Blog #25: Reflecting on today’s experience

Very few students had a rough draft today. That’s okay because my grade isn’t affected by not coming prepared. However, I am always worried about my students who have not started their assignments. I haven’t figured out if this is an anomaly here in San Antonio related to the student population, or if this is an anomaly related to simply being in a community college. I’ve taught at an open door university and at a community college but have never had this large of a group (on a regular occasion) that simply has not begun his or her paper (in any way). This semester, I have spent more time toward the end of the semester focusing on making sure that students have more time in class to get started on their papers. We are literally spending class time writing papers so that we have something. Even though I’m doing this, I still have at least half of the class that has no rough draft. Go figure.

Students who come with their draft get credit and get feedback. Those who don’t have a draft simply keep working on their draft. They don’t get credit for workshopping, but at least they are getting their work done (sort of).