No one batted an eyelash. I heard a couple of whispers, but they were mild, something to the tune of "they're just drafts." "Yeah, but then the final is due two days later." They'll manage. They've all written summaries in their day, and, provided they've been paying close attention to the readings and to the class discussions, they know what we're specifically looking forward in this college setting: summary is as much about what the author is doing, not just what she is saying. Don't tell your readers what the article is "about." Tell us what Trip Gabriel is doing as he writes it, the rhetorical choices he is making.
They should be solid. One thing we haven't yet done--that I really need to, now that I think about it--is gone over a student summary sample. I posted two on ELMS for their edification. I'll pull one of them up in class on Tuesday and we'll go over it together in advance of their draft workshop, for which they also have had zero preparation. This may sound like poor planning on my part; "while this be madness, yet there is method to it."
First, I've found that when I don't make a big deal out of an assignment, they won't, either. They may not like it, but they're not going to kvetch. This is simple, standard issue sociology, or group psychology, or whatever: you get what you expect. If I expect them to receive an assignment (and, by the way, this is a *really* straight forward assignment. We're talking 500 words, and we've gone over both texts carefully in class. Moreover, the assignment description gives them a step by step "how to write this" guide. They'll be fine.) like mature students, they'll accept the assignment like mature students. If I expect them to freak out, they'll freak out. This is straight out of Brock Dethier's First Time Up, and I believe he's echoing Don Murray [N.B. he cites Susan McLeod for this on page 115. I still think the example of this is Don Murray's, probably in A Writer Teaches Writing.]
Now. If they weren't prepared, this would be a problem. Where are they underprepared? I'll find out quickly next week when I begin reading these summaries. We may, for example, have spent more time in class annotating a text, which we really didn't do at all. I spend more time on this during weeks 4 and 5, when they begin to gather sources for their first paper. Better annotating would probably be helpful in this, er, critical reading module. Well. We'll do our best. I also didn't assign the peer review expectations readings. I don't look at this first draft exchange as a formal peer review; I intentionally don't prepare them for this one. They've been working in groups since Day 1. They know they're going to be in groups to go over their drafts on Tuesday (peers = automatic stakes = better writing). And we're going to model how to constructively critique a student summary in class on Tuesday before they get into groups. I'll keep it simple, give them three distinct tasks, and make sure that I leave room for a quick, three to five minute writing reflection at the end (but not at the end of class--ever!--or they'll get too antsy. Before they can ask last minute questions on the assignment).
Ultimately, all of this works because I'm not apologetic, which I always become at some point, which is the fastest way for them to resent the class at best and lose faith in me at worst. I tend to worry about scheduling, the rigorous pace of this class, all of the things they have to do in here, and then I apologize for it, and then they of course complain incessantly for the rest of the semester that this class is overwhelming with far too much work. So: by these words I hereby vow to remember how capable and professional my students are and that each one of them deserves the same from me. High yet reasonable expectations keep them motivated and on track; when they do well--which they will--they are rightfully pleased with themselves and confident that they can do more. May it be so.
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