(mostly) on grading

One year later. May 16th 2008 I received my invitation to come to Benin. and then I only had six or so weeks to get ready. So that means that in about six weeks it is going to be July again!

Last year I was getting ready to graduate. I was a student: studying, writing papers, preparing for finals. And now it’s interesting to be on the other side of the spectrum. To be sitting in my living room (with the fan aimed right at me) correcting my students’ final exam. And I have to be honest, it’s a little sad…I almost don’t want the year to be over. I don’t feel like I am done yet with my students. And I have told them that I am going to be very strict on grading the papers. And I love grading the papers of the smart kids! It’s so easy. It’s the dumb-dumbs that make me think about how I have to divide up the points for partial credit. If their test was worth more than just 20 points I could be really mean and just say if it’s wrong, it’s wrong. and then they would get a zero. But as it stands, all tests and quizzes must be outta 20 points, why? Because that’s the way it is.

I kinda wonder if my teachers, when I was younger, felt the same way I feel about grading. And I wonder if they did what I do, and I search through the whole pile and I pick out the tests of my favorite students and grade them first. I dunno why though. Maybe I want to see if the test really was too hard (as sometimes they claim them to be) or maybe I want to make sure that my good/favorite kids got good grades.