Please Counsel Me - My DS 1st paper = F

Parents Forum
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<p>My freshman son just received his first paper back in his classics class. In summary, the comments were "other than completely disregarding the assigned topic, not supporting your argument and being poorly written, it's just fine - F".</p>

<p>We are all hyperventilating at our house. DS was a high achieving student from a small rural school - NM Finalist, Presidential Scholar nominee, attending our flagship state U on a full tuition merit scholarship that requires he maintain a 3.5 gpa.</p>

<p>The graduate assistant has told him that if he rewrites the paper and turns it in by Monday morning he will re-grade it.</p>

<p>Please tell me someone else has gone through this "welcome to college" moment with their child. What to say? What to do? </p>

<p>He had been planning on coming home this weekend with some other kids who live in our area (5 hour trip), but I'm contemplating telling him he has to stay there and work on the paper (it's only 3 pages).</p>

<p>Help!</p>

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<p>it honestly sounds like he just blew off the assignment and didn't put any effort into it. what did other kids in the class get?</p>

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<p>Does your son understand the comments and how to make the paper better?</p>

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<p>The graduate assistant's nasty, sarcastic comment leads me to believe that he or she is on some kind of power trip. I'd have my son e-mail the paper to me before forming an opinion, though. Has your son told you he worked hard on the paper? First determine if it is, in fact, a strong paper before you give son any advice.</p>

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<p>Does your son's college offer writing assistance? Many colleges have writing tutors who could help in this situation.</p>

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<p>Is there a student writing center or something similar at your son's school? I suggest he find out what kind of resources exist for freshman writing assignments. Quite often, editing help is available from a separate office (not your son's professor/TA).</p>

<p>But he certainly could email the TA, or go during office hours, for a detailed analysis of what went wrong with the paper and what the TA is looking for. Maybe your son just got caught up in freshman year and didn't give the paper the proper amount of effort; or maybe his small, rural hs didn't prepare him for college-level writing, which is quite different from much of the writing done in high school.</p>

<p>Certainly this is his problem to solve - but if he's willing to listen to your suggestions, great. I don't think it's uncommon for high-achieving kids to be surprised by the first graded paper in college, though an "F" is a major disappointment!</p>

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<p>Can he get a paper from a classmate that was an A or a B to get a sense of what was expected? He should try his best to re-write for Monday--in any case, he can stick to the assigned question and make sure the paper has a central thesis supported by evidence. Just trying again will make a better impression and should gain him at least a C rather than an F! Definitely he should seek office hours with the grader and ask for tips on improvement, acting appropriately humble.</p>

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<p>Welcome to college-- answer the question or fail. If you don't understand the question, go to office hours.</p>

<p>His only options are to stay on campus for the weekend (if I were a parent I'd force my kid ot even if there wasn't a scholarship riding on his/her performance) beacuse the only way this could happen is completely blowing off the assignment or simply not dong what needs ot be done before starting an assignment. He should go in to the TAs office hours and talk to the TA about the question, figure out whether he simply hasn't learned anything or whether he misinterpreted the question-- it means something if you can respond to the question orally without looking things up or at least, demonstrate you understand the framework of the essay, plus the TA will now have to account for what it is they expect and why he failed ot meet any of those expectations.</p>

<p>Finally, after writing the "only" three page paper, he needs to edit, a lot. GIve it to friends, family, a writing center on campus, etc. If he's writing poorly with stats like you said he either doesn't/didn't care or is completely unaware of a deficiency which will plague him the next four years if he doesn't fix it now.</p>

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<p>From what I've seen/been told of based on son's and daughter's experiences, most college courses have a well written, clearly defined syllabus, outlining course parameters, readings, assignments, due dates, lab work, etc. as well as grading weight per each segment. Additionally, clearly defined and specific instructions and grading parameters regarding each assignment are either part of the syllabus, or identified seperately prior to each assignment.</p>

<p>Perhaps son failed to read (or lost) syllabus or instruction sheet. Perhaps he felt he could wing it. Be thankful he got a rewrite.</p>

