I just dismissed my last Barnard course, let them fill out evaluations, and had the penultimate sit here in my Barnard office. And I just discovered that one of my students had kept a record called "Quotable Karl (& Less Quotable Karl)," which she deposited in my mailbox. Here are the quotes:
On Switzerland: "You can see it in Goldfinger"*
On college-level spelling courses: "Oh, you mean without beer."
On the discursive construct of cannibalism** in Heart of Darkness: "Like you're on a ship that's being piloted by a burrito."
On pedagogy: "I'm just saying words."
On student discussion: "Gold stars for everyone!"
On his sentence: "No, that's stupid."
On contributing to society: "It's probably better -- for the world -- if I don't talk more."
On himself: "I'm full of deepness."
On domestic violence and Hurston: "I believe the word is 'blow,' not 'girly slap.'"***
--
Notes by the object of study:
* Frankenstein discussion.
** I love it when my students--my Freshmen!--start talking like this.
*** In correcting a student's misapprehension of Janie's violence in hitting Tea Cake in Their Eyes Were Watching God
==
I should also say that my students have parodied me to my face. They're especially fond of my use of the word "fantastic" as an all-purpose modifier for books I like. This happen to anyone else?
Once a student tallied for one semester all my Freud quotations and all my NIN lyric references. Unsurprisingly, it turned out almost 2-to-1 in favor of Trent.
ReplyDeleteMU: that's hilarious.
ReplyDelete"Wo Es war, soll Ich werden
I'd rather die than give you control."
Okay, so it doesn't really scan, but the meaning is there.
A female student's evaluation of my Henry James course a couple of years ago:
ReplyDelete"Its the best thing I've done in college....apart from having sex".
I should hope so is all I could say in response.
You do realize half the notes we take are really "funny things the prof said in class," yes?
ReplyDeleteI have lots of them! I just never bother to put them in list form or give them back. :-P
Michael O'R: if the student had said that reading James in your course was better than her collegiate sexual experience, THEN I would be impressed.
ReplyDeleteAs noted previously, my words this semester are skulk, shamble, and twaddle. All of my students now employ them.
I just have to share this one, which some of you have probably heard before. A prominent Chaucer scholar at my school, who tries to "resist seeming definitive in order to encourage student thinking" received this comment from a student: "Professor X is such a nice guy. It's a pity he doesn't know more about Chaucer."
ReplyDeleteflowendegieddum: it's only 9:30am, so I hope that's not the funniest thing I read today. But I suspect it might be.
ReplyDeleteAnd now I shamble off to the library, where I'll skulk in a carrel and craft some more preposterous twaddle. (note to JJC: I'm included another word for your collection. Can you find it?)
preposterous?
ReplyDeleteI told myself to stay away from this thread, but then I couldn't. My favorite comment from a student on an evaluation was:
ReplyDelete"I feel deep hatred for her as a teacher, but she's fun to hang out with outside of class."
Karl, this is exactly the kind of list that passes through my mind after every class I teach. How nice to have someone else do it for you. I trust the Brooklyn College students will be similarly inspired. A preview of their genius: "Although I am no knight, I am a person dealing with my own nature everyday" (after reading SGGK).
ReplyDeleteso I hope that's not the funniest thing I read today. But I suspect it might be.
ReplyDeleteShockingly enough, it wasn't. EJ: that takes the cake.
And thanks very much for the kind comments Nicola. That is genius.
And JJC: actually, I've decided the word is "popinjay."
Yikes: "popinjay" is one of my ten year old son's favorite words.
ReplyDelete