Good Question!

I always appreciate students who ask the questions that everyone wants to know (but may be afraid to ask). Here is a question I received via email:

I was just wondering, to what extent are you going to be grading our essays? Because I myself am not a very good writer and it takes me longer than two days to develop a well rounded essay.

Here was my reply--for those who are equally curious:

Today, I will be answering questions, giving everyone a chance to review & revise his/her paper. I plan to give everyone a rubric today for self-checking the essay. However, we will be having in-class essays soon. These will not allow time outside of class or in-class to perfect the essay. The final will also be an in-class essay (required by MSC English Dept.; I can't change the policy). I'm not sure what you will do in those situations.

I would suggest that when I post discussion questions on my blog that you answer those, in writing, and begin to further develop your skills as a critical thinker/writer. We are only in class two and a half hours a week. If you wait until it's time to write an essay, your skills may be rusty and the task of writing considerably harder. If you work on discussion questions at least four or five times a week, you won't feel the intense pressure that you may feel now. You might also come to my office for a conference so that I can see what your brainstorming looks like, the plan you hope to take with your paper and perhaps offer guidelines or suggestions for the composition.