[huck von finn]

And to you as well! I don't know about you, but I teach college writing, and I always encourage my students to rewrite throughout the semester--since that is what writing is about. This time of year is therefore one of the toughest, but I love it because I get to see the most improvement. Do you know what I mean?

[Quix]

Yes, am teaching freshman comp at a Jr College part time.

Very, very, very structured program. Spent half the semester trying to fit my style into my supervisor's even more structured, narrowly structured lock-step program.

Finally, via a colleague's encouragement dropped back and began teaching in my own style with much better and faster improvement on the part of the students.

They have to submit an argument paper with MLA refs and another unit paper polished ahead of time plus an inclass summary/response to a newspaper editorial for their final portfolio.

Getting them to abide by the criteria of this system has been and remains somewhat challenging. They've improved greatly. And some are potentially wonderful writers naturally. But some are stubborn. Many are lazy. We shall see how they do. They've been told they must remove "you's" etc. from such essays in this system. Some are refusing virtually. The notion of academic writing is just 'does not compute' to them.

Anyway--it's been an experience too opposite to my Taiwan and China teaching experiences for my taste or comfort.

Will see if I'm able to teach the psych course in the spring.

Thanks for your kind comments on this.