Assembly Line Pedagogy

It’s not an accident that UMass graduate students are card-carrying members of the United Auto Workers.  That’s right, the good old UAW.  Surprised? You shouldn’t be.  Working as teaching assistant is not that different from working on an assembly line.  Actually, they’re really different.  But both require a lot of routinized, mind-numbing labor.  In my first TA appointment, I graded for 125 students.  There were two five page papers, a midterm and a final, per student.  After two years of doing this type work, I had graded thousands of college essays and developed a few thoughts about the state college writing. Most of those thoughts can be summed up by two words – not good.

Both the university (professors, administrators, teaching assistants) and the students bear responsibility.   The assembly line style grading process fails students…figuratively speaking. Honestly, not that many students really fail classes, despite sub-par assignments.   But I digress. 

There was one semester when I was responsible for 75 students.  Each student had nine papers over two pages and final examine with two essay questions.  In addition, there were 4 extra credit essay opportunities.  I graded over 825 essays in about 12 weeks.

Sure, I can assign a grade to each assignment without too much trouble.  But given the quantity, I didn’t have time to notate the essays adequately or help students improve.  You know, like, teach.  And, as usual, problems flourished: vague arguments, passive voice, run-on sentences, poor citations, and even plagiarism.  I complained to the professor half-way through the semester that there were too many assignments and that it was very difficult to give each student the attention they needed.  He said “you’re doing it wrong; each paper should take you no more than two minutes to grade.”  In other words, he literally just wanted me to assign a number to each paper. “Don’t we an ethical responsibility to the students?” I asked.  The professor shrugged his shoulders and replied “that’s just the reality of these big classes.” 

So, what’s the point of the lecture? If students can’t communicate their ideas clearly, it’s unlikely that they leave with a clear understanding of the content. 

The institution, of course, is not entirely to blame.  After all, some students procrastinate, cheat and slack, etc.   Recently, I asked my students: what barriers stand between good and bad writing? What prevents them from handing in quality work?

They had a lot of good insight.  Here are four problems that they identified: 

      

      Don’t overthink sentences:

Students think writing needs to be academic, ornate, and formal.  I have no idea where they got these ideas from.  As a result, their essays can appear like a well-meaning party guest in an ill-fitting tuxedo.  They flex the binder of their virtual thesaurus (AKA Google) and pose as a sesquipedalian.  They bury the subject and the verb in the back of the sentence.  Because, well, if they wrote it like they’d say it, it’d be too causal.   That may be true.  But balance is the key.

Don’t procrastinate:

Another group of students complained that they couldn’t write unless they had an intrinsic drive, so they would just wait until the last moment.  And it’s true.  When an assignment piqued their imagination, they shined.  When they were bored, they dulled.  Many of these students confessed that they loved to write, just not the assignments and tests they receive in school.  Well, that’s understandable. But, truth be told, most people have to work for a living.  If part of your job entails writing, well, it’s contingent on other people.   Just be grateful you’re not a technical writer for a lumber company…unless of course, you work as a technical writer for a lumber company.   

What’s the solution?  Set a specific time and space to write every day.  Or, as one student noted thoughtfully – do the least savory work first. 

Revise:

Many college classes overemphasize the final draft of a paper.  In my experience, many professors will agree to read early drafts if requested, but few require multiple drafts.  And this goes for both grad school and undergrad.  As a result, students never learn the steps or strategies to good revision.  My advice – ok, ok, it’s really Roy Peter Clark’s advice – start big, then go small. In other words, focus first on structure and organization and then edit for style and grammar.  On the first point, I always advise students to re-outline their paper AFTER they have completed a first draft.  This helps capture a big picture overview of their argument and content. It helps to determine a few key factors: order of thoughts, key elements, and superfluous content.  On the second point, I advise – again, not original to me – for students to read their work aloud – emphasis on loud -- and pay attention to the moments when they stumble or sound awkward.

Don't sweat page requirements:

When some students run out of stuff to say…they just talk till they fill the required space.  So, how can you expand your ideas without producing fluff?  Use examples to help provide context to difficult ideas or elaborate on the significance of your argument.  Use conjunctions to link and expand ideas: for, and, nor, but, etc.  Use subordinate clauses to add contrast.  These are sentences that start with although, nevertheless, unless, if.  

Are you a TA or a student?  Comment and share a note about your experience as a grader…or someone being graded.