I'm the type of person that once a bad grade is received I shut down. I am not a comeback kid. Mostly in academic stuff, but once I have messed up I tend to just shut down and move on. It's not the best quality to have and it sure does make for a hard time being a student.
After the article analysis, which I'll admit I had trouble with, I find myself shutting down. And I can sense it now as I write the rest of my annotated bibliography. I find myself second guessing everything and only believing that I'm going to receive a bad grade on it. Because I tend to believe that it's all down hill from here. I want nothing more than to just shut down and stop writing, but I cannot afford to do that. So I'm going to continue battling myself through this and hope for the best. Even though I'm discouraged by my work.
Does anyone else ever feel like this?
Or am I being irrational?
Hi Lacy,
ReplyDeleteOne bad grade is not the end of the world. The best thing to do is to proceed forward and do not give up. Try to understand what you got wrong and fix it for your final portfolio. Move on with confidence that you won’t make the same mistakes and not as if you were defeated. By the way, these assignments are worth only 30% of your final grade so you still have other chunks. Good Luck to you.
Rwmal Sarkees
I totally understand where you are coming from. I think its natural response to want to shut down and stop. I have felt that way in the past with many assignments or tests. What I do is look back on those times and see how much they actually affected where I am today? Probably not so much. I know its hard to get past mentally, obviously thats the hardest part. Sometimes I think about that quote "You can't judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree", or something like that. For some reason that always makes me feel better. I am sure you have a lot of great talents and interests so ignore the grade.
ReplyDeleteAnyway ,I heard from a lot of people they did not get the grade they were looking for,analysis is very hard!
I feel bad about how everyone is complaining about the analysis, because as one of the few English majors in the class I've had to do many of them. I don't know what your major is, but much of the class appears to be in the science fields. This has just in general led to me feeling a bit guilty, as I've had to take more writing courses in the past.
ReplyDeleteTry not to feel disheartened about low grades. I'm in an environmental history class and its killing me, I can't get anything right because I'm so unused to the way you write about environmental history. This relates to what we are reading for wednesday, inventing the academy! Try to stay positive, and make sure you learn from each paper how to make the next one better.
Kyle Knox
I agree with Kyle. The article analysis is just one assignment and many of us could have imporoved. This subject is so subjective that it frustrates me. I feel like I ROCKED my article analysis but Caroline didn't think so. I put in days to research, organize my thoughts and put it down on paper and although my grade doesn't reflect the amount of work I put into it I try my hardest to get enough motivation to wok hard on the next assignment.
ReplyDeleteSo, don't shut down even though it seems easier to do that. Take a good night off, rest your mind and start clean. I hope that helps!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteDon't shutdown, I often do that to myself when comes it comes to academic papers. Writing is tough, tough, and tough. I'm still learning to become a better writer. Lot of us are improving by simply being in class. Your doing lot better by being already in this class. You are doing better and improving each time you write for this class or any of other of your classes.
- Isabel
When I have a teacher who I feel has unfair or unclear expectations, I totally get like this. It makes doing the assignments so much more difficult when you're afraid of getting it back with an awful grade, and it takes any bit of enjoyment out of it. Like, I get writing papers isn't really super fun most the time, but it only makes it that much worse when you have to stress out so much about it.
ReplyDeleteYou got it, though! I'm sure you'll do fine. Caroline is a fair teacher, I think. (Does she read these? ;) )
Sonia Ali
It's definitely discouraging when you get a bad grade, especially if you're used to earning A's all the time. It's understandable that classes are supposed to challenge students and make them work harder, and so grades are a reflection of this (but yes, writing is oftentimes very subjective). Getting a bad grade on an assignment is not the end of the world, but it really does suck. However, if you're used to getting A's, use this as a learning experience. If you're applying to a graduate program, you can use it to your advantage. Rather than just complaining about it and letting it affect your mentality, maybe getting that B or C made you a better student. It doesn't make you seem any less intelligent, but that you challenged and applied yourself.
ReplyDeleteJulia Lieu
I totally identify with this. If I get a poor grade, I either get mad at the teacher or at myself, or sometimes one and then the other. Most of the time I get mad at the teacher because I am so obviously superior to them and they are wrong about their judgements, but this term I have begrudgingly agreed with most of not all of Hayes' comments on my work. I also got a crappy grade on the article analysis and since her comments made all the sense in the world I got mad at myself for doing such a crap job when I should have done it perfectly, because I am brilliant and don't make mistakes unless I'm being lazy (this is the head trip I get into). I think, though, when it's my fault I'm less likely to shut down, thank goodness, or else I would have probably not worked as hard on the annotated bibliography as I did. Anyway, I can relate. I'm sorry you had the same experience as me cause it sucks to have to second guess yourself, especially in an arena you're usually really confident about.
ReplyDeleteYou sound exactly like me. Only what I do is try even harder on our next assignment and end up feeling it's not good enough. I received a "C" on my article analysis and I think I went into a shock as it has been years since I've seen a "c" on a paper of mine. I say it doesn't matter but then I start working on my next assignment and start to feel stress and anxiety. What should be taking me hours to finish; takes me days and even then I am afraid to turn it in. You're not alone is all I can say to comfort you :)
ReplyDelete~Claudia Davila
I totally understand where you are coming from. I more so just say eff it and keep it moving, in previous classes my professors dont normally explain (on the paper) what went wrong and i never take the time to ask so i just take the grade and keep it moving. However in this class she really takes the time to tell you what went wrong and what you were good at, which is very helpful. I too didnt do so great on my article analysis however i was able to do a pretty good job on my annotated bib because of her constructive critism. I hope you are able to overcome this habit. good luck!!
ReplyDelete