Words... words...

I have a student this semester who doesn't quite get the conceptual stuff of the course. It might be safe to say that she often leaves class with no understanding of what just happened.

She's a conscientious person by some accounts, is aware of her weakness, and is trying to catch up.

However, being a step behind her classmates has not stopped her from speaking up in class. Consistently, persistently, and all too readily.

The class literally halts when she speaks because 95% of the time, her words are quite simply incoherent. I've begun to notice other students rolling their eyes and shifting in their seats every time she starts up.

When I open the discussion to the floor, I dread the sight of her hand going up. She will begin, mention some keywords rather randomly, but shortly after, find herself lost and confused. At that point, she tends to then try to plow her way through the mental blur by continuing to just talk, as if in the hope that in building a wall of words, some of them sounds might just make sense.

They rarely do.

When she does stop, I hesitate to ask a follow-up question, since she will either be humiliated by realizing that she's just spent 30 whole seconds saying nothing, or, God!, she might begin another soliloquy.

Scary part? I hear her voice in Sarah Palin.