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“Good Job!”

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Clarissa

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So I’m teaching my summer course, right? It’s an intensive course, so it’s given every day. I answer endless emails, respond to dozens of comments (it’s an online course), and grade like crazy.

And, of course, the students keep moaning that I don’t praise them enough and don’t “celebrate their success.” These will be my last course evals before I put in for tenure, so obviously I want them to be good and act a lot more ingratiatingly than I normally do. It feels like all I ever do these days is repeat, like a broken wound-up doll, “Good job! Good job! Good good good good good job!”

So today I was talking to my contractor (a burly guy of a few years older than me) when all of a sudden I say to him in a scarily chirpy voice, “Good job on painting the room, Steve! Good job!”

He looked at me like I had gone dotty. And he was not that far from the truth. If this course doesn’t end soon, I will end up antagonizing the entire town.

15 responses to ““Good Job!””

  1. shadowofashade Avatar
    shadowofashade

    Maybe you should get a pull-string sock monkey that says it for you…. (http://www.amazon.com/Chatimal-Talking-Monkey-Repeats-What/dp/B005EKIY3G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1402371494&sr=8-3&keywords=talking+sock+monkey)

    Seriously, then: what level of college are these students (and what subject)?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      This is every other person under the age of 30 these days, so the specific course doesn’t matter. THEY ARE ALL LIKE THAT.

      And the sock monkey won’t work because you know what they tell me sometimes? “Yes, you praised me but it didn’t feel like you meant it.”

      So yeah…

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      1. Pen Avatar
        Pen

        Give me solid constructive criticism over bland praise any day. I’d go crazy if I never got anything but praise. I don’t think I’ve actually met anyone who automatically expects praise–that I know of–and I’m glad. These people seem terrifying. If everybody expects it all the time, I feel like we’ll all wind up in a retelling of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Phrases like “good job” in school should really only be used sparingly. Otherwise it feels like the speaker is talking down on their students. So I guess that says a lot about the people who go about demanding praise for everything.

        I’ve been thinking about this book I’m trying to write about and the really long conversation we had on your post about Freire’s Irlanda and all my opinions now seem to be connected to that. It’s so weird to be actually thinking and reading again. It almost makes me wonder why I stopped. Depression really sucked the life out of me.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          “Phrases like “good job” in school should really only be used sparingly. Otherwise it feels like the speaker is talking down on their students.”

          – I know! I hate being this person. I do feel condescending and I hate it that this practice transforms be and my students from adults and equals into an adult and small kids. It’s very disturbing to me.

          “t’s so weird to be actually thinking and reading again. It almost makes me wonder why I stopped. Depression really sucked the life out of me.”

          – I think you made the right decision. You are on your way to recovery and that’s never an easy or a short road. But you will get there, I’m sure of that.

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  2. b g Avatar
    b g

    Clarissa

    LOL, what can I say, just do your damned job…it is expected ;-D

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  3. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    I don’t think these students evaluations will be important at all for your tenure.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I’m not really willing to find out, you know. 🙂

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      1. David Gendron Avatar
        David Gendron

        The important is research.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          I hope so! Although my student evals have been spectacular, so I can’t complain.

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  4. thevenerablecorvex Avatar
    thevenerablecorvex

    As someone who can always tell the difference between genuine praise and the obsequious fake variety, I’m not sure why any of your students would want the latter.

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  5. Jones Avatar
    Jones

    OOOOH WHO’S A GOOD DOG WHO’S A GOOD DOG …

    *ahem*

    You know, “stroking” ala Eric Berne only works at an adult-adult level when there’s pre-recognised mutual consent for it, right? 🙂

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  6. N G Avatar
    N G

    A real job posting:

    Quarterly Adjunct Lecturer, Nonfiction Writing

    Santa Clara University

    The English Department at Santa Clara University, a Jesuit, Catholic university, seeks candidates for a position as a Quarterly Adjunct Lecturer in English for the academic year 2014-2015. Contract term is one quarter. Successful candidates may teach from one to a maximum of 4 courses spread over one to three quarters. The primary responsibility will be to teach nonfiction writing to undergraduates and to help arrange internships for students in a variety of media; a secondary area of interest may be teaching fiction writing to majors.

    Department, Program, Center
    English

    Specialty or Subdiscipline
    Nonfiction writing

    College or School
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Salary
    $6,000 per course

    Basic Qualifications
    The successful applicant will have at least 25 books on topics ranging from the history of Silicon Valley to the biography of microprocessing to interviews with entrepreneurs to the history of human and mechanical memory; will have been published by presses such as Harper/Collins, Doubleday, Random House, St. Martin’s, and SUNY Press; will also have e-books on topics such as home life in the US, home life in the UK, and water conservation; will have worked as both a journalist for a print newspaper and for magazines; will have hosted television and radio productions for PBS, cable television, and ABC; will have worked in electronic media such as being editor of Forbes ASAP or a weekly columnist for ABC.com; will have founded or co-founded at least two start-ups; will have professional connections to Oxford University in the UK as well as to numerous media (print, electronic, and television) in the SF Bay Area and beyond. The successful applicant must have demonstrated experience in teaching nonfiction writing and internship classes for undergraduates, must have demonstrated success in helping undergraduates secure internships in public writing that lead to jobs, and must be committed to working with undergraduates.

    Responsibilities
    Duties include but are not limited to:
    1. Teach a course load of at least one course per quarter up to a maximum of four in an academic year
    2. Conduct the assigned class meetings and exams on campus
    3. Assigning and evaluating written work, projects, and exams that align with course learning objectives.
    4. Hold weekly office hours on campus
    5. Assign and submit student grades to the Office of the Registrar by the designated deadline
    6. Administer numeric and narrative evaluations approved by the Chairs of the Department for each course taught
    7. Participate in workshops on curricular design as appropriate to the candidate’s teaching areas as determined by the department chair
    8. Fulfill other instructional or academic duties as may be assigned by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences or by the Chair of the Department.

    http://www.higheredjobs.com/m/details.cfm?JobCode=175904305&Title=Quarterly%20Adjunct%20Lecturer,%20Nonfiction%20Writing

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I’m thinking this has got to be a joke. Because I’m not sure I’m ready to live in the world where it isn’t.

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      1. Evelina Anville Avatar
        Evelina Anville

        25 books? As a minimum qualification? That has to be a typo right?

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Maybe they need somebody who has read 25 books?

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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