runonsentence

mandarin.orange, I wasn't trying to single you out in any way, and apologize if you took it that way. There are a number of different types of humor represented here, and I agree that a lot of it is benign (julietmercredi's example being a good one). Your PowerPoint I don't see as comparable to what I have issue with at all: your purpose with your PP isn't to make fun of students, but to teach students by showing them what doesn't work well. It sounds like plain old effective pedagogy. I don't see that as at all rhetorically similar to the act of lifting student work out of context and posting it to a site as “evidence of the true cost of educational funding cuts.” I just have a bit of a sore spot when it comes to instructors making comments about student writing (as do others in my field, http://scrivel.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/on-shit-my-students-write/ and http://betajames.net/what-i-submitted-to-shit-my-students-write being two examples). And again, I'm not talking about having a good giggle at snarky answers, I'm talking about airing out the muttering we hear in our heads when a student mixes up a homophone or shows undeveloped lines of reasoning. I realize that my position is idealistic. I'm not perfect myself, and I get frustrated too. And believe me, having taught freshman composition for two years and counting (a required course that most students don't want to take), I know what it's like to plod through grading really disheartening work. I know what it's like to—having finished a quarter full of thoughtfully commenting on ~300 pages of student drafts—see students turn in portfolios full of the same weaknesses I asked them to fix. I think the whole point of my last post was to put out another perspective for others to think about. I spent a lot of time in my first year or so of teaching in the grad office, trashing student work, or complaining about things on Facebook. And I found that this bred even more disillusionment and ill-humor on my part when I sat down to grade more papers. And I noticed that the writing faculty I most respected didn't do this. So my new golden rule has been to treat my venting about student writing like gossip: I try to keep my badmouthing to a very select few (or just within my own head, when at all possible) and to a minimum.

Not to ruin the party, but I have to say that I have huge issues with sites like "Shit my Students Write." Laughing at at something snarky a student wrote is one thing, but sites like that really encourage teachers to rag on students for their lack of understanding, and for missteps they take as they try (their best, as novices) to begin navigating the waters of academic discourse. I wrote really embarrassing, really silly things as an undergrad. It would have really hurt me to know that my professors were laughing at everything I turned into them and sharing it with all of their colleagues. Students trust us to help them learn, and we're often repeating adages to them like, "there is no stupid question except the one you haven't asked." I still vent to my colleagues, and I still trade stories about unbelievable things my students have done and said. But my new goal is to keep my badmouthing about students to a minimum, especially online. </steps off soapbox>

While I know I'm not in a literature degree (and thus facing the pressures of the lit job market), my feeling is this: a top school is worthless if it's not the best fit for you and your scholarship. You can't just get a job off of a transcript. You need solid support that allows you to build a strong body of work, allows you a range of formative experiences (like teaching, research fellowships, etc.) and gives you access to strong LoRs. If State University X is what helps nurture you into a strong scholar with this kind of portfolio come job market time, then you're best off going there. Reputation is important to a degree—you should certainly seek out well-reputed programs and faculty—but I've just never been of the opinion that pedigree is the be all, end all. Remember: fit fit fit fit fit! Recommendations for pursuing solid, mid-ranked programs is still a vote of support: this process is such a crapshoot, it's hard to guarantee acceptance to any kind of institution. I'm actually incredibly thankful I didn't get into my Ivy during my first application round (2009). I probably wouldn't have taught comp, and therefore wouldn't have discovered my love for rhet comp.

I've also found that studying/writing near people who are more disciplined than me really helps. I don't know whether it's the potential shame of a colleague I respect seeing me in my lazy element or whether it's positive motivation (hey, I want to be disciplined like you! I'm inspired!), but either way it works. It's kind of like why I run along busy roads: I don't want someone driving by to see me stop running! (Especially because this end of town gets kind of small-town crazy, and inevitably I will know someone!)

Like everyone else here, I too am deadline-oriented. Writing down a deadline helps me convince myself that a fake deadline is real. So does scheduling workshops/draft exchanges with friends before the actual deadline. Deadlines for revisions ("I'll have the second draft of that SoP to you by XX date") is what got me through application season.

