etc but Shakespeare just bores me to tears.
Sorry (not sorry).
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Cheating students
- Thread starter Chicory Blue
- Start date
I enjoy reading Dostoyevsky, Machiavelli, Medical Journals, Philosophy, Quantum Mechanics, etc but Shakespeare just bores me to tears.
Sorry (not sorry).
Exactly. I frequently offer re-writes on really bad papers, but I have the advantage of only having 8-10 grad students. When you have a K-12 teaching load you usually just don't have the time to do that.
Everybody has their preferred tastes. For me, I tend to prefer topics that I was exposed to when I was younger. You mentioned quantum mechanics and that happens to be a subject that I'm very interested in today. I suspect it has a lot to do with a physics book I found when I was 12 years old and I remember reading it and not understanding 90% of the content. But what I didn't understand inspired me to read other books on the subject and that led to my working understanding of quantum mechanics today as a 50 year old, non professional scientist.
Back to Shakespeare. His play, The Taming of the Shrew, is regarded by many as grossly misogynistic, and as such, is frequently bypassed by theaters.
This is a shame, because a careful reading reveals that the misogyny is clearly satire and is intended to illustrate the folly of marginalizing women. Shakespeare uses a device in this play that exposes the satire: the work is introduced by a character breaking the "4th wall" and previewing what is about to transpire. This character is drunk and is obviously not meant to be taken seriously - hence the satire.
Such a literary device is common staple of fiction today yet many audiences fail to recognize it when they see it.
The Mel Brooks movie, "Blazing Saddles" is a satire, the main purpose of which is to point out the folly of racism. Uet, there are many who consider the movie as promoting racism because they don't understand what satire is or how it works. I contend that exposure to some classic literature in high school would go a long way toward remedying this.
I agree with this. I took multiple semesters of Shakespeare - in college. In high school I doubt that I would have made any effort to cope with the language. And I love reading and the language - but Shakespeare is nearly impenetrable for high school students.
I think the key to literacy in the language is very simple: READ. Anything from Little Golden comic books on up helps people learn the forms and context of English.
Read some Mickey Spillane.
Read some JK Rowling.
Read some RA Heinlein.
Read some John Grisham.
Read some James Michner if you have an extra month on your hands.
All of that helps you learn the language and soak up proper sentence form. The key is to answer the question that every student has (and the reason I never learned to cope with fractions and still can't, even after earning a PhD): "how am I ever going to use this??"
“Methink’st thou art a general offence and every man should beat thee.”
All’s Well That Ends Well (Act 2, Scene 3)
Sadly, this sarcasm now accurately reflects today’s real world.Do you guys mean to hold the students accountable for their actions???Don't you know this is 2019 and rules have now changed. Don't you guys realize if you now make bad decisions, it is not really your fault, because you are more than likely a victim of one sort or another. Come on and get with it. Again, its 2019.........rant over.
”Standard track” students are the great shame of the American educational system, IMO. The pressure to pass and advance students who cannot do the requisite work due to laziness, poor parental supervision (due to a number of reasons), or helicopter parenting not only hurts America as a whole, but breaks the spirit of teachers.
So sorry this happened to you, CB.
Well, so, here’s how it’s gone down so far. Graded myself right into what I initially suspected was a stress-cold, only to hear from the friends I saw this past weekend that they’re all rocking sore throats, and thus correctly deduced that I’d be in no shape to work come morning. With that in mind, I set up my plan anyway, to be executed in my absence.
Today is Progress Report day, so most of my kids will at this point have been made aware by their homeroom teachers that they are failing- and, since this poem is their only test grade until next week- most of them are definitely failing. Not just the cheaters, but the substantially larger fraction that just straight didn’t do the work at all.
Today, with me out, the instructions I’ve left suggest that they’ll be having their next test grade at the end of this week, and thus those who are currently passing should use the class period to study for it, while the half or so who is royally failing has until today to turn in their sonnet. It is already late and will be graded as such, but a 70 is still a lot better than a 0, which stands to easily flunk them for the semester.
I’ve also left my class with the instruction that Sonnet Generator doesn’t actually create an original sonnet, but rather fills in a pre-existing one, replacing a few blanks with the words of their choosing, therefore creating essentially the same poem every time, and that while I genuinely would have fallen for it if just one student had used it, receiving nine identical poems was not at all stealthy of them, and the cheaters have already been reported.
Also included was a reminder that Ms. Blue loves poetry, and therefore that ripping off someone as famous as Robert Frost in her class is about as smart as trying to pass Old Town Road as your own work. I’ve heard it.
That should make some of the cheaters squirm without calling any of them out individually. Meanwhile, I compiled all of the plagiarized poems in a folder, complete with notes on each one about how and from whom each one was plagiarized, and delivered left it in the care of a teacher friend to deliver to the principal’s office today, accompanying an email reporting all 15 for academic dishonesty.
