update (re: help!)

Thanks for your helpful comments; I did e-mail the student back and suggest that he focus on Aristotelian definitions (and maybe briefly nod to others in his conclusion or somewhere), mostly, I said, so that he could have time to do justice to an analysis of Macbeth itself. I think part of my panic the other day was due to the tone I was reading into the e-mail; I thought it was trying to snub my authority and tell me what the paper and class really ought to be about. It didn't help that I was conflating this particular student in my mind with a student who tends to kind of stare me down in class, watching me with a kind of "so what?" glare while everyone else is taking notes. After I called role yesterday, I realized they were two different people. (Some day I will know all of their names.)

I realized other things yesterday too. The student who wrote the e-mail actually seemed kind of nervous in class, although eager to talk about things. Students who had previously seemed quiet became really talkative when I changed topics. The Staring Student stopped staring as much and started talking, and seemed less threatening the more he participated. I guess I shouldn't be so hasty to make quick impressions or assume that students just won't take me seriously because I'm female, young-looking, and only a graduate student.

I'm still working on negotiating that line between my need to feel like I have some sort of control in directing discussion and my knowledge that students questioning my terms and ideas is a very good thing, pedagogically (if not emotionally, heh) speaking.