A day in the life...
So, I've been totally busy lately since it's the last month of the semester. Yesterday I got up early, researched the school catalog for information on graduate minors, and found nothing other than the info that each department has its own guidelines. So I called the graduate college, who knew nothing and directed me to the Education department, who knew nothing and directed me to two specific people, who knew nothing. So, I'm waiting for them to get back to me. I think I have my plan of study filed, but I have to call the graduate college again to verify, and maybe I should give it a few more days. I swear you can never just call the graduate college about anything without it turning into a musical phone ordeal. I make a list of people I have to email about various things - a cousin's wedding, an instructor's class in China (verify that she has my passport), arrangements for summer graduate assistantship (no one can tell me what the hours are for this), etc.
Anyway, then I go into work. I have three students to tutor this afternoon; these will be one-hour appointments. One of them comes in with a reaction paper to a movie (what I learned from this type of paper) which she has been asked to revise and resubmit. It is written very informally, the way someone might speak, and with simple sentences that are often repetitive. The second comes in late for her 1:00 appointment. She comes in at 1:15 with a paper which is due at 1:40. I try to stick to the basics, mostly things like writing topic sentences to create transitions between different paragraphs, which currently have no clear logical connection. We don't have time for much. She prints out the paper and leaves.
My last student is writing her first APA mini-research paper on a nursing topic and has no idea how to use the APA manual (not that I can blame her). She's also really uncertain about what constitutes a literature review. However, this is not the main problem; I discover midway through the paper that she is completely confused about the difference between paraphrasing and quoting, and the in-text citation methods for each. In fact, she has no idea how to paraphrase. She is changing maybe four words out of a three-line sentence. This has the effect of adding grammatical errors to an otherwise almost completely plagiarized sentence. I refer to a handbook, showing her some examples of unacceptable paraphrases and good paraphrases of the same text. I copy the pages for her, and she experiments, trying this with her own paper. She wants to make an appointment for Friday, but I have none available.
I go to my three-hour adult education class in the evening, where we discuss Sternberg's theories of intelligence, postmodernism, feminism, and critical theory.
I go home and have the last seven fish sticks, a large glass of cabernet, and some Peeps. I had intended to work on one of my papers, but the wine has made me feel a bit unfocused and sleepy, so I watch TV instead. There is nothing on. I shuffle between celebrity gossip channels for a while until I find a show called "Libido" on the Discovery channel. Howard Stern comes on, so I watch that for a bit and lose interest when there are no naked chicks.
By now it is after 11:00, so I sit down at the computer and bang out about a third of my paper before calling it a night. I have to be in early tomorrow to administer a CLEP exam.
Anyway, then I go into work. I have three students to tutor this afternoon; these will be one-hour appointments. One of them comes in with a reaction paper to a movie (what I learned from this type of paper) which she has been asked to revise and resubmit. It is written very informally, the way someone might speak, and with simple sentences that are often repetitive. The second comes in late for her 1:00 appointment. She comes in at 1:15 with a paper which is due at 1:40. I try to stick to the basics, mostly things like writing topic sentences to create transitions between different paragraphs, which currently have no clear logical connection. We don't have time for much. She prints out the paper and leaves.
My last student is writing her first APA mini-research paper on a nursing topic and has no idea how to use the APA manual (not that I can blame her). She's also really uncertain about what constitutes a literature review. However, this is not the main problem; I discover midway through the paper that she is completely confused about the difference between paraphrasing and quoting, and the in-text citation methods for each. In fact, she has no idea how to paraphrase. She is changing maybe four words out of a three-line sentence. This has the effect of adding grammatical errors to an otherwise almost completely plagiarized sentence. I refer to a handbook, showing her some examples of unacceptable paraphrases and good paraphrases of the same text. I copy the pages for her, and she experiments, trying this with her own paper. She wants to make an appointment for Friday, but I have none available.
I go to my three-hour adult education class in the evening, where we discuss Sternberg's theories of intelligence, postmodernism, feminism, and critical theory.
I go home and have the last seven fish sticks, a large glass of cabernet, and some Peeps. I had intended to work on one of my papers, but the wine has made me feel a bit unfocused and sleepy, so I watch TV instead. There is nothing on. I shuffle between celebrity gossip channels for a while until I find a show called "Libido" on the Discovery channel. Howard Stern comes on, so I watch that for a bit and lose interest when there are no naked chicks.
By now it is after 11:00, so I sit down at the computer and bang out about a third of my paper before calling it a night. I have to be in early tomorrow to administer a CLEP exam.
posted by jessica rabbit at 10:32 AM
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