My creative writing class still sucks.

[icarus]

Wonderful. 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 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.

Comments

[ethlinda.livejournal.com]

Grrrr...

I feel for you, I really do. This is the sort of thing that pisses me off as a student & even more as a teacher/tutor. Yes, that whole sentence should be in the present tense, I'm still both.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I can't believe this jerk is holding onto our scores until after this session. What a manipulative... and the pressure for me personally, when I've got a test in a really hard class today, and I don't trust him. I don't trust his judgment, and I don't trust his ability to be fair and even-handed in his grading. He's been too much like a snotty, petty little kid.

Icarus

[ethlinda.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I can believe it.

Break a leg in the test.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

*breaks leg, and two arms* :D

I do, too. He's going to give them back right before Thanksgiving, too, to spare himself some grief.

Icarus

[ethlinda.livejournal.com]

Does that make you eligable for any kind of special consideration on medical grounds?

When is Thanksgiving?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Next week. This class meets twice a week, so he won't have to see us until after the holiday.

Icarus

[twistedrecesses.livejournal.com]

I was actually thinking about something along those lines - is he the kind you'd be able to argue with to boost a grade in your favor if you thought he was overly subjective? Or is he more the type to give you a bad grade because he simply didn't like your story?

...could you feed him through an industrial paper shredder?

[ethlinda.livejournal.com]

There's always going to be some subjectivity though, isn't there. It could very easily come down to
"He's not being fair!"
"Yes I am!"
"Are not!"
"Am too!".
Although, if you get a mark that you really think you don't deserve then you should be able to go over his head & have someone else remark it. The if there's a big discrepency...

[twistedrecesses.livejournal.com]

There is going to be unavoidable subjectivity. And, as I'm sure everyone has encountered, there are really bad stories out there.

What I was getting at was more along the lines of, if the story has all the aspects demanded (length, plot stability, characterization, what-have-you) and the student still receives a bad grade, would said student be able to argue (and convince the TA) that, technically, they'd done the assignment? Or would the TA be a dick and simply "suggest" that the student do a heavy rewrite?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I think the latter. He's allowing us to rewrite our stories before the end of the term.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Yes. I decided to go for subtle, pointing out that if he doesn't tell each student their grades and they're surprised at the end of the quarter, they'll be much more likely to challenge their grades. If many people do that, it looks rather bad, anyone would start to wonder why.

It should obliquely, ever so gently remind him of the possibility, thus cutting off any thought he might have of giving me low marks out of sheer nastiness.

Hopefully I'm being kind and supportive and have booted him in the ass at the same time. After a discussion with amothea I realized that he probably is just behind and waffling over what grades to give. (He only changed his mind about letting me do NaNoWriMo for this class four times.)

Or maybe I'm just being soft, I dunno. I don't quite have the heart to kick the young pup.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I don't think so. He's the sort to let you argue up one grade, and then take it out on you in the next.

What I really want is someone in the creative writing department that I can work with, but that's clearly never going to happen.

...could you feed him through an industrial paper shredder?

Now there's there's an idea.

Icarus