Auto. #3

Rosie Caldwell
Professor M. Boland
English 329
3 February 2009

Autobiographical Essay #3

School never seemed to have much of an impact on my life. I accumulated bad memories from elementary school, was homeschooled through junior high, went half time to my freshman and sophomore year in high school, then tested out and went to my community college when I was 16.

In English 385 (Criticism and Theory) my professor would have a discussion in class about some of the different ways to interpret the information and etc. When I received the prompt I wrote diligently until I had what I thought was a good paper. I emailed him a rough draft and he emailed me back some corrections and he also engaged in a discussion about the information I offered in my essay. He was able to make me think of different angles and ways of approaching the situation….this was extremely helpful. Everything was through email, so I did not have to go into his office, or talk after class. This made me feel much more comfortable; and having his comments in writing helped me to make the necessary alterations.
This was not an extremely meaningful and inspiring experience, but it was extremely helpful for my writing and my understanding of the information that was being discussed in class. Also, this situation made me realize that the idea of coming to class and engaging in discussions is not the most effective setting necessarily. If the schools were to be based of a situation similar to this situation I described, I think it would be great!

Also, this situation made me realize that an essay is a process, and there should be ongoing communication between students and teachers regarding their written work. I’ve had a teacher who did not explain what she was looking for in a particular essay and I received a poor grade. Later, I found out that most people received a C or lower on that essay. I sent a redo several times and received virtually no help. After me sending in different versions over and over again and getting vague comments like “no, that’s still not what I am looking for,” I gave up and turned it in as it was. I felt that I did not receive the grade I deserved in that class and I thought that the teacher was very much to blame for this. There was no assistance, no communication and the failure was widespread in the class. I seriously doubt that a whole classroom of English majors is incapable of writing a literary analysis effectively and yet many people (40% or more) received poor grades. This is a perfect example of how teachers fail students.

Now, because of this, I know not to take that teacher again and I know that there will always be teachers with agendas, and it is best to stay as invisible as possible so that you cannot be singled out. Also, I realized that school is political, so just cooperate and graduate!