<p>He may have not had this very specific direction during his high school experience; he may be used to some leeway in presenting written class work.
He may just have not realized he had to cross all t's and dot all i's.</p>

<p>Or, he may have waited till last minute to bang it out.</p>

<p>Consider it a learning experience. There are many milestones as a young adult enters college. This is one of them. If he is as good a student as you describe, this will probably be a singular occurence. </p>

<p>Do expect some lower than "normal" performance in most kids. Some have problems with the sciences, some with languages, some with math or writing skills. It's the rare individual that can master everything. It is imperative that he treat the syllabus and assignment sheets as a contract, as that is how he will be graded. </p>

<p>I also hope it was he that told you, rather than you wanting or "needing" to know every grade.</p>

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<p>There is a message here. I've known kids that write great papers, EXCEPT that they don't address the topic assigned. This is not uncommon early in college years, as these same kids no doubt got away with the same thing while in HS. college is different.</p>

<p>IMHO, the fact that the TA is allowing a re-write tells us it is part of the learning experience. My own D had the same experience her first year in college. </p>

<p>So, as a parent, you may want to ask two questions of your kid: 1. Did the kid understand what was expected in the paper? Do they now? and 2. do they understand the expectation regarding mechanics of the paper?</p>

<p>A good way to avoid train wrecks in the future is to discuss the approach with the TA in advance of serious writing, perhaps even asking the TA to look at a draft. My D did this quite successfully in a class that did not start out well. She received an A for the course in the end. </p>

<p>Our kids should not be shy. the only time they should think negatively (like Stickershock did) is when they are blown off when they seek help. I don't see that here.</p>

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<p>He did email the me the paper with the GA's comments. </p>

<p>It's obvious that he did not, at all, address the assignment. It was like he thought he could pick his own topic and that would be fine. Maybe, in his head, he thought his paper related to the assignment, but it was certainly not clear to me - nor the GA. The topic was "wrath" demonstrated by the characters and he wrote about "honor". (?)This major error really concerns me, but if this doesn't send him the message that he must address the topics presented in the assignment, I don't know what will. I think he feels he needs to come up with some grand revelation in his papers and, if he can't, the paper isn't worth writing. I somehow need to get through to him that most of the grand revelations regarding Homer's works have been revealed - and not by college freshman. Sometimes college work is as mundane as presenting a position and supporting it with solid writing - period.</p>

<p>I am certain that he put effort into it. He had his roomate, who is in the same class, read it. His roomate said he liked it - oh well.</p>

<p>There is a writing center where you can go in-person or email your work for comments. We actually encouraged him to use it for his first paper, but he didn't.</p>

<p>I sort of expected a "C", but an "F" sets off some major alarm bells.</p>

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<p>What he needs to do at this point is to do an outline, or a draft, and check with the TA (while not being all uppity, because clearly, he didn't do the assignment) to be sure he is on the right track, and he needs to do that TODAY, it is already Wednesday, and the fact that he thinks he can redo the paper while at home with buddies, traveling 10 hours shows he still doesn't get it</p>

<p>Now if he came home for quiet and to stay in and actually redo the paper, that would be one thing, but me guesses that is not his agenda</p>

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<p>Lots of high achieving kids go through this kind of rude awakening when they get to college. For a child like this, particularly one from a small rural school where everyone knows your name, things have probably always come pretty easily. They approach a college paper the same way they do a hs one and the results you describe are not uncommon. </p>

<p>Tell your s to have a copy of the prompt next to him and to go through it step by step. Make sure he answers the question thoroughly but doesn't add superfluous fluff and that he supports his claims w/ evidence and you should see a better score on the next go-round.</p>

<p>A similar phenomena happens w/ AP comp at my small rural hs. Every year some of the top Jrs get their first papers back w/ Ds and Fs for the same reasons your sons TA cited. It's an adjustment and believe me kids and parents are frequently shocked and outraged but it's important to learn to respond directly to the prompt. My D received a C on her paper bc she talked about "theme" and the prompt didn't ask for it. If she had left out that paragraph her grade would have been higher.</p>