Sigaba has a lot of handy suggestions. Whether you use a rubric or not, I find it useful to not only go over my expectations in class, but I sometimes also model my feedback on the projector for students so that they really understand what that will mean in practice. (Really, what does "I'm looking for a sharp focus" mean? It's good to spend time talking about it and show them.) During peer review or full class workshops up on the project, I ask students to either adopt a rubric we're using on their own grades in class, or articulate their own. Modeling is also something that could help cut down on homework grading. Are you giving students feedback on daily homeworks? If so, try instead only awarding a score, but responding to a couple of examples in class. This would help save time if you were finding the same mistakes/weaknesses cropping up over and over again. I try to keep grading very simple for things like in-class work or homeworks: I usually go with the "check plus/check/check minus" system. Another thing that really helps cut down on student emails: I assign a homework buddy to everyone the first week of class. That way they have someone else to contact if they have a quick question like, "Wait, which chapter do we read again?" or "Where do I find the homework on Blackboard?" Students are free to contact me if they still want to or they have a question their homework buddy can't answer, but it really cuts down on the time I spend answering very simple questions. It also builds a better sense of community; since I've started doing this, I've noticed my students contact each other more outside of class for help, study together, etc.

What kinds of assignments are you talking about? The daily flow of low-stakes homework and in-class work? Mid-stakes homework write-ups? Essays and exams?

cunninlynguist's tack is a good one ("I don't know if you received my prior e-mail, but..."). It's quite possible that the email slipped his mind, especially if he teaches on the semester system (meaning your email would have come to him during the beginning-of-the-semester crunch). If he's usually blunt, then I doubt he's waited this long because he's not sure—he'd probably tell you if he didn't want to write for you, right? But if it makes you feel better, again emphasize that you are asking him if he is able to write a strong LOR, and give him an out. "Would you feel comfortable writing me a strong letter of recommendation? I'd love to have you write for me, but if you're unsure you'd be able to write a letter strongly recommending me I'll start sounding out my other options."

Probably depends. They did at my undergrad institution; I think that grads doing independent studies here pick the title in conjunction with their prof.

I mean, my source is not only faculty in my department, but also a number of professionals from grad student workshops at conferences. Either it must just be one of those things where there are just wildly different opinions out there, or it's because the advice I've been receiving is with a mind toward the longer-term goal of the job market, not a shorter-term goal of preparing for PhD admissions.

You shouldn't worry, plenty of students apply to graduate school after taking a break from school. If you poke around the boards here, you'll see that a good number of us have taken a break between undergrad and grad school. If you're worried about falling out of touch or your professors forgetting you, then by all means talk to your professors about your intention to eventually apply to school (or to take a specified number of years off). It will behoove you to get their advice anyway. But it's routine for professor to recommend you if you're only a few years out of undergrad, which is why you'll see questions on the application board about packets of materials to send to LoR writers (which usually contain a CV, transcript, draft of your SoP, discussion of experiences you've shared with that writer that you think make you a good candidate for grad study, etc.). As long as you have internet access, I don't see why you couldn't apply from anywhere. Graduate applications are just about always handled online, and all of your correspondence with your recommenders can be handled by phone or email.

Many programs say on their websites whether or not they allow students to defer. Then, of the ones that do, some only allow you to defer for specific reasons (e.g., a family emergency, got accepted too late to find outside funding if it's a degree you pay for, etc.). But in the end, I'm wondering why you need to defer at all. Why must you complete applications this year? Why can't they wait until you're ready to attend school right after acceptance? Since you know you want to take time off, it would make the most sense to give yourself an extra year to make yourself an even stronger candidate, and to give yourself the best options. You don't want to pick a graduate school only because it happened to offer deferrals (whereas your dream school might not).

I did a package similar to fuzzy's for the hardcopy forms. I also included spare letterhead, since my recommenders were printing some of those over winter break (away from their offices).

- My SoP wasn't finished last time I asked my recommenders, but I included an outline/draft so that they had a sense of what I wanted to do. - Definitely include a CV. - The only reason I didn't include a writing sample was because they already had samples of my writing. - I gave them a spreadsheet that had all of the following, listed in deadline order: deadline, name of school, name of department, degree names (some where PhD in rhet comp, others were PhD in English with rhet comp specialization), whether the school preferred letterhead, whether the school asked for online or hardcopy letters, and whether the school asked for additional forms along with the LoR.

I did this too, with an independent study as an undergrad. The most important thing, IMO, is to pick a title that will be self-explanatory on a transcript (that is, it will give a clear picture of what you did in the course). Also, take a look at a copy of your transcript if you can: how many characters does it allow for course titles? It may be best to pick something short so that it doesn't get cut off. I don't think you should call it a survey, either. For one thing, that sounds really, really broad, and for another I'm not sure if it's accurate? (As the course is primarily made up of contemporary theory, it sounds like.) You mentioned that the content would be designed around your interests. What kinds of interests are going to determine what you add/subtract from what your professor usually teaches?

