One class down

I posted grades today, and what a relief. I hate grading bad papers.  Grading good ones is bad enough.

How can I motivate college students to work together on their final grammar test? It’s open book. They are allowed to use the results of the quizzes they took online, and they are allowed to take the quizzes as many times as they wish to get all the answers right. (They could anyway if they thought about it for 45 seconds. ) They are allowed to ask their teammates for help. And still, over half the class made below 70 on a 50-question test,  some of it multiple-guess, and some sentence revision. Even if you hate grammar, there’s  a way to work around doing it.  Algebra is not my favorite subject, but I managed to make an A in it a few years back. I even teach folks how to do simple math when I teach Excel.

The 98% rule works for students as much as anyone. But the good news is that I don’t have any more papers to grade until April. I missed an opportunity to start a class last week because I didn’t check my school email over the weekend, and while the money would have been nice, I am glad not to have the aggravation.  I still have enough to do with my work for the Southeastern Writers Association and for my internship.

I am taking a break from producing my first product. The DVD won’t burn, so I am troubleshooting back to the video capture. You don’t know what you don’t know until you try to apply it.  Maybe I’ll try backing something else up to the DVD to see if it’s the drive instead of me. Women do tend to think that any techie problem is their fault, and that’s not always the case.

But I refuse to give up. If I have to re-record the thing, I will do it. It’s a good idea, and I think it will help some folks. So, back to the flashing green light. Have a happy Sunday afternoon.