Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Dementors,Tormentors, Degrading, Groaning Pains, and other Terms of Art in Professoring

I am accumulating terms that accurately describe academic experience:

Tormentors are mentors who are destructive under the guise of helping you. (Think also of "dementors" from Harry Potter, with their kiss that steals your soul.) In effect, tormentors are "internalizing the aggressor," saying it (torturing) was good enough for me, so it is good enough for you. Pronounced tor'mentors

Degrading is when you discover, after you have submitted the grades, that students have plagiarized, and you wonder whether you want to give them a failing grade and go through the university procedures. and are forced to do so by the university rules. Pronounced dee'grading

Groaning Pains are what students give you when they are trying to figure out how to get an A by giving you the third-degree on your implicit rubric.



... more to be added