Well folks, not too much to report in my life this week. It was mid-terms, so I was proctoring other peoples exams and grading my own. The kids are always super-nice to you when this week rolls around. They stop in to your office, say hello. Sometimes they tell you how nice you are, or how you are their favorite instructor. They say that when the semester began they were really hoping to have more classes with you, and they tell all their friends how great of a teacher you are. Once in a while, you'll even get gifts!
This is always the 'butter-up' for the next little bit. 'So.. how about the exam?' To this I respond, 'what do you mean?' and they say ... 'you know... how's it going to be? Multiple choice? Matching?' 'Your a third-year student in a teachers preparatory program, you want matching?'... and the dance goes on. They come to your office, asking for what to study. To this I reply 'the notes.' 'Notes?' 'Yes, the ones you didn't bother to take in class.' 'You know... the ones you should have taken when I was talking, or the notes you didn't take on the reading you didn't do', and the dance still goes on...
So, they take the test. You go home and sit down with an array of exams, each exam usually consisting of multiple essays. The sum of which, range from the very well written to the almost completely incomprehensible (with a heavier emphasis on the latter). You try to be as fair as possible. You even go so far as to try and mark what you think they meant (if not what you hoped they had meant). Driven almost to the brink of insanity, as if the quivering stack of error-laden wood-pulp you were staring at was the face of Cuthulu himself, you finally finish marking. Phew! Then comes the next time you see them...
You hand back all your papers. You go over what the correct answers were. You explain to them in detail that you were extremely generous and excepted answers that were borderline not-to-great. You display your grading rubric on the board, and make it bloody-clear to all how the test was graded, what the criteria was, and what you were looking for. Then you hand back the papers. There is a few seconds of solace. The students are engrossed and extremely focused on the piece of papyrus you have just handed back to them. Then the peace is broken. Within seconds, they have spun around and are huddled in little groups. Each checking the answers and points deducted with that of their cohorts. Comparing, contrasting, and weighing. They are looking for the slightest inconsistency, so they can raise their mark a point of two.
Then after the mob has cooled down, you begin your 'rounds'. You circle the room, asking each student, as you take their paper, if they have any questions about the marking. One or two of the little demons have the balls to try and argue why you took marks off of their grade. This without fail it seems is always the 'fools errand' of the student who 'vomited' on the paper in an endless array empty phrases and facts, hoping to somehow miraculously, 'hit' something by accident.
Ahhhhhh. The students of the developing world... 'gotta love it'
So, that's how my week has been... plus it was overcast and rainy this week. I really enjoyed that part. Made me feel like I was back home in the NE of the 'States.
Ciao 4 now...
