Chris in VA Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 Way to go, Chris. I tried to help ds with an essay--we've been mailing back and forth since last Monday, and he's come a long way with it, but it's still so...ARGHHHH! Where is that banging the head smilie?! I simply can't edit. I am too picky, and I feel I discourage. Shoot (and that's not really the word I want to use). Well, at least I learned a ton about the 3 Russian films, Little Vera, The Thief, and Brothers...;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 Way to go, Chris. I tried to help ds with an essay--we've been mailing back and forth since last Monday, and he's come a long way with it, but it's still so...ARGHHHH! Where is that banging the head smilie?! I simply can't edit. I am too picky, and I feel I discourage. Shoot (and that's not really the word I want to use). Well, at least I learned a ton about the 3 Russian films, Little Vera, The Thief, and Brothers...;) I do not edit any of ds's work. He takes it all way to personal. It can be a glaring grammatical error, and he will say "I like it best this way". I have only helped him on one paper in 6 years. I outsource writing so I don't have to grade it. It was a report that was going to be a major part of a high school grade in health class, so he let me help a bit. I felt the same way as you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 Way to go, Chris. I tried to help ds with an essay--we've been mailing back and forth since last Monday, and he's come a long way with it, but it's still so...ARGHHHH! Where is that banging the head smilie?! I simply can't edit. I am too picky, and I feel I discourage. Shoot (and that's not really the word I want to use). Well, at least I learned a ton about the 3 Russian films, Little Vera, The Thief, and Brothers...;) It is hard on both the reviewer and the reviewed. When you write something, you have in your head all the background images and thoughts that the words on the page evoke for you. It can be hard to take on the fact that your reader may not have the same images evoked when they read your work. DH had done a lot of writing. Some for professional journals, some for his degrees, and one book. He would revise and revise, and I would read it over. Then at some point it would get sent to Mary, a college buddy of mine. She wouldn't come to the piece with any of the background knowledge. But boy did she bring the red pen. It took a lot of skin toughening to get used to getting her editorial comments. And the work was nearly always improved after responding to her questions. Sometimes it is hard to separate a response of, "I don't get the point here" or, "I'm not sure that you support this arguement" from a feeling that the reviewer just doesn't like the author. Sometimes it really does take an unrelated, uninvolved and impartial reader to provide this. Does ds' school have a writing center? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted May 10, 2010 Author Share Posted May 10, 2010 Does ds' school have a writing center? Yes, but he doesn't trust them, because he took 4 essays to them and he followed their advice, and then ended up with a 78 on the essays. I called him, ran thru some stuff with him, and now he's really mad at me. Sigh. Carpy way to end MD. I guess I'll just stay out of it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 Yes, but he doesn't trust them, because he took 4 essays to them and he followed their advice, and then ended up with a 78 on the essays. I called him, ran thru some stuff with him, and now he's really mad at me. Sigh. Carpy way to end MD. I guess I'll just stay out of it all. Oh no! What went wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted May 10, 2010 Author Share Posted May 10, 2010 Oh no! What went wrong? Oh, he was mad because he has until Thursday to do it, but also has another exam to study for, and also the "rest" of this exam--it's for Russian Film, and the essay is only .5 of the exam. He wanted to get the essay completely done today, and study the next 3 days. I threw a wrench in his plan when I read his nearly-done-but-needed-polishing draft, and at first said it was really good, then proceed to offer criticism to make it stronger. He simply needed to reorganize a couple of things, and fix a few grammatical and stylistic errors. He just needed to move a few sentences around to make the order make more sense--but he didn't appreciate me saying it was essentially done and then recommending more tweaking. You know what's interesting, tho? I am finding his near Aspie like tendencies affect his writing--little transition problems, flow, blunt statements with no "finesse"--it's very interesting to make that connection. If he could learn to write in a more fluid style, making a statement and then backing it up, it might transfer to his conversational style. Anyway, he'll eventually forgive me. I hope his teacher is not picky, but it sounds like she is. Oh, and we both have no idea how to footnote--I've totally forgotten. He'll get his dad to help. Hopefully, his dad will have a nicer way of putting things, and Christopher will feel