Mercy Over Judgment
Student Paper Quote of the Day: "You will rarely see women playing football in the National Women's Football League, or playing ice hockey in the Women's Hockey League on T.V."My comment: "Really? Who plays, then?"
Using sarcasm as a teacher is one of those things I haven't quite mastered. I know it should be used sparingly if at all; sometimes, though, I don't know if there is any other way I can respond.
A student emailed me five minutes after class was over, asking if there were any tutoring sessions for the class or any other way she might pull her grade up. She hadn't come to class that day or the last class. In fact, her attendance was pretty spotty throughout the semester.
If there were tutoring sessions, why would I think she'd come?
I conquered the sarcastic impulse and answered honestly: coming to and paying attention in class seems to have a direct correlation with understanding class materials and getting better grades. My fingers twitched to type, "DUH," but I remembered just in time that she is barely an adult, this is her first semester in college, and mercy triumphs over judgment.
That phrase has been in my mind a lot recently, usually called up when tracks from Les Miserables play on "shuffle" in my background music. In the conflict of law vs. grace, grace is the more powerful. Amazing, in fact. The law crumbles beneath it when grace is given full rein.
I met with her the next day to make sure she was on top of what was going on in class. She seemed honest about her efforts to do better, and I responded in kind as best I could. We'll see how she responds to "Go and skip no more."
posted by Lynn @ 6:17 PM
4 Comments:
girl... thank you for the reminder about grace. and i understand the sarcasm. i find myself having to bite my tongue in class quite often to prevent from saying things that i may regret later.
I know a lady by the name of Joan that deals will comments from parents and junior high kids all day long. She has, "conquered the sarcastic impulse" many times. It's the guy in the back office that needs help in that area.
I must learn to knit. I must become homely. or maternal. or something. One of these weekends...maybe in January...I will come and you will teach me to do that thing with those needles. (not shoot heroin, goofy)
Sarcasm is a perfectly legitimate pedagogical tool. If comments are made in the typical English jargon--"this sentence is constructed in such a way as to render the meaning ambiguous; therefore consider revising, etc."--then you'll get nowhere fast. The way you've done it--hit 'em hard and fast and, most memorably, facetiously--and they'll remember that.
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