Hey! I Know You. - Personal Comp Tale 3

I have seen students out of the classroom--while walking through halls or elsewhere on campus--and, having an authoritative position as a TA, the interactions are incredibly awkward. I wasn't sure whether or not to maintain the "authority" or to have a conversation with the student. Most of the time it's just a "Hi, how are you," type of conversation, but I'm always worried that students will try to socialize beyond my point of comfortability. Obviously it's easy to leave the conversation, but I'm afraid students will bring up social life and parties and situations that make me extremely uncomfortable. I suppose setting those boundaries could be as simple as saying, "I'd rather not discuss this..."

When I was an undergrad, there wasn't much conversation between professors and myself, especially outside of the classroom. While friendly, there wasn't much past a greeting--and occasionally small talk. I think part of the reason was my being uncomfortable in the situation. I didn't feel comfortable impeding on the professor's boundaries. I'm not sure if this how students would view a TA or instructor in general.

Seeing students out of the classroom tends to be an awkward interaction. Do you carry on a conversation or just say "hello"? Where would you draw the line?

Grading Papers - Comp Tales Response 4

In comp tale 42, the instructor didn't have time, with their daily life, to grade papers. So, instead of being honest with the students, they returned the papers saying they were the worst they had ever seen. While this may be unethical, they said the revised papers were the best they had ever seen. So this brings up the question. If you are swamped and cannot grade the papers in a timely manner, what is the best thing to do? While this instructor had a good outcome, I'd say that this strategy is not the best way to go about a situation such as this. I would imagine that telling the students that you're incredibly busy and will return them as soon as possible. That is more honest and ethical than returning them and telling the to rewrite to buy you some time. I've had instructors tell me before that they are incredibly busy and they're sorry it is taking so long. In these instances, I understood completely and didn't get angry or judge them for taking the time they needed.

So what are the best ways to cope with having a ton of your own work to do while also having a ton of students' work to grade?

Uh, I don't know? - Comp Tales Response 3

In tale 19, Don Cunningham explains his conversation with students pertaining to lettuce. Somehow they began talking about collective nouns. So what is a collective noun? A collective noun is a noun, as herd, jury, or clergy, that appears singular in formal shape, but denotes a group of persons or objects. But my question isn't whether or not lettuce is a collective noun--it seems to me that it would be when talking about a head of lettuce, as stated by the student--it's what do you do in a situation in which you don't know the question or a student takes control of the conversation?

Yet another thing that a new teacher, such as myself, is worried about is not knowing the answer to a question. I feel this way especially, because I don't have a background of rhet comp. In fact, it was what I loathed the most in high school and early years of undergrad. So naturally, teaching this subject seems a bit daunting, considering I didn't start paying attention until my junior and senior years of college, and even then I didn't get much experience. So, how would one handle a situation in which a student asked this kind of question? Cunningham states that he was trying to regain control of the class. How difficult would this be? From what we have discussed thus far, it seems that being honest and saying you don't know the answer is the best way to handle this. I think that's what I would do if I came to this situation--which seems inevitable, really. Maybe being honest would get everything back on track.

And I think we can all agree that we'd be glad Mary wasn't in that class, as he was glad his advisers weren't in his.

What's Your Name Again? - Personal Comp Tale 2

One of the things I've been struggling with is getting to know students' names. It's more difficult when you're not the instructor and are doing less grading, etc. But it is obviously important to know the students despite that. I have handed back papers and talked to some students throughout the past month and I only know a handful of them by name. This makes me feel disingenuous and frankly kind of dumb. Not only that, but it can be misconstrued as disrespectful. "Oh, you know their name, but not mine?"

What made me think of this was a recent instance in which a student called another student by the wrong name. I'm not sure if this student's response was a joke, but they seemed to be genuinely upset, "My name is ____. It's not ____, or ____ or ____... etc... It's ____." (This student has a name with a lot of "similar" terms that could be used). In that instance, it was kind of funny--only because of the terminology used--but I realized that by not knowing a student's name, I was essentially doing the same thing.

How long does it normally take to remember anyone's name, let alone 25-50? I think being more hands on will definitely help with getting to know students better. But how, as mentees, do we do that? Is that something we shouldn't worry about until we are actually in front of a class? What is the best way to prevent this?

Misspeaking - Comp Tales Response 2

As a new TA, I felt like one of the most terrifying things an instructor could encounter would be misspeaking--terrifying internally that is, obviously there are some more prominent external threats. In a world full of Freudian-slips, it seems nearly impossible not to misspeak. So when one says, "slip your dick in," instead of, "slip your disk in," what happens? Besides the obvious silence. And how do you maintain authority? I for one would struggle keeping my composure--because let's face it, it's a funny slip up. Wheeler states, in her comment, that she finally laughed and the "pressure was off," but not only that, "the incident became kind of a bond between" the instructor and the students. I think it is important to know when keeping composure would be more beneficial than detrimental. It could have simply been a story that the students told their friends, "Yeah, my English teacher totally said, 'slip the dick in,' today in class. She just stood there in silence like a goon." Either way it would live on through stories, but sharing that moment with students seems to have been important to this instructor. It made a teachable moment.

So, should we be afraid of misspeaking? No. We say things wrong sometimes. So what? I think acknowledging the mistake makes us more human. The authority still maintains even with a slip-up.

Social Media - Personal Comp Tale 1

Within these first few weeks of classes, the one thing I have worried about is students adding me on social media. There are things in the media (e.g. movies, magazine articles, etc.) that portray this relationship between instructor and student as acceptable or okay. And while a professional relationship with a student is acceptable, there are boundaries that must not be crossed. As a young adult starting college, I think it is hard for them to distinguish the line of appropriate conduct--with all of their excitement and freedom. The instructor is a professional in the college classroom. Developing a personal friendship, as opposed to a professional relationship, with students is nearing unethical territory, especially when it comes to conflict of interest.

I have had one student try to add me on various social media sites. This has made me extremely uncomfortable, not only because of the unethical nature, but also because of the perceptions this could convey. Also, when the students found out that they couldn't make appointments with me in the writing center, they seemed upset--I'm assuming it's because I know the assignments. Both of these instances make me question how the students view my authority in the classroom. While I'm not their instructor, I'm not a peer either. And obviously at one point I will be instructing the course. 

So how do we, as instructors, move passed these interactions with students while still remaining professional? I think it is important to establish your authority within the classroom, but what are the best ways to go about doing this?

Judgment - Comp Tales Response 1

In response to Tale 1 from Chapter 1 of Comp Tales, I think judgement is the biggest ethical issue one can face as an instructor. When we look at a student who may have a questionable past (e.g. time in prison), it is important not to let that information cloud our perception of said student. We are not in a position to judge those who are from a different background. Each student deserves our encouragement and confidence, despite anything. Our duty is to teach those to the best of our ability. When we make generalizations, such as the common portrayal of community college and their lack of prestige, we undermine the education that the faculty at these institutions is providing and the quality of students that attend them.

Avoiding judgement is essential to building a solid foundation as an instructor. Composing "writing assignments" and forming "responses which acknowledge and invite students to make use of rather than dismiss or undercut interests, knowledge, and expertise they bring to the classroom" is an important strategy to implement, especially as new educators (Haswell 9). Applying this lesson, we can see that building a classroom free of judgement gives it the potential to include all students, while also avoiding animosity or conflict.


Works Cited

Haswell, Richard H., and Min-Zhan Lu. Comp Tales: An Introduction to College Composition through Its                    Stories. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. Print.