tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post6663182470512805287..comments2023-06-11T02:19:27.429-07:00Comments on Academic Cog: Warning, Whining AheadSisyphushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-40113744802312606092008-11-13T20:30:00.000-08:002008-11-13T20:30:00.000-08:001. My cats insist I go to bed by 10 and get up at ...1. My cats insist I go to bed by 10 and get up at 5:30. If I don't, they paw my eyes and sit on my head. I am sympathetic to your plight.<BR/><BR/>2. The good news is cabbage is very cheap.Breena Ronanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02566521893585459242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-18981890805511554642008-10-15T17:41:00.000-07:002008-10-15T17:41:00.000-07:00Ok, here's why I like the notion of the "ungraded"...Ok, here's why I like the notion of the "ungraded" assignment in, for example, a first-semester comp class. If I have assignments (small ones, not major ones) that are graded just on completion, it means I can be as tough as I want to be on them, and they work harder on the (big) graded assignments. These for me are never worth more than 10% of the total grade (altogether - like 8 assignments that are worth 10% altogether), and they always allow them to practice skills that they need to have mastered in the big assignments. These assignments give them a sense of my commenting style, they give them a sense of the level of expectation, and they give them a sense of exactly how much work goes into writing well. And if they don't *adequately* complete the assignment, I reserve the right to require revision before it counts. Good students use this opportunity to get to the level that they need to get to in order to do well on big assignments. Bad students? They blow it off, and then I feel no remorse when I give them crap grades on the big stuff. And it gives me license not to grade on a portfolio system (which I think sucks), it means I don't collect drafts and offer comments on them, And the most they can revise a big assignment is once. So in that way, it's a time-saver. You take those "ungraded" assignments and you take the comments to heart, or you do shitty. And I don't feel badly at all if you do. Nor do I accommodate your shittiness by reading multiple versions of it. So I'm a hard-ass who believes in ungraded assignments because they give me a license to be a hard-ass.<BR/><BR/>In lit classes everything I assign I grade, but in general ed ones the first versions of the assignment are always worth less (about half) of the last versions. In upper-level ones, the smaller assignments (that come first) are only worth about 5% a piece. Again, this gives me license to be a hard-ass because either they'll learn from their mistakes that they make on the less grade-killing assignments and end up doing well, or they won't. Note: I'm known as an "unfair" grader. I "teach 200-level classes like they're 400-level classes." I'm arrogant, I am "trying to sound smart," I'm "mean," I'm "a feminazi," I'm Cruella DeVille. They want me to be their mommy. I'm not their mommy. They hate me for this. You know what? Yes, it's about what they need and not what they want. And it's about the fact that I'm not their employee. Their tuition does not, in fact, pay my salary, and even if it did... so what? You're paying for me to educate you. If that hurts, that's not my problem. That's, in fact, what you're paying for.<BR/><BR/>So this is just to say that grading everything doesn't necessarily mean that you're a bitch, or not grading certain things - or weighting grades in ways that seem kind - doesn't necessarily make one a nurturer. It's all about the approach. I'm a bitch and I'm actually a really kind grader, at the end of the day. Go figure.Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-82166380454855126082008-10-15T05:32:00.000-07:002008-10-15T05:32:00.000-07:00i just had a conversation like this over lunch two...i just had a conversation like this over lunch two days ago. i believe i nearly got as animated as you as the post suggests, only since i was at work, i had to tone it down a notch. the good news is, some parents do not want their children to be like the ones you describe. i'm sure they're outnumbered, but it's a glimmer of hope, eh?<BR/><BR/>it also amazes me how women instructors/profs are expected to be nurturing simply b/c they are female. it constantly pissed me off to see how i was treated compared to my male grad student counterparts. of course it didn't help that most of the "feminists" in the program were nurturing mother types who embraced this and those of us who didn't think that our jobs were to have a classroom full of "our children" suffered. i know this is an on-going convo, but ah, you've gotten me fired up. i will stop before i ignite.Maudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11918488082176862598noreply@blogger.com