Helping Students Write Better

This past week, I met with one of my thesis advisees, another graduate student, and a group of seniors working on a project. With each meeting, I went over some of the ideas that they had written in an early draft of whatever they were working on (thesis proposal, class paper that could turn into thesis proposal, literature review of class paper, respectively). All three meetings took quite a bit of time, but I left all three feeling fired up about what I do. Generally speaking, I hate grading. I don't like sifting through stakes of assignments. But when I get the chance to (1) look at something critically, (2) discuss that assignment with the student(s), and (3) leave them encouraged about the core ideas and ready to revise the way those ideas are presented, I am reminded of why I love my job. In this time of uncertainty and rising unemployment, I am truly grateful to have a job, but I am also grateful to be blessed with a job that I love.