Category Archives: Teaching

Buying an Academic Paper from Cheating Sites

Posted on April 4, 2022 by Barry Pomeroy

Once students have exhausted the other plagiarism options, such as lifting material from online and cheating from their friend, like a moth to a flame they are drawn to paper-writer-for-hire websites. There they become ecstatic over promises to lighten their … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Buying an Academic Paper from Cheating Sites

Conclusion to my Teaching International Students

Posted on March 26, 2022 by Barry Pomeroy

By the point of the final exam, there is little we can do as instructors. Our responsibility is to hand the students on to the next year as prepared as we can make them in the time allotted. We have … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Teaching | Tagged | Comments Off on Conclusion to my Teaching International Students

Found Sentences: Customs and Traditions

Posted on November 19, 2021 by Barry Pomeroy

I’ve written before about the sentences and sentiments that my students will insert into their papers, and this year’s marking was no exception when it came to complicated nonsense infused with the gift of meaning. While writing about Thomas King’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Editing, Education, Literature, Teaching, Writing | Comments Off on Found Sentences: Customs and Traditions

Found Sentences: Our Past and Present Future

Posted on February 10, 2020 by Barry Pomeroy

Usually the student sentences which stand out for me are more than merely comical. I am also less interested in those errors which some see as comic, especially in terms of laughing at the student’s expense. I am much more … Continue reading →

Posted in Editing, Teaching, Writing | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Found Sentences: Our Past and Present Future

Racist Rob and Corrupt Politicians

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

I’d only been teaching a few years when I had a student who was so racist that I was forced to confront several of his statements in class. As anyone knows who has dealt with such behaviour, this demands a … Continue reading →

Posted in Activism, Ancient Peoples, Culture, Education, History, News of the World, Politics, Teaching, Winnipeg | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Racist Rob and Corrupt Politicians

Found Sentences: The Environmental Movement and Going Back to Green

Posted on November 16, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

When Cousin Nick wanted to make a documentary about me he wasn’t that impressed when he interviewed my friend Mento Wong. Mento was a biker friend of mine who’d spent his life railing against conformity and worked as an operator … Continue reading →

Posted in Activism, Climate Change, Culture, Environmentalism, Teaching, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Found Sentences: The Environmental Movement and Going Back to Green

When Plagiarism Goes Wrong

Posted on March 9, 2019 by Barry Pomeroy

One of the ways that students plagiarize, at least when they take material from online and attempt to incorporate it into their papers, is to run a thesaurus function—such as the synonym option in MSword—on certain words. They seldom trouble … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Internet, Teaching | Tagged , , | Comments Off on When Plagiarism Goes Wrong

Sentences from Student Papers

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Barry Pomeroy

Although student papers are not the gold mine that some websites suggest, with anti-pedantic-teacher rhetoric and unlikely yet comical meanings, they sometimes offer thoughtful analysis and clever observations. These are a delight for the instructor, but unfortunately—and perhaps this says … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Editing, Education, Environmentalism, Teaching, Writing | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Sentences from Student Papers

Maybe the Algorithms are Working Against Us

Posted on October 27, 2018 by Barry Pomeroy

Most news, internet search, and social media platforms have optimized their offerings to suit what their viewers most frequently choose to see. That makes sense in terms of ad dollars, for they want to have a targetable demographic, but as … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Education, Internet, Media, News, Politics, Social Media, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Maybe the Algorithms are Working Against Us

There, Their and They’re – What Word Choice Says about the Chooser

Posted on April 15, 2018 by Barry Pomeroy

Many grammatical or diction errors are easily forgiven, especially in English as it is spoken in North America. Because the countries of North America, such as Canada and United States—and less so Mexico—are largely immigrant cultures, there is a lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching, Writing | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on There, Their and They’re – What Word Choice Says about the Chooser