Grading.. Argh.

In one of my earlier posts I quoted a prof who said something like, "I teach for free. They pay me to grade."

That's pretty much the shape of it, these days. The grading has been never-ending. (And I get more - in the form of the Big! Scary! Research! Paper! that one of my classes does - tomorrow).

Right now I'm grading quizzes for my non majors class. Some of them are not bad, but some of them- considering that I basically telegraphed to them during the lecture things like, "knowing what blood pressure is and what it means will be on the test" - are not very good.

I held a review this morning. First I asked for questions and got only the usual ("When is the exam again?" "Do we need a Scan-Tron sheet?" "How many points is it?" "Is it all multiple choice?"). So I just launched into a rendition of "The Highlights of General Biology in 45 Minutes or Less." I hit most of the high points and a GREAT MANY OF THE ITEMS THAT WILL BE ON THE FINAL.

So people who skipped are out of luck. People who sat back in the back and talked with their friend (and don't believe for a moment I didn't see you) are out of luck. The person who put his head down on the desk is out of luck.

I was pretty exhausted walking out of there - it was kind of a more high-energy presentation than I normally do, swooping around and waving my arms and writing key words in HUGE letters on the board (people have complained they cannot read the board from the back of the room. Well, my dears, there ARE some empty seats in the front rows, if you only chose to sit there.)

I don't know how well it worked. I never know how well these things work. That's the frustrating part about teaching; feedback really isn't that common. I can't tell if the silent woman in the third row is taking it all in or if she's resenting being there so much that she's directing a silent channel of blind hate at both me and the university. I can't tell if the guy staring at the blackboard with his eyes kind of unfocused is actually daydreaming about Christina Aguillera or if he just has a little astigmatism problem.

I don't know if that's just me; if it's just part of my sub-clinical Asperger's* profile that I can't divine a person's motives from looking at their face, or if that's just a natural part of the human condition. Certainly some of my colleagues at least PRETEND to be more conscious of what their students are thinking or feeling than I am.

(*That's a joke. I think. I've taken the online tests and they claim I'm "neurotypical" but I still have awful problems interpreting body language sometimes)

I will say I had one guy thank me after the class was over. He told me he enjoyed it and I made it "easy" for him to learn. (This was one of my non-traditional students; I seem to be more popular with them than I am with the 18 to 20 crowd). This was a guy who ALWAYS had questions - and I ALWAYS stopped to answer them, even if the other students seemed to be preparing the thank you bat. (the original comic that inspired it is here)Because you know? He gave a crap. And I'm willing to stop class to answer the questions (which really weren't that off-topic) of someone who gives a crap. Especially when I'm having to stop class to get the couple in the back row to stop carrying on a side conversation.

Ah well. At any rate, the semester's essentially done. And I hate to say it, but there are a few people I'm glad I'll never have to have in class again.

I start this gig up again for the summer on June 1. The good news is summer classes are typically better. (The bad news? I'm already getting people calling me wanting to set conditions on their attendance - like "I have a weekly meeting for my volunteer work that will require me to miss an hour of class every Wednesday. Are you OK with that?" No, I am certainly not OK though I suspect that even after I explain why I'm not, I'll have to be...because that's how life works now - people do what they want to do regardless of others' objections [and then complain that they were unfairly treated]. I have to say one of the things that really makes me tired about how academia runs - how it has to run - these days is the people who go "I have to be late" or "I have to leave early" or "I have to miss class on test-day and I need a makeup." And none of them seem to understand that those behaviors contribute to a sort of chaos in the classroom (and with the late papers and the makeup tests - if everyone did that, I'd be doing nothing but playing catchup with people).

I really need some time off. I'd love to go antiquing Saturday but with gas almost $3.50 here and the prime area I'd want to go to some 70 miles away, I don't think I'll be doing that. Sadly.