The past weekend has been rough. I
am in the wake of graduating and for the first time since I began my collegiate
career I was told a research paper I wrote was not worthy of any grade value. As
a writer, any type of writing I present to a world is a jewel I crafted, and to
find this jewel worthless in fact made me feel worthless. I won’t go into
details over the debacle I had with the teacher over the issue, for those
matters and problems are private, but it wore on me so much that I allowed my
other classwork to slip into oblivion. As with the previous post, I took solace
in books and quotes I once read. I surrounded myself with those words to block
out the pending break within myself.
The
last post remains in the construction zone of crafting words to page; I cannot
finish. I buried myself in the trenches of painful mistakes and plummeted beneath
the rosary for all my sins outweighed my penance. Yet, as I rummaged through
Facebook a familiar face appeared through a Huffington Post story, the one of
J.K. Rowling.
Now, I
know that Rowling is not a great American Author, but she is an Author of great
integrity to her craft. I remember, in my youth, I found myself captivated by
Harry Potter, and his ability to prevail despite what he appeared as. I clicked
on her article, and found her words once again resonating with who I was as an
individual. I didn’t need to give up, I just needed to stand up and find who I
was in the world today, even if that didn’t coincide with what others thought
of me.
Author’s
words are needed. Whether a place to find a solemn friend, or a castle to build
your life around, or even a man that burns barns for injustice; we need words.
The
link is at the bottom of the page to the story. If you are struggling, I hope
you find her words a ledge to help yourself up.
Hey Krystin,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear that happened to you :/ I share your frustration. As an English major I have become accustomed to at the very least constructive feedback that is truly meant to improve my writing, not diminish it. Over the course of my career I have encountered many instructors who seem to understand that writing is an extension of a person and as such, it ought to be handled with respect and delicacy because even if it doesn't resonate with them it could with someone else and it definitely means something to the writer. That being said, I have also had my fair share of people who are careless and can't see beyond the page. It is almost a way of life for some, it seems.
Just this semester I have had 2 wonderful teachers (this course included), one lackluster and somewhat cavalier teacher (who is in a mental health field), and one instructor who made things so difficult that three separate emails were sent out the the course warning people to drop the class. I believe something like ⅔ of the class did drop out, which was around 10-12 people. I happen to be an excellent student, and it is indeed a writing course. I am rocking out an 81%. To put that in perspective, I have turned in EVERY assignment except one.
The feedback I have gotten on each assignment is lackluster. I get the same 3 comments over and over again in rotation and none of it gave any explanations or pointers for future assignments. "good job. Almost there. Keep it up." "Nice job. Keep it up." and "well written. Keep going." are NEVER acceptable assignment comments when I spent 6 hours doing your homework for 20 measly points and on top of that you are giving me low B's high C's. Thanks but no thanks, professor. If Ivy tech did evaluations I would absolutely love to show them the screen shots and give some feedback.
I digress. My point is this: no one knows everything or has it all figured out. A professor, though they may have power over our grades, is just a person at the end of the day. It is those people who take time to encourage and guide learning we should trust in for advice and feedback, not the ones who only stop long enough to tear a piece of work down. Haters gon' hate.