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2013年7月20日。星期六。(续)
昨晚查邮件,发现我大约一个月前发出的一封自觉无人能回的邮件有了回复。
那封邮件的肇始,与我4月12日提到的一份作业有关。当时取回作业,便感觉那位D老师行事不公心存偏颇。6月中旬仍在实习中水深火热时,收到D老师的一封短邮,大意是:“作业二已经批改完毕,并已送至学院前台,可前往领取,有何问题请来邮讨论。”
当时无暇回校,直到一周后才从学院前台领到那份分数为“69”的作业。看了评语,见刻意降分的痕迹煞是明显,当下给D老师发了邮件。
I was very busy with my practicum recently so only got a chance to |
collect my assignments yesterday after school. |
Thanks for all your hard work in marking the big assignments. I’ve |
been doing the same thing for a few years and I know that it is really |
a big job consuming lots of time and energy. Your diligence and |
dedication are impressive. |
However, I am not very sure how you worked out a 69% result for my |
Assignment 2. You put a list of numbers “8, 10, 6, 8, 7” as the marks |
for the second part (I guess so), but I don’t know what each number |
specifically refers to, as I don’t think I have seen a clear rubric |
for it - are they marked out of 10 or 12? It looks like that I lost |
31% in this assignment even with quite some nice comments from you . |
As you could see, lots of effort had been invested in this |
assignment, and I did my best to answer all questions in depth. I |
don’t really want to be hard on myself, but always try not to rue a |
day I do not work hard enough. |
Like all other students, I care about my results, and always hope to |
be treated fairly and unbiasedly. As a student, I think I should trust |
my lecturers unconditionally and accept whatever I am given. However, |
when I look at my first big assignment (in this unit) now, I just |
can’t help the urge of emailing you for a frank discussion with you. |
You may still remember that in my Assignment 1, the mark for my |
best-done section was significantly made down by 26.67% from 13/15 |
(86.67%) to 9/15 (60%) with no reason given, and the overall mark for |
that assignment was hence reduced to be 76%. |
I have actually been trying not to mention this as I thought it would |
somehow embarrass you, but I have to admit that it does not seem very |
professional to deal with a student’s marks in that way. To many, it |
may be interpreted to be based on arbitrary personal preferences, |
prejudice, even discrimination and so forth (I have attached a scanned |
copy here if you have forgotten about it). I prefer not thinking in |
that way, but have to talk about it now because I am somewhat wary |
about the way the marks are given, and become unsure whether my |
painstaking work could be valued and respected, and at least handled |
fairly as it should be. Besides, I think I have the responsibility to |
let you know a student’s feeling as it can be beneficial for your |
future lecturing, even though it may sound sharp now. Please do not |
let another student see the same Mark-Down without reasons on his |
paper like that on mine. If you have to mark it down, you must provide |
sufficient reasons to defend your decision. I hope you won’t be |
offended by my direct comments. |
By the way, I would like to suggest that the unit in the future would |
发出之后,知道D老师实在无法回复这样的一封信,因为任凭谁在他这个位置,都难以回复这封邮件。于是又觉于心不忍。自己多年来,可谓吃惯了哑巴亏,并不擅与人周旋,许多事情默默地就过了。岁月无痕。现在年岁加增,反倒不再淡定。只是圣经教导,各人要“与邻舍说实话”(弗4:25),如此看来,此信似也不为过。而且,这封信的发送有其正面意义,至少D老师会多少吸取一些教训,但愿从此能对人一碗水端平,不再凭成见行事。
周初,得到上学期除实习之外五门课的成绩,见D老师给我打了75,又不由想起那封信来:此得分虽不尽如人意,却是不是已经略略高于他戴着有色眼镜为我预设的分数呢?
想到丁大卫正穿着露出脚趾头的破鞋子在中国大西北食无求饱居无求安地为主作工,我这边厢却为着此岸世界的一点琐事而耗时耗力,不由心生疚意。主啊,我不欲与世争,而世与我争。我当如何?
读丁大卫,总能联想到耶稣的颠沛流离,想到“人子却没有枕头的地方”。丁大卫节衣缩食三餐不饱,因为缺乏维生素而手指长满倒刺,令人读之心酸泪落。
一位中国回教徒在他的博文中谈到丁大卫,语气里对丁大卫在东乡支教一事充满警惕,文中却又荡漾着无法掩饰的敬意。
在这种心灵再受洗礼的过程中,我收到了D老师的回信。信中避重就轻地谈到第二个作业的评分方案,还有些投石问路的意思,看我这个难惹的主拿到成绩后会不会继续去捅马蜂窝。
不了。神说我们要“以恩慈相待,存怜悯的心”,而且我的话已经传达了,他也领会了,这个事情自然到此为止。
D的信:
First off, I'm sorry to be so late in writing. I'm deep in the research side of things this time of year.
I do appreciate your directness, and you're quite right — I should have given more detailed feedback.
Even though it's been some time now, let me give a breakdown of the score.
Here are the five numbers, which were five things I wanted to see in the essay.
- Talk through the problem area (compliments, etc).
- Extend the analysis to some other kind of speech act (for B), or another kind of discourse behaviour (for C)
- Find and use good resources (includes referencing)
- Mention some concrete suggestions that are applicable to teaching
- Write clearly and insightfully
A score of 9 was pretty good. Ten or more was extra good, and around 6 or 7 indicated that work was needed in that area.
In the essay, I thought you did a good job of talking through the article and bringing up other speech acts. What was missing was concrete suggestions for teaching, and using sources. This last part wasn't absolutely necessary — you used your own experience, which I really liked, and which added to the score — but remember that using other sources is always a good idea, and gives depth to your ideas. Watch the formatting for references; quotes or italics for the names of works, and comma after last name.
Please understand that I do take your suggestions seriously. If you don't feel that I've addressed your concerns, please let me know a convenient time for you when we can discuss further.
Best,
D
昨晚给D老师的回信:
for your detailed explanation and advice. |
I am glad that you've taken my ideas seriously - knowing how students |
think and feel can add value to you as a good lecturer, can't it. The |
structure of the unit was actually quite good, what I would hope was |
that it should be a bit more relevant to LOTE. Currently all LOTE |
students have been suggested to take the unit even though it is an |
elective. Anyway, I believe you'll make it great. |
I've got my results - although this one was one of the worst, nothing |
really worries me, as that's pretty much it. My work was not perfect, |
and I should again say thank you for teaching us that much in-depth |
I wish you all the best with your future teaching and research. |
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