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The past couple of days
Nov. 20th, 2008 02:11 pmThe past couple of days have been very busy. On the one hand, Jen was out of town at a conference, so I had Miriam to watch. On the other hand, I had an exam to give today which I had to write. They're now taking the exam and so I feel a certain sense of relief. (I'll have to grade it, but frankly I don't feel the need to finish grading until after Thanksgiving. :)
The test seems very long, and since my tests seem to be long even when I don't think they are, it worries me. The problem is that it covers way too much material. I attempted to divide the class up thematically (Optics, Electricity, and then Magnetism) which meant that the first test was rather short. Thanks to having to skip class on Tuesday because of Miriam, I made arrangements so that I'm giving this class during their usual 3-hour lab period. They should have plenty of time-- 3 hours and all-- but I promised them I wasn't going to write a 3-hour test, and so I'm feeling guilty. I've probably been overapologetic about it, actually. I get too worried about my students' feelings, because basically I'm trying to get them to like me. There is a certain amount of sense to that career-wise, since they will be filling out evaluations, but tough professors are often beloved as well, so long as they're fair. By promising my students things I later can't deliver, I may be undermining that fairness. (Mind you, I have a decent relationship with my students, as far as I can tell. I still think back to my evaluations from last semester, though, which were not really good.)
Did I ever mention that proctoring an exam is really boring? :) COme to think of it, it's a lot like the worst bits of babysitting: you have to stay in one place, you have to keep one eye on your wards, and so you can't really concentrate on any work or reading you may want to do. Fortunately I can touch-type and watch them at the same time, so maybe I'll just ramble on here for a while. :)
Other news:( Read more... )
Guess that's it for now.
The test seems very long, and since my tests seem to be long even when I don't think they are, it worries me. The problem is that it covers way too much material. I attempted to divide the class up thematically (Optics, Electricity, and then Magnetism) which meant that the first test was rather short. Thanks to having to skip class on Tuesday because of Miriam, I made arrangements so that I'm giving this class during their usual 3-hour lab period. They should have plenty of time-- 3 hours and all-- but I promised them I wasn't going to write a 3-hour test, and so I'm feeling guilty. I've probably been overapologetic about it, actually. I get too worried about my students' feelings, because basically I'm trying to get them to like me. There is a certain amount of sense to that career-wise, since they will be filling out evaluations, but tough professors are often beloved as well, so long as they're fair. By promising my students things I later can't deliver, I may be undermining that fairness. (Mind you, I have a decent relationship with my students, as far as I can tell. I still think back to my evaluations from last semester, though, which were not really good.)
Did I ever mention that proctoring an exam is really boring? :) COme to think of it, it's a lot like the worst bits of babysitting: you have to stay in one place, you have to keep one eye on your wards, and so you can't really concentrate on any work or reading you may want to do. Fortunately I can touch-type and watch them at the same time, so maybe I'll just ramble on here for a while. :)
Other news:( Read more... )
Guess that's it for now.
