Affecting, not Correcting

     Last week I was talking with an English instructor, and he mentioned one of his least favorite aspects to the job, having a seemingly endless pile of  "too many papers to correct."  We talked for a bit about ideas to help reduce that load he carries, such  having students read drafts and provide feedback to each other as part of the writing process.  I also mentioned that he can encourage  and guide students to use tools such as Grammarly,  https://www.grammarly.com/, Google's Language Tool, both of which go beyond just spell checking, before they turn their papers in, to reduce the amount of correcting that needed to be done. He had done none of these things, and nodded distractedly, and afterwards I felt that my message had not been loud enough. Or perhaps he was unable to hear due to the mental din created by being completely resigned to a lifestyle of correcting papers every weekend. 

    It is no longer necessary for this type of attitude or lifestyle.  Making effective use of tools is one of the digital competencies of 21st-century learning.  These tools empower our multilingual and new-to-writing students to write research papers and post to discussions with confidence, giving them the ability to express themselves clearly.  They give all learners the ability to gain and use new knowledge with much more ease than ever before.  And they shift the teacher's job of "correcting" to something much more connected to the deeper levels of learning and richer conversations than simply putting squiggly lines under sentence fragments, circles around dangling modifiers. and question marks in the margins. 

     Language matters.  Instead of "correcting" - which implies from the outset that something is wrong - we should be thinking of ourselves as affecting.  Imagine how that concept in itself would change the way we approach looking at student writing; we are there to help them clarify with "Tell me more about this" and build on their own experience "What makes you feel this way?" leading to a more satisfying and engaging learning experience for both teacher and student. This kind of approach also allows for individuality of voice for the student, and shifts the role of teacher to facilitator; someone who moderates and encourages the learning process. 

     The bottom line of teaching is affecting student lives. In all aspects of our relationships with students, if we  shift our mental state to affecting, instead of correcting, we will enhance both the enjoyment and depth of the learning process. And who knows how much it would add to our energy and spirit  if that pile of weekend paperwork disappeared? 

Image source: http://competendo.net/en/Facilitation