My creative writing class still sucks.
Nov. 16th, 2006 07:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusWonderful. The creative writing professor (yon T.A.) hasn't given us a single piece of graded work, and it's almost Thanksgiving.
The grade hinges on class participation and just two stories.
His professor/advisor is going to be sitting in on our class today and, I observe, he's not giving back our stories until after said event. He tried to con us on Tuesday: "The head of our program is going to be sitting in on Thursday, so if you're planning to go into the creative writing program, now's the time to make a good impression on her."
Icarus asks, with raised eyebrows: "Is she here to assess us, or to asses you?"
T.A.: "Uh. Well, yeah, she is here mostly to assess me."
Uh-huh. And our grades are hostage.
We were doing our workshop last week with the T.A. sitting in on that session, and I said to the person being workshopped (who looked like he needed a blindfold and cigarette after some blistering criticism), "Remember, it's not that your story's worse than anyone else's, it's just that everyone here is getting better at critiquing. It's a skill we're developing." *
The T.A. actually rolled his eyes (he's complained that the critiques aren't going well). Real professional, kiddo.
Did I mention that this Tuesday after class a cluster of us were chatting with him about the next level creative writing class. One person wanted to get in but hadn't taken the poetry class. I joked, "Well, I took a class that covered both poetry and prose."
T.A./prof., snide: "Sounds like that would be too much to cover."
Great work, teach. Undermine the classes your student has taken in the past, that's really supportive and helpful. **
As![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wildernessguru put it: What an asshole.
Those of you who thought he was a dick back when he backed out of the NaNoWriMo (yes, no, yes, no), and made all those rather idiotic comments about genre...? You're right.
* The student, by the way, looked a little relieved. I think it helped him to know that at least someone noticed that he was stung.
** And by the way, the professor of that class had 15 years of teaching creative writing and was a published poet. We did way more than just two stories, a few writing exercises, and bullshitting for an entire quarter.
The grade hinges on class participation and just two stories.
His professor/advisor is going to be sitting in on our class today and, I observe, he's not giving back our stories until after said event. He tried to con us on Tuesday: "The head of our program is going to be sitting in on Thursday, so if you're planning to go into the creative writing program, now's the time to make a good impression on her."
Icarus asks, with raised eyebrows: "Is she here to assess us, or to asses you?"
T.A.: "Uh. Well, yeah, she is here mostly to assess me."
Uh-huh. And our grades are hostage.
We were doing our workshop last week with the T.A. sitting in on that session, and I said to the person being workshopped (who looked like he needed a blindfold and cigarette after some blistering criticism), "Remember, it's not that your story's worse than anyone else's, it's just that everyone here is getting better at critiquing. It's a skill we're developing." *
The T.A. actually rolled his eyes (he's complained that the critiques aren't going well). Real professional, kiddo.
Did I mention that this Tuesday after class a cluster of us were chatting with him about the next level creative writing class. One person wanted to get in but hadn't taken the poetry class. I joked, "Well, I took a class that covered both poetry and prose."
T.A./prof., snide: "Sounds like that would be too much to cover."
Great work, teach. Undermine the classes your student has taken in the past, that's really supportive and helpful. **
As
wildernessguru put it: What an asshole. Those of you who thought he was a dick back when he backed out of the NaNoWriMo (yes, no, yes, no), and made all those rather idiotic comments about genre...? You're right.
* The student, by the way, looked a little relieved. I think it helped him to know that at least someone noticed that he was stung.
** And by the way, the professor of that class had 15 years of teaching creative writing and was a published poet. We did way more than just two stories, a few writing exercises, and bullshitting for an entire quarter.