Spring 23 Semester Reflection – Writing Class

Something I did not devote enough attention to was how students with rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), or who tend to internalize criticism, would respond to the process of feedback and revision. The feedback I give tends to be very conversational so I’ll write something like, “This was a really good start but I couldn’t follow the ideas in this paragraph. You say x but then you say y. What’s the relationship between the two?” I find that to be mostly neutral with a slight positive lean but some students did not interpret it that way. It felt like I was holding them to an impossible standard and ignoring the fact that they struggled with writing.

I asked Wren Graves, a friend from college, about what grading looked like in theatre arts (he was a directing major…cool AF, right?) and how it impacted their relationship (perceived or otherwise) with their instructors. He said three things that stuck with me. First, that “people who spend a lot of time in this world do often agree on things that are good or bad” which I think applies to all disciplines. It was in response to a class assignment to pretend to be an animal and if someone was a good crab or not. That’s probably comparable to my ability to determine what is good vs bad lab technique vs what’s just different. Second, regarding instructor evaluation of their work, he said, “It did have a strong impact on our relationships with instructors. If a programmer writes a bit of code that doesn’t compute, that’s not personal. Arts grades allllwaaaays[sic] felt personal.” Lastly, he started waxing philosophical about what actual art is and said, “In a sea of immeasurable, we cling to what we can measure.”