Warning Rant ahead:
As a student, I understand that if Teachers tells you to do a paper in a certain way, that's the way you should do it. And if Teacher tells you that they want certain information in said paper - put that information in. If you don't you are likely to loose points.
Now having said that, I don't believe that Teacher gets off the hook. Teacher must tell you in clear language that you understand what it is that they are looking for. They must tell you in clear language that you understand what they will be grading on. And most importantly, Teacher needs to be sure that they give you all the information you need in an accessible format.
So guess what's frustrating me?
Twice now in one class we have gotten papers back with a note to the whole class (delivered in class) that we've all done something wrong. Now this should be a big clue to our teacher that we aren't getting it. If none of us managed to give you what you wanted, then you didn't tell us clearly in language we can understand. More frustrating than that, this isn't the only class that this has happened in (but in the other one Teacher re-explained and then gave everyone a chance to re-write the paper without penalty).
Now - I have one more paper in that class, and clearly I still don't understand what Teacher wants in these papers. So now what am I supposed to do? We've baraged Teacher with questions about it, but the explanations didn't make that much sense. And off we go, once again blindly searching for what Teacher wants - I hate this game.
Posted by Becca at November 11, 2003 10:11 AM