by Nathan Fleeson, Religion, ’18-19
Entering into my program and knowing that I was going to have to start teaching and interacting with student work, I was extremely nervous in large part because I am not that much older than college students. In fact around campus and in the classroom, I am routinely confused with being an undergraduate student. As such, I thought any feedback I brought would be easily dismissed, especially when it came to graded assignments, and my students wouldn’t get anything out of having a writing-intensive TA.
I have fully embraced the attitude of primarily treating students like fellow writers.
In response to this fear, I have fully embraced the attitude of primarily treating students like fellow writers. This attitude focuses on providing feedback to students just like one would provide feedback for a colleague or for an academic journal. You’re no longer focused on the grammar per se, but focused on the cohesiveness of the argument and where the writer could elaborate more. One recommended way to do this which I have used is writing letters back to your students responding to their writing, instead of marking up their papers.
I found this the best approach to handle being a younger TA because it allows me to treat students more like colleagues. I am no longer grading student work—something I have very little experience with—instead, I am engaging in a conversation with the students about their writing. Engaging with writing is something I have done my whole academic career, whether it was engaging with the textbooks I was reading or responding to friends’ writing. While at the end of the day I still have to denote a grade for the students, that does not have to affect how I engage with their writing.
Instead, I am engaging in a conversation with the students about their writing.
The significant difference, however, is that for students it may matter less that I am younger while they are reading my feedback in this format. Studies show that students primarily want to see that a real person has responded to their paper as a piece of writing.[1] This format does just that and treats the writing and writer with respect. Since the format does not rely on the reader holding a superior position to the writer and benefits from more equal footing, being young doesn’t necessarily cause an issue.
This aspect is clearest to me through the lens of my fear that students will dismiss my comments. Since I am responding to their writing as if they are a writer, the student is allowed to dismiss something that I have commented on their paper. As the writer, they may see my comments as misinterpreting their paper or irrelevant to what they are actually writing. In that instance, it can even be good if the student dismisses my feedback because they have at least thought about it and considered its relation to their paper. My feedback is not designed to change the students’ papers to match my image; it is designed to encourage the student to think about their writing and whether it conveys their thoughts accurately.
While grading is
still an important part of what I do and does require me to take on the mantle
of a TA every so often, I have found that approaching my students’ papers from
the perspective of a reader benefits them more than looking for elements on
which to base a grade. Not only am I more comfortable with this type of
reading, but it also treats my students with the respect they deserve as
college students entering the field of study. College prepares students to
enter the workplace, where they will not receive grades; they will receive
feedback and have to decide what to do with it.
College prepares students to enter the workplace, where they will not receive grades; they will receive feedback and have to decide what to do with it.
[1] Gottschalk and Hjortshoj, The Elements of Teaching Writing, 53.