So... As you can tell from the title, conferences are going well :) I'm glad that I chose to hold the paper's due date back so that we could talk about it during the conference; they've got a lot of questions/comments that they haven't asked/made in class, and I'm loving getting to talk one on one with my students and getting to see where they feel that they're at in the class. I love getting to ask questions about their papers, making suggestions, seeing how they approach my suggestions or don't change, and how some explain why they didn't change... I love getting to see their writing processes... =D
There is, however, one conference I'm dreading...
It's coming.
Tomorrow.
At 9:45.
I have a student who's turned in his first paper, and hasn't really turned in anything since. He participates in class, but I haven't seen a single draft of his paper 1. I've sent out a general "those of you who haven't already, send me your papers ASAP" type of e-mail to the entire class, but I've got nothing on this kid. Tomorrow I have to discuss how his not turning in journals and not participating in workshops is effecting his grade... Yippee.
It will be fine. Just be honest and let him know where he stands and that it is because of his lack of effort that he is where he is. He probably won't be surprised, something tells me he has probably heard this before.
ReplyDeleteHow did it go?
ReplyDeleteIt went well... His eye was swollen when he came in and it looked like he'd been crying, so I was a little unnerved, but then he apologized for it and said that he'd gotten stucco in his eye from a construction job, and that he'd spent the morning flushing it out. I asked him how his quarter was going, and what he thought of the class work, and he said he liked it all.
ReplyDeleteFrom there, he pulled his paper up on his lap top, and read his paper out loud while I looked on and asked questions about content, structure, etc., etc.. The truth is, it's a pretty good paper, and I told him it was a very good "start." After we discussed his paper, I brought up his grade on BB. I showed him what assignments he's missed, how they're taking a toll on his final grade, and what he would need to do to pull up his grade. He apologized and said he would work hard to make up for it, and thanked me for meeting with him...
I hope it sunk in. He sort of just seemed to be saying what he did for the sake of saying it. He's smart; he just needs to do the work is all.