Since many people around me know that I have a degree in English, I seem to be the first person on everyone’s list to proofread a boring paper. That’s the unlucky part. Particularly, though, the majority of people who seek a “professional proofread” are still attending high school. That’s the lucky part. It’s great practice for someone who is just starting student teaching, right?
So, let me get into the story. Last week my boyfriends little brother asked me to proofread a paper for him. The topic was “ethical decision making.” Pretty interesting, I thought to myself, and faithfully accepted (really, I would have accepted if he had written a paper on different types of tree bark). Once I finally got a chance to sift through my own assignments for school, I opened up his paper.
I have to be honest, despite the fact that it was 11:30 at night- and anyone who knows me, knows that I am usually on my 10th dream at that time- I was excited to proofread and edit this paper! I felt like a real teacher. My first comment was on the title, which he lazily used “Ethical Decision Making.” Needless to say, I typed a bold, red “LAME!” right next to the title. Too much?
I then gave him some tips for creating a great introduction, including feedback on the “grabber” and “clincher”. Everything was going smoothly, until….after reading the third page I went back and saw. . . ALL RED! What the heck was I doing? First of all, it was freakin’ 12:25- gosh, I’m going to be cranky tomorrow- second, this was NO way to edit! I was practically rewriting the paper for him. I took a step back and actually laughed. Ha, I’m going to be a great teacher, writing all my student’s papers for them!
Well hey, the first step is admitting it right? I quickly reestablished my position in this all. I’m a grad student; he’s a freshman in college. There are going to be obvious differences in our writings and I need to not only acknowledge this, but appreciate it. So, for the rest of the paper I made my grammatical corrections, added in some feedback and suggestions and the end, and sent it off. Clearly, he was teaching me just as much as I was teaching him.
What a great way to look at it. We can all learn something from our first "grading" experiences-- less red pen is often more for students. They learn more and are more willing to edit for you if they feel like they have potential as writers. Also, I like to grade in pens that are different colors other than red. Red is starting to get a bad reputation! :)
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