End of semester--finally

I just got back from the post office, sending my paper rosters to the office and--in a last-minute fit of "just in case" worry--all the papers, grade sheets, etc., to myself at home. At least I don't have to lug them, and I will have them in case a student complains about a grade (which may happen). I'm a bit annoyed, as I sent the rosters Express Mail, expecting they'd be received tomorrow, only to find out that in order to get mail out of this bitty town, it has to be over the Post Office counter before 1 p.m.--and I got there at 3. That means the rosters won't arrive at the department office until the 31st, when the office is probably closed entirely, certainly will close early. Which means I might as well have carried the rosters home with me: they'd have been in the office the same time, would have cost me nothing, and I wouldn't have to worry about the package going astray. Argh and likewise murmph.

I really thought I'd be done and have grades recorded by the 27th, too, so it's all the more annoying that my rosters will arrive so late. I expect some students have been biting their nails, checking Banner daily, hoping to find out whether they passed. I just e-mailed one student from RB: on the last day of class he was in a panic about whether he'd pass the class, and I really couldn't tell for sure without seeing his final paper. He'd bombed on his second essay--both in the first version and in revision--so he was very upset (tears in his eyes, poor love) and deeply worried and insecure. But he did great on his final paper: got a B, which led to a C for the course overall. I wanted to reassure him right away about that: I want him to go into ENG102 feeling good about his work, not shattered.

In terms of plagiarism, it was a pretty good semester: there were only two papers I suspected. However, I didn't want to take the time to try to Google phrases to turn up possible sources--and one of them I suspect wasn't that kind of plagiarism anyway: that was Mr. No Thesis, who argued with me because his sister told him he did have a thesis, so I have a strong feeling his sister wrote the bulk of the paper, maybe even the whole thing. Because of my need to just whip through the grading--and because the Plagiarism Detector software I have is on my home computer--I decided that I'd take the risk of using the "I've been teaching long enough that it's plagiarism if I say it is" defense. If either student complains about the final grade for the course--and, coming to understand that he failed the class because he failed the final paper, complains about that--I will run the papers through Plagiarism Detector, just to cover my bases as well as I can. But I have a feeling neither will complain: they weren't doing very well anyway. I feel bad for No Thesis, as I know his family may tell him that he's blown his last chance at college, but on the other hand, I can't pass him if he genuinely does not deserve it. And he doesn't. Sad, but there it is.

On a lighter note, several students showed actual improvement on their final papers. Some clearly demonstrated that they didn't learn a damned thing about citing sources (despite a million lessons on how--and why--to do it), and I confess I was not entirely objective in deciding when to hammer the paper grade for that and when to give the kid a break. Sometimes it's helpful to have a justifiable reason to lower a grade that has been inflated because of their final group projects. I need to talk to Paul about that: I know he sometimes allocates X points to the group and tells them to decide how to divide them up (they can all get the same number, or some can get more or less, depending on how the group feels about the individual's contribution). In the past I've had students write an evaluation of the group dynamics--who did most work, whether the grade should be equally weighted--and have allocated individual grades for the group stuff on that basis. I need to go back to something along those lines in the future, as I know damned well that some students passed--and one passed with a much higher grade than she deserved--largely because of the group grades. Clearly this needs some rethinking. I don't have to worry about it for next semester, however: Paul has students in his 102 and lit classes do presentations, but I don't think it's as important, and doing so would feel forced--and the assignment pretty much bullshit, given the way I teach the course. Paul has it worked into the fabric of his assignments, but I'd be doing it just to do it, which seems pointless. So, never mind for now.

One more "I need to rethink" bit: I don't know what happened in what passes for my brains when I put together the course requirements and weighted assignments in terms of final grades, but the weighting made zero sense. I think I was trying to make miscellaneous homework count for more in 101 (so students have a reason to put in the effort), and was trying to make the final paper in 229 less monstrous, but the way I did both was just stupid. Lesson learned.

Thinking ahead to spring semester, I am very worried about my Nature in Lit class: still only 3 students have registered, and if I don't get the numbers up soon, it won't run. Once I'm back, I'll have to run off flyers and post them around campus as well as checking to see if there will be in-person advisement sessions I can haunt to dredge up bodies to fill seats. I've blogged on this topic before, I know, but it's a worry. If the course doesn't run, I'll probably end up with a fourth section of comp--maybe even a 101 (and spring 101s are usually awful). If that happens, the paper grading alone will damned near kill me--not to mention the deep disappointment I'll feel at not getting to teach my favorite course. Still, I have some time to get the numbers up--and I need to remind myself that I was worried about 229 this summer, yet it filled to capacity pretty much in the last week of registration, so the worry may not be needed.

But for now, I can legitimately not think about school, classes, anything having to do with my profession, until Jan. 4. I will think about it all, of course (sometimes I fear I have become incredibly boring, having essentially only four topics of conversation, the dominant one being teaching), but it's nice that I don't have to.

So I will go sweep the light dusting of snow off Mom's driveway and front walk, then snuggle up with my current "just for fun" read until Mom gets back from her errands and my sister, Lia, and her youngest son turn up for a family dinner. Bliss, bliss, bliss.