When handing back papers, especially among my honors students, I often run into some emotion. I tend to be a tough grader. fair but tough. My students realize this after their first writings are returned to them. For many students it’s the first time they haven’t “aced” a paper; this, of course, creates anxiety for them and they react immediately with some passion.
Sometimes I get the impression that the “smart” kids are often given their own groups to work independently of the other students. Quite a few of these students get used to having their work just passed on with an ‘A’ before they start the next independent project. Soon though, these students are placed in honors classes where they are no longer the absolute best or brightest in the class any more; this is much like all of the valedictorians around the country who attend an honors college or an Ivy League school and realize they are no longer the big fish but the small fish in the big pond. Read the rest of this entry »
