Alice is right, I have been locked in grading jail. For my amusement, and for the sake of posting something, here's a look at how I've been doing my hard time:
- Number of intro-level papers graded: 72
- Number of intro-level papers to go: 0 (WooHoo!)
- Number of multiple choice questions ready to go in Blackboard for the final exam: 60
- Number of emails received from intro-level students in the last week: greater than 30
- Number of those emails asking how to calculate their grade or when the final exam is: greater than 20
- Number of upper-level papers submitted: 22
- Number of upper-level papers yet to be graded: 22 (Eeek!)
- Amount of money spent on soda and chips for a final exam slot scheduled from 11 am to 2 pm and during which we'll be listening to presentations: $15
- SciWo's gladness that students are doing final presentations not an exam: A number only exceeded by the students gladness about the same subject
- Number of independent studies supervised: 3
- Number of independent study students who need to turn in their final product: 1
- Number of comprehensive exams I need to receive and grade: 2
As you can see, I've got another few days worth of teaching-related tasks to accomplish and then I can focus in on research again. I actually spent a fair chunk of last week focusing on research, so the grading jail of this week is partially a deferred sentence. But I'll report back if I can make early parole.
More like this
This year, our department (finally! finally! after years of wheedling/wishing/hoping/pleading) is seriously discussing issues of retention, recruitment, and climate. I'll have much more to say on this later. But for now, I want to focus on an interesting side discussion that's come up:
Via Twitter, Michael Barton is looking for some good books about physics.
Anybody who has taught introductory physics has noticed the tendency, particuarly among weaker students, to plug numbers into equations at the first opportunity, and spend the rest of the problem manipulating nine-digit decimal numbers (because, of course, you want to copy down all the digits the
Months ago, during the DonorsChoose fundraiser, I offered to answer questions from people who donated to the Challenge. I then promptly forgot to respond to the questions sent in. Mea maxima culpa. Here's a way-too-late response to a good question from "tcmJOE":
Have you professor types invented a grading wiki that anonymizes everyone's answers, posts them on a discussion forum, and then lets the students argue about them after the fact in an attempt to find a consensus? It would probably decrease grading time and be a useful tool for identifying good vs bad exam questions.
Does Mystery U not believe in TAs? I ask this as a grad student who just finished grading those intro level papers.
So this is what waits for me on the other side, eh? Good luck!