The Importance of Written Assignments

Dear Students,

As we near the end of Week Two I want to conjure you to do more of the written assignments. Good attendance is the first necessary condition, but it is not sufficient -- the study must be as active as possible, active in the classroom and and active at home with pen and paper, or computer, Cyrillic font, and printer. 

Try to do as much as you can. If you do nothing, but attend faithfully every class, you will learn some Russian, but your grade won't be very good, most probably — there are exceptions. By doing homework I am seeing you study and think about the work four days a week. I recognize your mind, your hand, your sense of humor, your moods, in your work. It only takes a moment for me to 'correct' your exercises, a mere blink of time's eyelid, but a moment that tells, a moment wherein I read with total attention, as though in deep meditation, aided by an ipodded stream of music. This really lets me know what needs to be explained in class and who needs more help. 

A year ago there was a Polish student who never wrote anything. He was very good, tried to answer in class, asked good questions, wrote reasonable tests. I was impeccably polite to him; in turn, he was a touch remote, sarcastic, within himself. I did not pry. B. B-.  The students pleaded with him: Grzegorz, why don't you just do some assignments? He was a man of principle and listened to his inner voice. He did learn something. I just never knew what, exactly.

I have students who write reams of exercises and still don't get solid A's, but they are really learning something and I struggle along with them as I plow through their stuff. The toughest reading comes from the students who write in very faint pencil. I can hardly make out what they are saying. Some have execrable handwriting, but good thoughts. Still I like the rare calligraphic miracles, where all is so noble and perfect, and a coarse grammatical mistake stands out like a hideous deformity. I read without prejudice! Bring it on, I have several long Russian, Czech and German operas (Richard Strauss, not Wagner) to keep me on point. 

Пишите, пишите! Книги не читаются, их надо писать!

gmc

gmc