The reply reaffirms school policy. Zero in the gradebook, after-school detention, and an alternate assignment of comparable weight and difficulty. However, I can avoid handing referral slips to students directly by having the office simply call them themselves. They still get embarrassed to a degree which satisfies my bloodlust, but my hands are clean and my butt is covered.
At present, I’m a snotty mess who feels like hot garbage, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pretty satisfied.
--^@
Today is Progress Report day, so most of my kids will at this point have been made aware by their homeroom teachers that they are failing- and, since this poem is their only test grade until next week- most of them are definitely failing. Not just the cheaters, but the substantially larger fraction that just straight didn’t do the work at all.
Today, with me out, the instructions I’ve left suggest that they’ll be having their next test grade at the end of this week, and thus those who are currently passing should use the class period to study for it, while the half or so who is royally failing has until today to turn in their sonnet. It is already late and will be graded as such, but a 70 is still a lot better than a 0, which stands to easily flunk them for the semester.
I’ve also left my class with the instruction that Sonnet Generator doesn’t actually create an original sonnet, but rather fills in a pre-existing one, replacing a few blanks with the words of their choosing, therefore creating essentially the same poem every time, and that while I genuinely would have fallen for it if just one student had used it, receiving nine identical poems was not at all stealthy of them, and the cheaters have already been reported.
Also included was a reminder that Ms. Blue loves poetry, and therefore that ripping off someone as famous as Robert Frost in her class is about as smart as trying to pass Old Town Road as your own work. I’ve heard it.
That should make some of the cheaters squirm without calling any of them out individually. Meanwhile, I compiled all of the plagiarized poems in a folder, complete with notes on each one about how and from whom each one was plagiarized, and delivered left it in the care of a teacher friend to deliver to the principal’s office today, accompanying an email reporting all 15 for academic dishonesty.
The reply reaffirms school policy. Zero in the gradebook, after-school detention, and an alternate assignment of comparable weight and difficulty. However, I can avoid handing referral slips to students directly by having the office simply call them themselves. They still get embarrassed to a degree which satisfies my bloodlust, but my hands are clean and my butt is covered.
At present, I’m a snotty mess who feels like hot garbage, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pretty satisfied.
--^@
My favorite fiction autho is the late Terry Pratchett. His novels make excellent use of classic literary devices as well as themes of cultural and historical significance and that's what makes them so great.
Absolutely! A good reading (or performance) of Shakespeare can "unlock" things for a lot of people who think they can't deal with it. So much of the material was made to be performed, after all!
Here, perhaps, is the key practical lesson to take away from this sad episode.
1. Announce to the class that you know what's going on, without naming any names.
2. Give some examples of multiple instances of virtually identical submissions and discuss how they were recognized.
3. Discuss how to "clean up" the cheating so it's less detectable.
Turn the project into a practical study of how to cheat without being as obvious about it. At least this may translate into something of practical use to them later in life.
sir terry was a talented writer whose work is much more complex than it might seem at first, although it can also be enjoyed without delving deeper. his concepts are often outrageous. and he worked and was friends with one of my favorite authors, neil gaiman.
Absolutely! A good reading (or performance) of Shakespeare can "unlock" things for a lot of people who think they can't deal with it. So much of the material was made to be performed, after all!
i was over 40 when i finally heard a reading of the soliloquy from hamlet that made me say to myself "oh! is THAT what he's talking about!" - like many of us, i had heard it many times, but this was the first time it was read so that the meaning came through for me.
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
My friend was a math and science teacher at a local high school. He was completely dedicated to his kids. He's pretty happy to be away from the drama, although he's about to start working as a volunteer tutor. I guess once it's in your blood, it doesn't leave.
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I love it when a plan comes together!
And, the cold that's going around really does suck. I have had it, and so have a number of people I know. I does eventually go away.
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
If you have the rest of your life, take on Arnold Toynbee. I'm just starting on volume 8 of the unabridged version of Study of History. It is over 700 pages of Oxford Don-ese. It's also not the longest volume, but a decent margin. There are eleven volumes. I'm already several years in.
If you are at all intelligent, you won't take this advice.
“An act of justice and gentleness often has more power over the human heart than violence and barbarism”“Methink’st thou art a general offence and every man should beat thee.”
All’s Well That Ends Well (Act 2, Scene 3)
- Machiavelli.
This is fair and equitable. A second chance with proper guidance can turn these children’s heart to respect you and appreciate Shakespeare.
I failed a student of mine at the end of Semester 1, then sat with him for 10 consecutive weeks during Semester 2 to go over his work. Changed his life, boosted his confidence, patience and self-awareness, problem solving skills, etc. That’s what teachers are meant to be doing.
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