We’ll use Perusall to annotate and read together.
in class prompt: bad teacher = lit motivator
In class prompt: Bad Teacher = Lit Motivator
The inspiration for me to enhance my literacy actually came in the form of a conflict I had with my 7th grade English teacher. The instructor will remain nameless but I will say they are female. From day one for whatever reason, she and I just never hit it off. She would speak condescendingly to me as if I were five years old, over exaggerating her vowels slowly so that “Chris BC” could understand. I guess she thought that I no learn good.
One day I wrote a book report which I thought was quality work but she saw it differently. She said something about it having too much opinion and personal perspective and the vernacular being too modern… The point being, she didn’t like my style and she asked me to rewrite the report. So I went home, I sat down and I couldn’t write. I couldn’t do what she asked me to do. I liked what I had written and so I screwed up the courage to stand up to her and tell her what’s what. The next day I walked into class and told her what I thought; she handed me a “C” and I think I passed her class with a low “B.”
It didn’t take long for me to appreciate that decision ‘cause I raised my standards and kept my style choices. Other instructors since then have commented that they liked my style choices and have given me high marks … I guess the point is that she sort of motivated me to take what I write seriously because she didn’t like what I had written and that offended me. Still I admit, whenever I get good marks and comments on my assignments a little part of me wishes I could slap them down in front of her and show her up a bit.
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3 Replies to “in class prompt: bad teacher = lit motivator”
Good for you. I would do the same thing. Every instructor is different and has certain writing style preferences and expectations but sadly we can’t please them all.
My sister has the same problem when she turned in an essay that was too “fiction-y” to be real academic writing. Her teacher said that her writer’s voice was too strong and that she needed to get rid of it completely in order to develop her “academic voice” properly. As an English student and future teacher, I died a little inside. But instead of punching a 50 year old woman in the mouth, I encouraged my sister to suffer through this class, learn to separate her academic voice from her writer’s voice, and become so good at it that she won’t have lose either of them. I realized that I was her sponsor and that gave me hope. I’m glad to see that someone else experienced something similar and didn’t lose their style in favor of someone else’s, because some of us aren’t so lucky. Write on!!
We are told as individuals to be open minded, learn and experience something new. I think those 3 things should be incorporated in every teacher’s mind to allow their students to try something new therefore they the teacher can experience something new.