Try To Follow Instructions

I am always amazed at students who choose not to listen to instruction given to them by their instructors. I require my students to take a speech they have heard during the semester and critique it. I tell them it can be any speech except one of their own. I also tell them I don’t want them using a speech from a movie. My thinking has to do with the fact, when the speech is critiqued, I want it to be based on the actual events and the speaker’s ability, not on the way some movie director wants it to come across.

Despite my instructions, most of the time, some student hands in a critique of a speech from a movie. This semester was no different. The only difference was, the student spent the first two paragraphs explaining why he did this and why he felt this speech qualified.

I think this approach is foolish. If he was right, let him talk with me after class, before the paper is due. Let him explain why he feels this way and let him let me respond. If he is wrong, then he is going to get a poor grade on the project because he did not complete the assignment according to my recommendations. Either way, he is not in good shape.

Students, I have a helpful hint for you; when you are given a set of instructions, usually it means the instructor wants you to follow them.