I just finished grading a big stack of assignments, and my eyes are a bit blurry. I can’t figure out why we teachers give assignments at the end of the semester. It just means that we put a lot of work on ourselves. At some point, I will realize that assigning something at the beginning of the semester is fine.
Most of the papers are graded, but my brain hasn’t fully recovered. I’m not even sure why I am typing. It just feels like something that I should be doing. Does that mean I am a blogoholic?
I guess so because I am typing up a post without really knowing what the post is supposed to be about. Words are just appearing on the screen. I wonder what’s going to appear next.
I woke up this morning after hitting the snooze button a couple of times. My iPhone is my alarm, and it is set on “De Guello“, a song from the movie Rio Bravo that stars John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson.
I got ready for work and headed that direction. I am not a morning person, but I insist on having classes a 8 o’clock. I have no idea why. This morning I talked about Herbert Hoover and how his administration got steamrolled by the Great Depression.
A lot of people blamed him, but it happened a few months after he took office. That’s not enough time to cause all of that.
I had some office hours before getting a hot dog for lunch. I let my afternoon class go after a few minutes of discussion. The semester is coming to an end, but my lectures are coming to an end quicker. After more office hours, I picked up Necole’s daughter from school because she had an appointment with a doctor.
Eventually, I made it home to get ready for an awards ceremony back on campus. I got the award for Most Outstanding Faculty Member. It is an honor to receive this award because it is voted on by the students. One of the other history professors also got a service award, so that was great, too. Basically, history holds a monopoly over the faculty awards this year.
Once the ceremony was over, I visited my parents to show them my plaque. I also talked to Necole and found out that they had to get antibiotics.
After all of that, I started grading but did it a little differently. Usually, I grade in silence. This time, I graded with the television on. Throughout the grading process, I listened to a PBS documentary about the Dust Bowl. Not surprisingly, the narrator talked about how it was Herbert Hoover’s fault. I also listened to a 30 for 30 about the 1983 NFL draft.
Now, I am blogging about all of it. Interesting isn’t it?
SBI: A Thinning Crowd 
Why do you teachers give assignments at the end of the semester?
I have a theory. We feel like that they have enough information at the end to complete certain assignments. Maybe they wouldn’t be as successful with the assignment at an earlier time. Of course, that could be crap. Maybe we aren’t good organizers.
I just finished grading a big stack of assignments, and my eyes are a bit blurry. I can’t figure out why we teachers give assignments at the end of the semester.
Because the school board says you must? When I was younger I briefly entertained the idea of becoming a high school teacher for the sole reason of offering the students the option of writing an eight to ten paged paper, a multiple choice/short answer exam, or making a presentation with visual aids for the final.
I also daydreamed about having review basketball day before a big test. My 8th grade Georgia History teacher had us play review basketball the day before a test. He had a mini hoop and ball set-up. We formed teams (with names too!), each person would get in line, and answer a question. If we got it right, we got X number of points. There’d be a 30 second interval where everyone in the team that got the most number of questions right in a round would try to get the ball in the hoop. Each basket was worth Y number of points.
At the end of class, we’d get however many points we earned added onto our test score.
I wanted to pass on that tradition.
School systems definitely hinder original thought and creativity among teachers. In my state, they are forced to teach to a test. The results of that test determines funding.
However, I don’t have that problem. Teaching college provides intellectual freedom. Even with that, we tend to fall into the “assignments at the end of the semester” habit.
I agree – I always feel like my kids should know what they’re talking about surely by the end and that’s the best time to assess to make sure they have the best chance at good marks!!! Or.. we could just rearrange the types of assessments so students can always do well using new content knowledge earlier on… Somehow I just can’t see it changing though! Good luck with the rest of the grading!
Thanks for the good luck and thanks for commenting. I think we are stuck in some weird assignment time loop where things have to be done like that always have been. I vow to get out of the loop next semester.
Isn’t is interesting that Herbert Hoover was dead and history books written before “most” folks knew he was blamed for everything that happened back then. Today’s news medics and technology allows Obama to be blamed almost before the event takes place. While we are on the subject of technology, why is it that computers can be hacked and false information posted that causes a stock market panic, but sites that teach bomb making can’t be hacked and deleted.
Pam
That is interesting. Maybe we are concerned more about the security of our stocks that we are our people. A president can never properly be judged until years after the fact.
Congratulations!
Thankyou! Thank you very much!