Well.
Been a bit, hasn't it? It's been a strange time, but that's nothing new. In fact, there's not much new I could put down here by way of explanation. I tried warning you people that at some point these things would get unendingly repetitive and self-pitying, yet you encouraged me anyway. What were you thinking?
So, interesting things, interesting things...
I'm still working on the secret project mentioned earlier. It's a little more tricky than I expected, of course, as all things are in life. I still have some hopes, but time is running short. It has to do with Christmas, and it may involve blood, devestation, death, war, and horror. Or not.
I'm in the final stretch of grading (seems like I'm always saying that... it's a long stretch), with our large "holistic" grading session for English 015 tomorrow. English 015 is Preparation for College Writing, and all the classes take the same final exam. It's a short essay in response to a reading presented at the time of the final, and all of the instructors in the department participate in an all-day grading session. The exams are done by student number rather than by name and most essays are graded by two instructors who did not have the student in question in their classes. The resulting grade--pass or fail--is the departmental recommendation of whether the student should continue on to English 101 or not. It's not the only factor in the final grade (that would be illegal, actually), but it is a strong indicator of offical approval or disapproval. You can always argue against the recommendation of the department, but it's time consuming and considered bad form without very good evidence of student ability.
It's a great point of debate in the department. Many argue that such an exam does not show all the skills a student has learned during the semester, that it puts too much emphasis on a single test, and that it is generally icky. The counter argument is usually that it is a test of many useful skills, it is a fair indicator of future success, and that ickiness is better than lack of preparation. I fall, as always, somewhere in the middle. It certainly doesn't require students to use every skill they've developed--the only way to really do that would be to have a departmental review of portfolios of student work, which would take years off our lives--and it carries more weight than would be completely useful. However, if you've got basic writing skills, it's something you ought to be able to do reasonably well, and having other instructors review the student's work is no bad thing. I get too many students as it is who clearly just showed up every day and were relatively nice and so were allowed to pass 015 when they were not ready. Without the "gatekeeping" function of the final, I suspect even more unprepared students would find their way into Freshman Composition, and my life would be that much more annoying.
I had best get to bed so I can get up and stay awake through 80-100 short essays, each one saying very much the same thing as the last, just with different vague rationalizations and varying degrees of awful grammar (you can tell I'm excited, can't you?). There is a sick little part of me that enjoys the session--being with other instructors as we work through the texts, discussions of what we're looking for in a good paper (I'm always there to argue that we ought to be meaner rather than nicer, just like in all other aspects of my life), drinking too much coffee and getting a big chunk of final grading out of the way in one sitting...
There's something deeply wrong with me, I know. Now if I could just fix it, that would be sweet. Your suggestions are welcome.
postscript--In other news, I was endlessly pleased today to open a fortune cookie and find an actual fortune within. Apparently, I will "enjoy good health" and "be surrounded by wealth and luxury." Heck, that even has the delightful mystical lack of clarity I so enjoy--will I actually be healthy, or will I just delight in my positive health for the short time I possess it? Will I be wealthy, or just a bum who dies on the street corner in a posh neighborhood? Well done, China--well done.
No comments:
Post a Comment