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Dec. 7th, 2005 09:24 pmMy writing link teacher is so pointless. Actually the class is pointless, but that's besides the point (my comment, not the class as the class exists nowhere near one at all). My teacher just happens to be so much worse that he transcends the suckiness and exists on his own level.
It's rather entertaining how many people in my class don't like this guy... It's not that he's mean, he's just ineffective. I feel sort of sorry for him, but then that's tempered by the fact that his class is such a waste of time. He has degrees in both english and something like mechanical engineering, and it shows. The mechanical engineering part anyway. Everything is so technical. Make three observations. Make a deduction. Obs. 1 should be supported by deduction 1. I'm surprised he doesn't just assign us the five paragraph essay.
And when you go to his office hours for help, he won't actually help you. He'll either be so vague that you'll come out more confused than when you came in, or he'll say you need something specific but won't tell you what. Or will just begin a whole new tangent that ultimately doesn't help you at all. ("I'm having trouble formulating a thesis." "Really? Make a diagram of all the relationships between muses and audiences and rhapsode. Do you have any brothers and sisters? [then proceeds to make a diagram of your family]") And in all that, you get the impression that the paper has to be written as he would write it. And from what I've seen of the first paper, to get a good grade you basically have to keep turning in drafts to him so that he can guide it.
One of the things I find most memorable is his lecturing style. It's actually rather entertaining. I would dub it, ANALOGIES!
Seriously, here's stuff I copied from just one class period, most from one point before I got bored:
-Entering a landscape into a portrait contest and saying it's a portrait of Mother Nature.
-Having all these car/engine parts and only building a box with wheels and steering.
-Kids who trade arroheads for pennies
-Discovering stuff at an archeological find and selling it at a junkyard.
His point? The thesis and evidence should support each other. Or good evidence, weak thesis.
After that, his analogies lost any coherency:
-Calling home for Thanksgiving and driving a long way (wtf? still no idea of the point)
-Warm up band being the spotlight of a concert. Specically, "It's like Britney Spears performing at a Madonna concert."
-Being at a hotel and complaining that you don't like the room but not telling what it is you don't like.
-Stock markets
-Getting a job that may or may not be in demand.
I think it deserves its own drinking game. I guarantee it will get anyone plastered by the end.
Take 1 drink:
-Everytime he makes an analogy.
-Everytime he asks a question of the class that you know will lead into an analogy. (Actual Q's: Who here has jaywalked? Do you have any brothers or sisters?)
-Everytime he starts a sentance with "It's like..."
-For every detail you didn't need of that analogy (ex: "You're waiting on the corner, feeling silly when no cars are coming...")
-Everytime he discusses the analogy ad nauseum. (Wait, a landscape at a portrait contest!? Inconceivable!)
-Everytime you have absolutely no point what the analogy has to do with the topic at hand.
-Everytime you know exactly what the analogy has to do with the topic, only because it's the second/third/fourth analogy he used to explain the point.
-Everytime his analogy is so very specific as to not really be relatable to anyone but him. ("Let's say you had to build a car...")
-Everytime the analogy leads to him writing it on the board directly.
-Everytime the analogy leads to him drawing a diagram.
There's probably a lot more, but now I have to go to my actual interesting class of the quarter: Volcanoes! Seriously. We're watching discovery or nationaly geographics disaster movie titld, "Supervolcano." It's pretty awesome. (I'm such a sucker for disaster movies.)
It's rather entertaining how many people in my class don't like this guy... It's not that he's mean, he's just ineffective. I feel sort of sorry for him, but then that's tempered by the fact that his class is such a waste of time. He has degrees in both english and something like mechanical engineering, and it shows. The mechanical engineering part anyway. Everything is so technical. Make three observations. Make a deduction. Obs. 1 should be supported by deduction 1. I'm surprised he doesn't just assign us the five paragraph essay.
And when you go to his office hours for help, he won't actually help you. He'll either be so vague that you'll come out more confused than when you came in, or he'll say you need something specific but won't tell you what. Or will just begin a whole new tangent that ultimately doesn't help you at all. ("I'm having trouble formulating a thesis." "Really? Make a diagram of all the relationships between muses and audiences and rhapsode. Do you have any brothers and sisters? [then proceeds to make a diagram of your family]") And in all that, you get the impression that the paper has to be written as he would write it. And from what I've seen of the first paper, to get a good grade you basically have to keep turning in drafts to him so that he can guide it.
One of the things I find most memorable is his lecturing style. It's actually rather entertaining. I would dub it, ANALOGIES!
Seriously, here's stuff I copied from just one class period, most from one point before I got bored:
-Entering a landscape into a portrait contest and saying it's a portrait of Mother Nature.
-Having all these car/engine parts and only building a box with wheels and steering.
-Kids who trade arroheads for pennies
-Discovering stuff at an archeological find and selling it at a junkyard.
His point? The thesis and evidence should support each other. Or good evidence, weak thesis.
After that, his analogies lost any coherency:
-Calling home for Thanksgiving and driving a long way (wtf? still no idea of the point)
-Warm up band being the spotlight of a concert. Specically, "It's like Britney Spears performing at a Madonna concert."
-Being at a hotel and complaining that you don't like the room but not telling what it is you don't like.
-Stock markets
-Getting a job that may or may not be in demand.
I think it deserves its own drinking game. I guarantee it will get anyone plastered by the end.
The English 197 drinking game
Take 1 drink:
-Everytime he makes an analogy.
-Everytime he asks a question of the class that you know will lead into an analogy. (Actual Q's: Who here has jaywalked? Do you have any brothers or sisters?)
-Everytime he starts a sentance with "It's like..."
-For every detail you didn't need of that analogy (ex: "You're waiting on the corner, feeling silly when no cars are coming...")
-Everytime he discusses the analogy ad nauseum. (Wait, a landscape at a portrait contest!? Inconceivable!)
-Everytime you have absolutely no point what the analogy has to do with the topic at hand.
-Everytime you know exactly what the analogy has to do with the topic, only because it's the second/third/fourth analogy he used to explain the point.
-Everytime his analogy is so very specific as to not really be relatable to anyone but him. ("Let's say you had to build a car...")
-Everytime the analogy leads to him writing it on the board directly.
-Everytime the analogy leads to him drawing a diagram.
There's probably a lot more, but now I have to go to my actual interesting class of the quarter: Volcanoes! Seriously. We're watching discovery or nationaly geographics disaster movie titld, "Supervolcano." It's pretty awesome. (I'm such a sucker for disaster movies.)
