Apr 22
Mark hard…
I mentioned in my first history tutorial notes over in my egregiously behind study blog that I didn’t find the small group discussions very productive, but when I finally went again last week (I’ve missed tutorials due tothe ovarian cyst), I was expecting something a little better than what I got. Yes, we were put into small groups again and, not knowing anyone, I just joined those I was closest to.
We were given questions to discuss. Did anyone talk about them? Not at all. Even when the tutor sat with us they didn’t stay on topic. It was so bloody annoying that I eventually got up and moved to another group. (Way to make friends, eh? Chalk me down as another obnoxious mature-age student.) The second group were not talking about history either, but at least they were discussing another university subject and not football.
For philosophy I have only missed one class and that tutorial is fairly quiet as well. I have to give them credit though, because Plato is pretty difficult to engage with as well as being somewhat daunting. I’m think that when we start on Nietzsche next week, they’ll have more than can relate to and more will be said.
But this brings me back to my sexism. I’ve actually spent some time talking to my female tutors and I like and respect them both but while we (okay, it’s only me) are in sexual stereotyping mode I’ll just say that there is one teaching style I like which seems to be fairly rare amongst the women: The Martinet.
I like The Martinet. He gets down to business. He knows that you’re in class for one reason and one reason only. He expects you to talk, and he expects you to do your reading. And so you do. Because if you don’t, you look like a dick.(If you can’t imagine the kind of person I mean, think of The Nazi on Grey’s Anatomy and remember me kindly because I have provided a female, though fictitious, example.)
Captain Slusher, an old teacher of mine that I’ve mentioned before, was a perfect Martinet. He came into class for the very first time, towering over us all, and gave us a lecture about his expectations; about what he would and would not tolerate, about what constituted an excuse and what did not. It’s pretty hard (for me, anyway) to dislike someone who is up front about where he stands and then applies those principles; who is hard but fair. And it has the added benefit that when you’ve done well, you know that you have done really well.
Perhaps that is a weakness on my part - wanting an external impetus - but I like to be pushed. If I can just breeze through a subject with high marks, I guess that’s okay, but I’d prefer to be stretched. I like having to earn every last percentage point.
Incidentally, I have only received one mark so far, for a 500 word answer to a weekly question for philosophy. I only wrote 350 words and I thought my answer was fairly shite. I got 95%. Don’t get me wrong: I was really chuffed (and surprised) by that and I probably did a happy dance for two days straight. It was the first mark I’d received in over a decade. Who wouldn’t be chuffed?
But I’m looking forward to getting marked harder and getting whipped into shape as expectations rise over the course of my degree. (Don’t throw that in my face if I don’t get an HD for my first history essay next week. Just let me cry.)
And I’ve been wondering… What will I be like when I start teaching? Will I be a soft touch? Or will I try out The Martinet style and have it come across as though I have some repressed, chip-on-my-shoulder issue with my womanhood. (Another pretty awful stereotype.) Because, you see, the beauty of Captain Slusher was not only that he was uncompromising in his standards; he was also bloody funny.
And I’m not. Funny, I mean. I’m too serious, too intense, too everything. And my sense of humour is obscure and personal. Whatever game face I decide to go with, it’s going to need a lot of work.
[Btw, there was an interesting review of the movie Smart People which discusses the stereotypes of academics. I might be biased, because I have a blog crush on Jake Pure Pedantry but it’s worth a read. It might even be worth watching the movie. 
]
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:08 am
I had a Martinet teacher. He was my favorite. He taught all of my political theory and philsophy and law classes. I studied Plato and Aritstotle under his direction. Ahh, I loved the Plato debates. Those were good times!
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I wasn’t a martinet in class when I was tutoring, but then if my students had been as disengaged as your fellow students seem to be, then it might have been a different story! When it came to marking, though, I was (I hope) fairly hard. You don’t do students any favours (except in the short term) by giving them better marks than they deserve.
I’ve gotten absurdly high marks for essays that I thought were rubbish (or at least phoned in) too. I wonder if they are grading to a curve? Maybe everyone else’s piece was worse than yours, and the marker had to give one 95% for the class. We didn’t do that, which I’m glad about.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Sorry for such a delayed reply. My life is a logistical nightmare. But enough excuses.
Enola - Sending you much love and hugs. And I’m glad I’m not the only one with a weakness for Martinets. They’re great, aren’t they? No Plato debates in my uni classes though. The tutorials are full of long uncomfortable silences. But today we started on Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil and more people were “using their words”.
Brett - As far as disengagement goes, this week my history tutor actually finished the tutorial early muttering, “I think you’re all braindead today.” I havbe to say, i was one of those braindead as well because I hadn’t done the reading and I’d missed the relevant lecture. Very bad form, but not particularly noticeable in my tute.
I imagine you’re a pretty get-down-to-business tutor, even if you’re not quite a Martinet though.
Re: the marking, I think this first exercise we had to hand in was marked slightly generously and with a lot of feedback, more as a way to give people some room to learn what is expected of them in terms of writing for history at the university level, especially because the next essay is worth 50% of the overall mark.
I don’t know what mark I got yet, however, because they have a new delivery system (I use that term loosely) and apparently my essay never arrived. I had to email it yesterday, resisting the temptation to fix the typos that hadn’t been cleaned up while I was rushing to get it delivered on time.