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<p>DAd4Son:</p>

<p>The TA is not on a power trip. S/he is being sarcastic, to be sure, but also trying to be supportive. TAs do NOT have to offer students a chance to resubmit (other students might think it is unfair they don't get a chance to raise their grades, too). </p>

<p>Your S absolutely has to address the topic. He could write the most brilliant piece but if it is not relevant to the assignment, an F is what he deserves. I hope he learns his lesson. He has until Monday to rewrite the paper? He should buckle down and do it now. He could still come home this weekend if he rewrites it right now.</p>

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<p>I have to explain something about DS, are part of the reason for my post.</p>

<p>He is crushed. He is, and always has been, a very hard worker. He was not the kid at school who very studied and got A's. He spent a lot of time at home studying in high school - prepping for standardized tests, latin online for 4 years, etc. He is ADHD and it doesn't neccesarily come easy to him.</p>

<p>I am really trying to support him, not chastise him in any way.</p>

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<p>Way back in the dinosaur ages, I went through the same thing.... small rural hs, top of my class, won the "English Award" at hs graduation, and got a "D-" on first paper. I was devastated. I went to the writing center and got tips for rewriting the paper. I then went regularly BEFORE each paper was due, and got assistance on my papers, made the corrections, and ended up with an A in the class (and became a MUCH better writer in the process). The writing center people were awesome, and expressed so much appreciation in working with someone who was a good student (obviously your son is, too), and who could write. They helped on staying focused on assignment, and improved my writing technique--both in grammar and style (and provided more useful input than my roommate could!)....and, he'll listen to them probably much more than he'll listen to Dad. (amazing how that works, huh?) Hopefully, this will be a good wake-up call for your son. I was, in the end, grateful to that jerk professor in English Lit that 1st semester, but I sure thought he was an SOB at the time...</p>

<p>p.s. after cross-posting w/ OP, it's "good" that he's crushed....he'll probably be very welcoming of the writing center's help. Believe me, when I went through this, there were MANY tears involved.</p>

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<p>Dad4son- You wrote: >I think he feels he needs to come up with some grand revelation in his papers and, if he can't, the paper isn't worth writing.> </p>

<p>Actually, if this is indicative of how he would would address the majority of his hs assignments, and was able to get away with it with very good grades, the "F" at this point is not so bad.</p>

<p>It puts the point in front of him NOW (rather than at the time of the paper worth 30% of course grade and no allowable re-write) that he has to FOLLOW the assigment parameters and/or rubric to the letter.</p>

<p>And the advice to seek assistance and have the TA/prof review drafts is well-founded, and quite common procedure. The advice to seek counsel in a writing center is sound advice as well. Be supportive, and don't sweat it. Seems like your son just needs a minor course correction, and he'll be back on track.</p>

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<p>no need to chastine him, none of us are saying that, however, this is a new ballgame, with new rules, and he needs to realize this is not HS</p>

<p>by saying not doing the assignment, we know he wrote a paper, but NOT the paper asked for</p>

<p>He is crushed, but he needs to see that it wasn't how he wrote, but what he wrote, the two are very different</p>

<p>For instance, if you go to a speech contest and your category is comedy, but you do drama, no matter how good you were, it was not what they wanted</p>

<p>He needs to slow down, ask questions, double check that he is on the right track, and talk to people</p>

<p>He is lucky he gets a second shot, and to be honest, if he is really crushed, he will stay on campus this weekend work on that paper, and give up his play time</p>

<p>Does he have a game plan for redoing the paper? has he spoken to the TA? has he seen WHY the paper didn't fulfill the assignment?</p>

<p>He may have wonderful insight, good ideas, but sometimes, you need to just follow the instructions</p>

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<p>You guys are great!</p>

<p>I am so thankful for the support and advice.</p>

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<p>He should see this as a challenge to prove he can make it at college. Good that it happpened early--this should be an important learning experience not a crushing defeat--offer support and encouragement and some enlightenment on priorities for the weekend.</p>