Dear That Kid Upset About an Essay Grade

 

"I got an 88. Why tho?" Photo by Wang Xi on Unsplash

Dear That Kid Upset About an Essay Grade:

Read. 
Think. 
Write. 

Those three words are at the heart of an English class. They are inextricably linked so that one can not be done well without the aid of the others. The essay grade that has so disappointed you is only a waypoint on a continuum. The essay is the sum of all that went before it. The essay really began with reading, so that was the first work you did.


It is my hope that all my students develop into careful readers who can detect nuance, find the "b" in subtle, and further their thinking through their reading. Reading for plot is cute and all, but it won't win you first prize at the county fair. Every text needs you to examine it at the literal and figurative level; to find the author's purpose in every passage; to gauge the influence of culture and context on the meaning; to have the desire and patience to sit with a text and hear what it has to say. This is not easy work. Skimming Shmoop will not get you there.

Put on your thinking hat when you read. Photo by iam Se7en on Unsplash

Reading is deeply tied to thinking; it is not a passive activity. Reading the book hurriedly and passively, then skipping to the essay writing will never do. Reading a novel or poem is not the same as binge-watching season 4 of Parks and Rec. You need time and space to digest each part before moving to the next. Much of that time and space, in the context of reading for school, comes during class activities. Many students do not see the point in these thinking spaces, so they simply scribble down some words and wait to move on to the major assessment. They want to play in the big game, but they don't see the purpose in practice. 

The tricky part is that sometimes the practice ISN'T helpful. It would best have been skipped. No teacher is infallible. We make mistakes. Like the poet Kendrick Lamar, "I am a sinner, who's probably gonna sin again." Some of my lesson plans land flat and serve to stimulate no thinking. All I can do, like a writer with a horrid first draft, is keep working and revising to try and get it right. All I can promise you is that much thought and planning go into what we do, and if "you with patient ears attend" you might learn a thing or two. 

I was a good teacher that week.

I can tell you I have been an awful teacher, a mediocre one, and a great one. Not always in that sequential order, either. For me, being a teacher is like finding your rhythm in basketball. Some days I'm off and nothing I try works; others, I am on fire, hitting step-back threes from everywhere. I have found that the trick is to grind through the days no matter what. Eventually, I find my rhythm. 

The same is true for you, the student. What are you bringing to your learning each day? Did you do the reading? Did you contribute to your group's conversation? Did you listen to opinions and compare them with your own? Did you try something new in your first draft, or did you write a hurried and formulaic draft just to get it done? Something that gives me comfort on my off days is the knowledge that a great student can learn something from a poor teacher. If you are engaged and attentive, you can take away something. If you are actively thinking, even if just trying to figure out what this confusing teacher is trying to tell you, you will learn something.

No easier way, my friends.

Is all of that to say that I am off the hook and anything you fail at is completely your fault? No. What I am saying is that we are playing a team sport and we need each other to win. What I am saying is before you have written one word of your essay, all that we did before is important. Good students put in the early work, they come up with strategies that work by trying different ones out. Putting in time and effort means trying everything and taking what works for you and using it to get better.

You alone are responsible for carving out the time for this work, however. Is becoming a better writer a goal of yours? Do you devote proper time to it? Are you mindlessly completing assignments a week after they were due, pecking some keys on your laptop to get some points? Garbage in, garbage out, my friends. If you make the time, and put in the time, you will reap the benefits.

Final resting place of garbage essays. Photo by Bas Emmen on Unsplash

What about that essay grade? That's what you're waiting for me to get to, no? What I hoped to show you is that the essay itself should be the culmination of your efforts. Did you read closely? Did you think about your reading? Do you have something to say about it? What I think about the reading is not important. What you think about it and how you convey that is what matters. 

So, that grade? That grade is for everything you came up with before you wrote one word. It is about the exemplar essays we looked at. It is about the Socratic we held. It is about reading and rereading. It is about that one-telling quote that lets you know that Jack has had it out for Piggy from the start. It is about that first draft you wrote that was embarrassing to you and your entire family. It is about the third draft that was actually pretty good. It is about the work you put into that final draft that looked like the handsome, adult version of that ugly baby of a first draft.

If, after all this, you still feel that you wrote an amazing essay and my grade has wronged you, come in and we will look at it together. In the grand scheme of things, your essay grade is just one of many in your career. In the history of a universe that Thanos can cut in half with a single snap, the grade does not matter. Becoming a careful, detailed reader, thinker, and writer is all that matters.

I don't feel so good, Robin Roberts