How I spent spring break 2005

Being a TA is tough work. I have to be available to answer questions from the students at all hours of day and night (especially the day before a paper is due). I have to read their books on top of my own. But the part I love the best is marking their assignments. Blech. I'm halfway through my pile of Assignment #1 and they are terrible. They were given a choice of two thesis statements, no outside research required, three pages max, 1 " margins, no style required.... couldn't be easier, I'd say. How could they blow it?

Well, for starters they are first year students. Second semester, but still first year. Some of them remember to include the thesis in their intro, some don't bother with the intro at all. One had a really nice intro but placed it at the end of her paper. Arrrrgh. Why don't they ask me before they hand it in? It's part of my job! I hate failing them....but how hard should I have to dig to find them some marks?

Some of them get me excited that their's might be the first one that does what it's supposed to do. I get a nice tidy introduction with some writing style, maybe some nice vocabulary, no spelling or grammar errors. And then instead of defending their thesis, they write a paper about colonialism/imperialism/a biography of bell hooks/a list of what they had for dinner and I'm struggling again to find them some marks.

sigh. At least I'm halfway. and no outright plagiarism yet.