NOT a marxist mammarian agenda

i just got home from the orthopedic surgeon's office and so, of course, i need to blog!  but instead of writing about my *awesome* early morning experience {sarcasm, intended}, i will share this email from Grader Boob, one of my brother-units.  he'd be the one who teaches, hence the sobriquet.  my other brother-unit, one Tumbleweed. is equally brilliant and could, i am guessing, offer up some kick-ass literary observations.  i think, however, he might become seriously depressed over the quality of his students' writing.  you gotta develop that specific grader-boob callus.

i don't want you thinkin' GB is afflicted with man-boobs or some other strange boobopathy.

no, he's just a grading fool!  seriously, he's the guy you want on the receiving end of your compositions -- if you're a serious writer and not entirely grade-obsessed.

really, Dear Reader -- if you are parent, sibling, or friend to a student in a college writing class, you might want to share Grader Boob's commentary with him or her.  being something of a former grade-boobing prof, i can appreciate what he's put together.  i wish i had had it, en français, back in those mammarian good times!

of course, you know that i espouse (or, according to some numbnuts, spew) a Marxist Mamamrian Agenda.

Howdy--I'm here, but I've been grading/marking online papers so I flee the computer whenever I can. It'll be this weekend before I can sit down and correspond.
[meaningful expressions of undying filial affection, deleted]
Love to thee and thine.GB
PS. I'm running a bit angry today, for I'm getting an inordinate amount of complaints about my grades from the online Lit class, so I gussied up the following, revising an announcement I posted years ago.(Hope it works!)

About the grades...It is a student’s right to complain about grades, but I’m going to institute some guidelines to see if we can give the complaints a purpose.First, let me clear up some misconceptions about the class, my grading in general, and the grading for this course:

•       This is an ENG 311 course. In signing up for this class, you are committing to attempting 16 weeks’ worth of reading and writing in half the time. Believe me, I have the utmost respect for anyone willing to try that. It is a hard task. But, at the end, should you pass, you’re given credit for the whole class, not 1.5 credit hours. Therefore, this class’s writing is held to the same standards as an on-campus class—as it should be and as I’m required to do. (If you’ve had a professor hold you to an easier mark, then that professor has devalued your degree pursuit.)

•       Some years ago, when the XXX English Department charted the grades of its faculty, my grades fell exactly smack dab in the middle. So I’m not holding all of you to some excessive standard, unreachable except by the finest of writers and thinkers. I grade this material just like I grade all ENG 311 essays.

•       I grade the work in front of me. In the past, I’ve had classes in which the lowest grade was a C+. I’ve also had classes in which there were no As. If everyone writes an A paper, then I’ll give that grade to all. I grade the work in front of me.

Now, should you want to talk with me about your grade, here are some recommendations:

•       Re-read the original assignment description/prompt found on your module. Make sure you’ve done what is required. If you’ve not met a requirement, I typically point it out in my comments on your work.

•       Read the comments. The points I note there—especially those dealing with focus, development, organization—are the key elements to any re-thinking or revising of the paper. A paper without a strong focus/thesis is doomed to wander. A paper underdeveloped is missing the logical backing drawn from a close reading of the text, and sometimes this paper fails to meet the length requirement. A paper’s organization should progress paragraph by paragraph, with clear viable links helping your argument—thesis—ring true.

•       Having read those comments, you should show me specifically where I’ve not given you credit for something in your paper. If your paper has a real thesis which I’ve missed, point it out to me. If the structure really builds when I say it doesn’t, show me the error of my interpretation. If your conclusion does more than just restate points you made moments earlier, point it out. Make sure you’ve got a real case, though.

•       But don’t mention your prior grades, your effort, or your life, for these play no part in an essay’s  grade. I'm grading the work in front of me.

Hopefully, this clears up some of the emotion and lets you focus on the remaining readings and writings.