Rebooting

Why do I get angry when students perform poorly on writing assignments? It makes no sense: they're not hurting me! My life goes on even if every student gets an F on this assignment (unlikely). So why get all bent out of shape over bad writing?

Plagiarized papers make me angry because they require tons of extra work and at some point I'm bound to be lied to. I hate being lied to.

Underachieving students make me angry. It bothers me when an intelligent student who ought to earn an easy A in my class decides he can't be bothered to turn in writing assignments. Taking the same class over and over is a waste of time and potential, and I hate the implication that the skills these assignments are designed to teach are not worth learning.

Mostly, though, I get angry when I put more effort into the student's writing than he (or she!) does. I design reading assignments, in-class exercises and online discussions to build on each other and develop the skills students need to succeed on the writing assignment, but the student won't buy the textbook, won't do the reading, and puts his head on the desk during class, and then turns in a sloppy draft and expects me to "fix" it. Why should I re-teach concepts for which the student daily betrays contempt?

But this kind of anger isn't productive. Comments I write on student drafts while angry aren't likely to improve anyone's writing. Time to take some deep breaths, think happy thoughts, walk around the house or look at birds for a change of scenery, and keep reminding myself that even the best writing can start with a sloppy first draft. Better to reboot my emotions than to give a student the boot.