Will English Load Become More Lighter...?

My students have already handed in their first formal essay, a summary and had three quizzes. I think I understood why this student was holding his head in his hands; it IS overwhelming to new students or students who have been away from the classroom!

After a vocabulary and grammar quiz (I'm grading them, but they aren't looking too sturdy - a few grades lower than 10...), we discussed their summaries, the last essay and the next one. I went over the 5 paragraph structure on the board, and then put students in groups to find quotations to support their positions for the next essay on what motivates Steve Lopez, author of The Soloist and Nathaniel Ayers, the homeless, schizophrenic musician about whom he writes. Those who had annotated carefully the readings were able to locate excellent quotations, and I heard all sorts of conversations, quibbling over which quotations proved what points. Good stuff.

Based upon one group's quotations, we put up a model thesis and plotted an essay on the board. Most seemed to get it and there was a great deal of back and forth about the best quotations to use, points to make. Finally, at the end of class, I gave the one minute essay. Groans were followed by silence as they wrote. Here are some of the best results:

"What do we do when we don't have a computer and we need to type our assignments, have to go to work after school especially on Tuesdays?" We discussed this earlier in the class, but the student seems to cling to the notion of no options rather than look at them; we are working on planning ahead, finding available resources, etc..

"Can we re-do essays and correct ehm and give them back?" I'd like to know where this student would like to "give them back" because my goal is to teach REVISION, not correction.

"I still want to know why we can't see the movie instead." This student is bound for glory especially in a course designed to enhance his close reading skills and formalize his academic writing skills.

"Why orange shoes with purple and green?" You know, we teachers wonder what students take in during class, and clearly this student was paying very close attention; I was wearing light brown boots, green tights and purple socks! I wonder if the colors were too much of a distraction and think I may opt for straight black in future.

And the final response from a student who came to class 30 minutes late follows:
"My question is will English load become a little more lighter by mid semester." It's a fine question, but this is a two course class that meets only twice a week; the homework is bound to be heavy. I love the idea of the course load being too demanding but still I get the request, "Will we be able to do extra credit?"

I will post over the weekend as I buckle down to read the first essays, albeit only summaries and descriptions, but the first writing is always full of lovely moments that I anticipate with relish. And mustard...