Day 1 of grading
Posted 07-24-2010 at 09:33 PM by EmmyNoether
I gave my students an exam on Friday and I finally sat down to grade it this evening. I've just finished the first half of the exam and am experiencing an onset of a migraine thanks to many of the answers written by my students. In the past I've given myself rules for grading. Rule 1: No drinking while grading - this is because I end up getting belligerent and take it out on my students papers. Rule 2: No grading all the exams in one sitting - this is because I end up getting frustrated and angered at the same mistakes getting made and end up taking it out on my students papers and grades.
Right now I'm feeling like the world's worst math professor, but I have to accept that this one just might not be my fault. I do not understand how several of my students made it to college without mastering exponents and square roots. Sadly, that is not a rhetorical question. I would really like to know how this happens. Even though I feel like I've failed, I really should remind myself of their limitations and accept that if they haven't gotten 6th grade math by now, then there really isn't anything that I can teach them.
So, tomorrow I will not only grade the second half of the exam, but I'll have to prepare my lecture - which I actually think is going to take WAY too much time. If there is any time left over, I'm hoping that I can actually finished working on some of my research that I started on Friday. I know that even if I were to work all day tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday, I probably won't get the calculation done before I meet with my adviser. I'm hoping we can push off the meeting a little bit so that I can finish. Probably not, though, because I know he's gone the week after this one. It's difficult because all I want to do is get closer to my defense, but I have to do some things for my class. Maybe that's why I'm so frustrated with my students. Teaching people who cannot or will not learn seems pointless, except to stand between me and getting further along in my work. Hopefully tomorrow will go better for them as well as me.
Right now I'm feeling like the world's worst math professor, but I have to accept that this one just might not be my fault. I do not understand how several of my students made it to college without mastering exponents and square roots. Sadly, that is not a rhetorical question. I would really like to know how this happens. Even though I feel like I've failed, I really should remind myself of their limitations and accept that if they haven't gotten 6th grade math by now, then there really isn't anything that I can teach them.
So, tomorrow I will not only grade the second half of the exam, but I'll have to prepare my lecture - which I actually think is going to take WAY too much time. If there is any time left over, I'm hoping that I can actually finished working on some of my research that I started on Friday. I know that even if I were to work all day tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday, I probably won't get the calculation done before I meet with my adviser. I'm hoping we can push off the meeting a little bit so that I can finish. Probably not, though, because I know he's gone the week after this one. It's difficult because all I want to do is get closer to my defense, but I have to do some things for my class. Maybe that's why I'm so frustrated with my students. Teaching people who cannot or will not learn seems pointless, except to stand between me and getting further along in my work. Hopefully tomorrow will go better for them as well as me.
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