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Finally. I'm done. Can I go home now?

Actually, this whole summer session thing has been... interesting.

Personally, I would never recommend taking my business writing course over the summer. Never. Except (oh, come on now, this is English, there is ALWAYS an exception) if you are a really strong writer with nerves of steel. Unfortunately, people are in this class for entirely the wrong reasons over the summer.

Except for one student. She was in this class for all the right reasons, oddly.

There are two main reasons why you might find yourself in the unfortunate position of taking my class in the summer:

1. You've already "walked" and needed to meet your writing requirement to actually graduate (and you thought this'd be an easy A, since it's just a class on resumes and cover letters).
2. You hate writing and thought you'd try to lessen the pain by ripping the band-aid off in six weeks instead of 10 (and you thought this'd be an easy A, since it's just a class on resumes and cover letters).

Either way, here you find yourself in my 104A, trying to cram a 10 week course into six weeks, which, to me, is a lot more painful than just going in for the whole 10 week ordeal.

I had three types of students in my first-ever summer course:

1. The Type A student
2. The "I just gotta pass this course so I can get the hell out of this dump" student
3. The avoider

Just in case you don't teach, and are not up on the literature (that is a joke, btw, I am just making all this up), I will define each student type, for we should strive for clarity and the elimination of technical jargon and undefined terms in our writing at all times.

The Type A student:
The Type A student is one for whom school is primary, and grades penultimate. This student must understand all assignments and requirements down to how many periods, commas, question marks and lesser punctuation marks are required to receive an A grade. This student wants SAMPLES, right NOW because there is clearly one right way to do this assignment, and by gum she is going to find this way out, or die trying. At the end of the day, this student wants to know how each and every point was awarded, and must, at all costs, understand how points were lost. Justification is everything.

The "I just gotta pass this course so I can get the hell out of this dump" student:
This student type occasionally has a wild look in his eye that says, "If you, little lady, think you're standing between me and my degree, you are mistaken!!!" At times this student will use tears as a weapon. Participation and enthusiasm are at an all-time low, but I have recourse, so they often perk up a bit now and again. These students don't care about their grade, so long as it's a passing one. Generally, as you might have guessed by now, they put forth the minimum effort so they can blow this popsicle stand as soon as possible.

The avoider:
This student has backed himself into a corner by avoiding the writing requirement, which is necessary for him to graduate. Often this student hates writing, or thinks she can't write (based on some stupid comment by their 5th grade teacher, probably). In actuality, these students often have all they need to pass this class with a good grade, they just don't know it. A small percentage of avoiders have been dodging the UWP requirement because English is not their first language, and many of them are doomed in this class because of the tight schedule and the need for fast turnaround of drafts. It is not a good environment for those with English deficiencies.

I had, like, perhaps two or three Type A's who clearly had reasons of their own for being in the class. I am glad there were only a few of these. I get a lot more of them in my science writing courses during the normal school year and they are hell to deal with.

I'd give a slight edge to the avoiders in this session. The rest just sat, unresponsive and sullen, until they were given permission to leave the table.

Also, I got this gem from their final assignment, which is a self-assessment: "I didn’t know that the school library website offers many links to databases that allows you access to information that can not be obtained through using Google."

Who knew that Google doesn't know everything??!!