'Tis the mad dash to finish grades

About 250 final (and in cases of the slackers who turned in late work, multiple essays) papers to grade, final semester grades to compute and post before leaving for the holidays. The image below says it all - god, Starbucks loooooooooooooooves me... .

image from gosmellthecoffee

Hmmm.....

Wonder if this would help recalcitrant student brains get the message that this summer session wasn't an online course and that they can't submit the entire 6 weeks worth of assignments on the last day of class. Yes, there are three more days, counting today, of summer session and some slacker/slackerettes in class are still lobbying for turning in the entire 6 weeks of assigned work on the last day of class. Or maybe it would help me since it says it cures headaches and they're certainly giving me one with all of their whining.

Summer Session Student Sniveling

Next week is the last week of the 6-week summer session I've been teaching. Students who, for the last 5 weeks, have been slackers and not submitted ANY work (but haven't had any absences so they couldn't be dropped) are suddenly serious about the class. For the past 2 days I've been barraged with emails and in-person excuses as to why they've not submitted work and why I should let them submit an entire semester's worth of work this weekend and next week. Mind you, these are students who took spots in the class that could have been given to others that actually care about their education. With all the budget cuts that have resulted in class cuts (we had to reduce summer offerings by 50 percent and there were over 4,000 students on waitlists for the summer session) it is more than frustrating to have a student take a spot in the class and then proceed to not participate in said class. I am so glad I'm turning off the computer (and, by extension, student email reading) and flying to San Francisco in a few hours for 2 1/2 days in "the city by the bay". In any event, the art piece above reflects what my brain has been hearing.


Image Shown:
Blah, Blah, Blah, Mel Bochner, 2010, oil on velvet, 63 x 57 x 1.8 inches

Musing, Pondering, Ruminating...

Why can't

summer session

be more like

instead of

Arrrrgh!!

A reflection of my response to having 93 students enrolled and waitlisted for my advanced writing and critical thinking class that caps at 35 and has a room capacity of 49.

Summer session starts Monday and 'twill be an "interesting" day, to say the least...

Image shown: Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet's "Self-Portrait"

But the dog ate my computer disc, Professor.You mean the final wasn't optional? Seriously, I can't submit a semester's worth of work on the last day?

No, it's not a Tale of Two Cities. 'Tis Tales of Woe Week (or, as it's commonly known, Finals Week). Students are proffering all sorts of delightfully creative "reasons" as to why they can't met deadlines, don't have their work done, yada yada yada. Typical and Predictable - yes. Entertaining - yes. Convincing - not so much.

"No Excuses" 'tis the musical selection for this post.

Symphony of Brotherhood

The artist is Miri Ben-Ari and she is known as "the hip-hop violinist".

Let the Learning Begin

Bookopolis by Eric Drooker

The Fall semester actually began a couple of weeks ago. However, as is the case every semester, the first two weeks are consumed with the adding and dropping of students. This year, due to the shortsighted stupidity of California's "governor" (and I use the word loosely) and his insistence on closing the state's budget on the backs of/at the expense of students (as well as senior citizens) while protecting his wealthy buddies there were massive cuts made to the colleges. As a result, the add/drop period was even more problematic and dire. It's also the reason I now have 174 students in my classes.

It is absolutely inane and mind bogging that education cuts were made. Education is our most precious commodity and resource Our students are our future but how can we have a future if we don't educate said students? And how can we educate our students if classes are cut (I'm not talking about a few class sections, I'm talking about hundreds upon hundreds of class sections). Furthermore, the "governator" isn't finished yet - we have been told there will be even more major midyear cuts. This is just absolute stupidity at its worst. How in the world can we remain a competitive country if we can't provide education? The United States is supposed to house "the best and the brightest". However, we are quickly losing any semblance of that with this continued educational free fall. For God's sake - corporations that mismanage their companies are being bailed out - ungodly raises are given to the executives of the aforementioned while our economy is in its present state and people don't have food to eat or roofs over their head but we can't educate our students? More and more I feel like I'm living in a third world country rather than in the United States of America. I could go on and on about this topic for the remainder of the year and never even scratch the surface.

In any event, now that add/drop period has passed and the Labor Day holiday completed, it's down to the business at hand - educating my students. It's nice to see all the bright shiny faces of those students who are both hungry and thirsty for knowledge. By the end of the semester they will be sated and ready to both face and change the world, armed with knowledge acquired from their old activist English Professor.

My World This Week

With 2 days left before summer session ends this is the view from my desk. It's a vertiable paperpalooza!

Summer Session Countdown...

'Tis the last week of summer school so right now I'm experiencing the "joy" of listening to all the assorted (and creative) excuses from students as to why I should accept work that was due two-three weeks ago. It's such a predictable behavior as it happens at the same time each semester and, predictably, I feel like they're trying to engage me in an academic version of "Let's Make a Deal". However, I'm not Monty Hall and our classes take place at a college not the studios of ABC and NBC. So, although there are no deals to be had, their attempts at deal-making are quite entertaining and I do give them a Siskel and Ebert "thumbs up" for trying. Anyway, three more in-class days, tons of essays to grade, the computing and turning in of grades and then a two week respite (where the only things on my mind will be decompressing and a resort getaway) before the Fall semester begins with a sea of fresh, smiling faces.

Grading

'Tis the end of the semester and I've got a billion papers to grade. I don't want to grade one, much less a billion. If I grade them at home I can always find ten billion other things to distract me. So, what to do, what to do...? I've got it - my car is due for a service visit so I'll have that service done as well get the car completely detailed AND wait at the dealership while said work is done. Yep, that's right - 7 hours sitting in a controlled environment with no distractions. The chair was comfy, I had food and drink (and the detailing was spectacular). Finished grading papers for 2 full classes - woo hoo! Now I only have 3 more classes to go... Looks like I'll be burning the midnight oil this entire week so sleep doesn't seem to be on the horizon. Oh well, everyone knows what Warren Zevon said about sleeping.