Marking has been called the "bedpan" of teaching and personally I haven't found a more apt description but then again it is pretty hard to be creative when going through doldrums of correcting other people's mistakes. Sure there are the teachable moments, the "wow - i didn't expect you to do that well" surprises, the genuine pride that I do have when students succeed. But then there are the failures, the "obviously-didn't-study-and-probably-doesn't care" student wallowing in apathy and apparently likes the letter "F" - admittedly I sometimes struggle to understand how it is mathematically possible to bomb a true & false section of an exam!
Any-hows, I have officially completed the marking of one course (Interpersonal Processes) and for that I can celebrate - only two more courses' marking of final exams to go! Unfortunately - one of those courses (Communications) had 53 students, of which I've completed about 15. My other course (Philosophy & Programming of Youth Ministry) entailed a take-home exam and I'm saving that for last as I get to see firsthand the aspirations & dreams of ten people considering a calling & profession! Here's to emptying the bedpan and switching gears to a new year of teaching...oh yeah, I almost forgot - apparently I have to retool all my syllabi for 2007! So once I'm done marking - it's back to r & d my courses for the new year...
2 comments:
well you could always just scrap those bedpan moments, and give us all 100s! ;)
- Brittany Anderson
I'm sure you'd all appreciate that but I probably wouldn't have a job then...
Believe it or not - I actually hate exams! I much prefer essays as they evaluate more than just remembering facts but how you process information and apply it!
Thanks for dropping by!
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