Clear Instructions?

One of the first university classes I took after my two-year mission to Spain was a course about the American novel. A great way to kick things off for an English major, right? Kind of.

About halfway through the class, the professor decided he wanted us to “be more creative” with our assignments. Apparently, he felt our first handful of literary analyses were devoid of life. And so I attempted to rise to the challenge.

I don’t remember which novel we should have read for this particular section of the course—maybe Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury­—but it was something I did not enjoy. Whatever it was, the discussion turned to point of view and its significance in unfolding the plot. I suppose the written assignment connected to this novel was something academic regarding the differences that would occur if the narration changed to a different point of view.

Instead of writing academic, I placed more value on the “be creative” mandate from earlier. I took a piece of short fiction (a minute story I wrote in high school called “Duncan”), and I rewrote it twice from different points of view. It was originally written in first person. The second rewrite was also a first-person telling but from a different character’s perspective. The third was a third-person omniscient description of the scene. I felt it was quite clever. 

How mistaken I was!

Evidently, I misinterpreted what he wanted. Big time. I got a zero. So I asked to meet with my professor. When he asked me about the assignment, I actually showed him some ambiguous wording in his written task. In our discussion, I also claimed that writing from different points of view gave me a better appreciation for telling the exact story I wanted to tell. It also helped me refine the story. He actually acquiesced and gave me my points for the assignment.

At the start of the next class period, however, he proceeded to make sure that any written instructions were thoroughly explained (and limited). A week later we received a revised syllabus, too. No one else was able to argue their way around his instructions.

P.S. I also tried to pull something else like this when we analyzed stream-of-conscious writing with Virginia Woolf’s Top the Lighthouse. It didn’t go over well. Now I use this experience when I teach the importance of clear instructions in my assessment class for pre-service teachers.

P.P.S. If you don't want students (at any level), colleagues, or friends swarming around, pestering,  asking for clarification, make sure that you give precise instructions.