better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYU7oG2V7uc I'm sure his paper is better than this, but hopefully the link will garner a giggle for you :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted May 10, 2010 Author Share Posted May 10, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYU7oG2V7uc I'm sure his paper is better than this, but hopefully the link will garner a giggle for you :D :lol::lol: What the H was that? Excuse me. I must go change now...:lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 Oh, he was mad because he has until Thursday to do it, but also has another exam to study for, and also the "rest" of this exam--it's for Russian Film, and the essay is only .5 of the exam. He wanted to get the essay completely done today, and study the next 3 days. I threw a wrench in his plan when I read his nearly-done-but-needed-polishing draft, and at first said it was really good, then proceed to offer criticism to make it stronger. He simply needed to reorganize a couple of things, and fix a few grammatical and stylistic errors. He just needed to move a few sentences around to make the order make more sense--but he didn't appreciate me saying it was essentially done and then recommending more tweaking. You know what's interesting, tho? I am finding his near Aspie like tendencies affect his writing--little transition problems, flow, blunt statements with no "finesse"--it's very interesting to make that connection. If he could learn to write in a more fluid style, making a statement and then backing it up, it might transfer to his conversational style. Anyway, he'll eventually forgive me. I hope his teacher is not picky, but it sounds like she is. Oh, and we both have no idea how to footnote--I've totally forgotten. He'll get his dad to help. Hopefully, his dad will have a nicer way of putting things, and Christopher will feel better. Dh can be the same way. He's finally at a point where he'll let me read his papers, but when we were undergrads--well, he was a hist major, & I was an English major, & since his history profs gave him As, he thought he was writing plenty well. I thought it was so obscenely awful it made my skin crawl. And that was actually where he had a problem. He said I wasn't 'polite' to him like I was to my students. He was right, & over the yrs I've gotten friendlier. Maybe. He's grown a little thicker skin, too. :lol: Now? Unless it's for a grade, I write most things for him. He tells me what he wants to say, then I write what he ought to say, & he says, "Yeah. That's what I meant." And he complains that he shouldn't even have to sit there & dictate since I ignore him anyway. I tell him he *inspires* me. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 I learned to critique in layers. Sometimes I would only critique one thing- the content, OR the punctuation OR the sentence structure- dependning on the purpose of the exercise. He grew to the point I could do it all but only in layers. So first, we would only work on content. And if he did what I asked, it was actually a big plus. If I didnt think he did it well, I needed to keep my big mouth shut, because just getting to answering the question was a huge step. The grammatical corrections were the last to be done. If there were too many, we would do the main ones. But this has been with my VERY fussy and perfectionistic but rather poor writer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted May 10, 2010 Author Share Posted May 10, 2010 This is a great idea. I guess I just get all flustered because I need structure when I read a paper--and when the structure isn't there, I freak a little. No more editing for me. I just need to let. it. go. I think this particular assignment was hard, too, because so much seems to be riding on it. Cinema program folks want ds to keep his high marks, and a good essay will probably bump him to an A in his film class, so the pressure is on. But it's not on ME. It's another example of my needing to be careful not to over attach with my kiddos. Blech. I hate when I am out of fellowship with my kids. Time for bed, eh? lol Weird mother's day. Do you even have Mother's Day in Australia, Peela? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 :lol::lol:What the H was that? Excuse me. I must go change now...:lol::lol: My brother posted it on FB. I had to share :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYU7oG2V7uc I'm sure his paper is better than this, but hopefully the link will garner a giggle for you :D THAT is stuck in my head for the day. What exactly was that supposed to be?:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellyndria Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYU7oG2V7uc I'm sure his paper is better than this, but hopefully the link will garner a giggle for you :D Ah, Trololo! Always worth watching again. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted May 10, 2010 Share Posted May 10, 2010 LOL! My brother posted it with the warning not to look unless you wanted it stuck in your head forever. I think I watched it eight times last night :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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