It's definitely a nerve-wracking thing to try out the first time through, but I think you'll find that you're glad you did it, if you decide to give it a shot. Last, remember: you may not be the most experienced teacher or a complete expert in your field yet, but you still know more than they do! And that's why you're up at the front of the classroom.

FWIW, I've never actually heard anyone say a publication was a bad thing, either. In fact I was very strongly encouraged to publish an essay as a second-year MA student.

If you have a question about LoRs (or any other application packet type question), you should first direct your question to the grad secretary, not the DGS. If s/he doesn't know the answer or feels unsure about the answer, then s/he will direct you to the DGS. Last, I'd do this over the phone instead of as an email. It's a good time of year to call because it's not the first week of classes and it's not right up against application deadlines. Every secretary I've spoken with over the phone was super nice and helpful. And it'll save you time over fretting about the right tone or right way to open up the correspondence.

Interesting. I could see this as something that's helpful if, say, helpful at distilling information down in a more manageable way (for instance, my partner is a co-author on a publication that breaks down pharmacology information visually, to help medical students study for exams). But really, as others have mentioned, it's the active process of taking notes that's most helpful (not to mention being in class, having the information you've learned from your first exposure reading synthesized and reinforced). It'll probably appeal most to students who think it's an easy way out of the work of learning and, I predict, backfire on them.

This describes my undergrad institution's culture, as well. We had no grad students, so professor-undergrad relationships were markedly different than what I've seen/observed at big R1 universities. We didn't have a campus bar so I didn't drink with my professors often as an undergrad, but it happened. It didn't seem at all inappropriate then (nor does it now, looking back). I think it's all about context.

TS/IS is great; another good thing to do is start analyzing other pieces of criticism, noting how they're written and put together. How did the author structure the article? How are they working with sources? What are they doing stylistically?How are they developing ideas? etc.

The fact that a screen just grabs the attention of others sitting nearby is a major consideration for me as well, qbtacoma. Speaking with students, I've found that they honestly appreciate having some class time when they don't have to worry about a neighbor pulling up Facebook and inadvertently distracting them, as well.

It really is true (and I know what you mean). For instance: every term I teach, I elect to do an informal mid-term evaluation, or I even just do short, informal ones a few weeks in. I keep the questions very simple: usually I ask what has helped their learning, what has hindered their learning, and (sometimes, depending on what point we are at in the term) what I can do to better help their learning. ...and every single time I administer such an evaluation, I'm petrified to read the results. But every time I do, they're much more positive than I thought they would be. In fact, last term I kept telling my colleagues how awful class was going, how I didn't feel like I was connecting with the students, but every single informal evaluation I received back from my students was positive in terms of how I was teaching the class. So I've found this myself, that our perceptions of how our teaching is going is often worse than the reality. But, even if it ISN'T going well, I think that acknowledging that in some way and working to fix it is something that students REALLY REALLY appreciate. ("I think that our discussions in class this semester so far haven't been what they could be, so I'd like you all to complete this anonymous survey and tell me what's been helping your learning and what hasn't, so that we can find a better solution.")

Interfolio is really common for job market applicants, but I'm not sure how widely it's used for the application process, at this point. I'm not sure that it would necessarily be to your detriment to use it (after all, adcoms would be familiar with the service from their experiences with hiring committees), but then again, I don't know if programs would have an issue with it if they require forms, since those wouldn't be included. The safest course of action would be to check with at least some (if not all) of your schools, particularly those that ask for extra forms along with your LoRs. Another option for rather persnickety writers: last year I actually put together a packet for one of my writers so that she could mail in hardcopy letters. This worked best for her because she had a busy schedule and wanted to be able to send out all of my letters in one go (and doing the letters through the online applications, of course, meant that she'd have to wait for me to submit many of my applications because of the way that many systems work). It took about 2-3 hours of administrative work on my end (printing out forms, addressing envelopes, filling in what information I could on the forms, e.g. addresses and the like), but it worked well to resolve my problem. If you do decide to go that route, you'll just have to check to ensure that programs will accept a hardcopy letter (usually they will). I first checked websites, and then called the other 3 programs out of my 10 that didn't say; all of the grad secretaries I called were really nice and helpful about it.

Me as well. You want something in the middle. Now that I'm in my PhD, I've been working more and more with critical workshops in some of my seminars, and I'm learning that the problem that many beginning writers have in grad school is letting their sources do all the speaking for them. In other words, you don't want your paper to be a smorgasbord of things other people have written, without any of your own analysis, your own voice, your own interpretation. On the other hand, you also can't rely on a close read of a text alone: successful grad-level writers understand context and critical movements, lenses, and apparatuses pertinent to their work.