A student turned in a reading response journal a while back, supposedly picking apart an article I’d provided for that purpose. He didn’t like it. At one point, he wrote, “You made me read two pages of awful writing filled with weak arguments.”
I was tempted to write in the margin, “I know how you feel,” but I wimped out and just put, “Ironic.” He got the point. The next draft was much improved.
Why isn’t there a coffee book out there, full of bad papers and teacher comments like this? Call it “Learn or Burn.”
Love it.
If your students “get” irony, then you’re doing a great job of teaching.