I posted semester grades for my writing class on the website earlier today. I already have plaintive and disappointed emails from two students. I feel simultaneously:
sad and blue because I broke my student's heart
annoyed at the reference to GPA in the student's email
peeved because I can no longer check my email without fearing more complaints
confident in the rightness of my grading
ashamed that grading is partly arbitrary, and what would it have cost to give them all A's anyway?
afraid that the rest of my students won't like me once they see their grades
glad that they've already completed course evaluations
tired of thinking about this already
hungry -- time to leave the house and get a Vietnamese tofu hoagie
Friday, December 15, 2006
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3 comments:
Congrats on the lost theoretical cherry. Hope that the emails you've received so far are the only ones you get.
You mean this is the first time you have had to grade students? I always think of the students who do an excellent job when I get those whiny emails. It wouldn't be fair to those students who worked hard and did a good job to give everyone A's. (At least, that's what I tell myself.)
Ugh. Another email this morning.
What's unfortunate is that two out of the three students who've emailed have, in fact, worked hard. They just don't write as well as those who got straight As. So I have to fall back on my judgment as the arbiter of grades, which is completely valid but also much less pleasant for them to hear.
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