I've been grading the final essays for the writing class this weekend; mostly, they're pretty good. A few are really good.
I switched around the assignments this semester so they turned in their research essay a couple weeks ago, and then we did a short reflective essay for the final essay. I was able to return the research essays and give them good feedback. And now I'm almost done with their reflective essays, and am giving good feedback on these. It worked out really well for me and the class, I think. (And I got the idea from a good colleague. Yay colleague!)
The thing about weekend grading is that it's flexible. I'm about to settle into the final few essays and other work to get it all done by tomorrow. On the weekend before finals, I have no classes to prep, no committee work to prepare for, just grading. (And an exam to write during the week.) It's amazing how much less stressful it makes the weekend.
I went skiing earlier, for the first time this season. The hip/thigh muscles that pull my leg forward don't get nearly enough exercise biking compared to skiing. And my elbows are sore from poling. I think I need to grip the poles more loosely. Yeah, loosely, as in relaxed. That's a tough one for me, but I was looking up about elbow soreness, adn this is the same soreness I get kayaking, and I think I probably grip too tightly in both cases. Maybe there's a tendon stretching exercise I can do to help it?
I like the idea of the research paper not being the last thing they write. Unfortunately at warm-and-fuzzy school, we comp folks are all supposed to have them write the same papers at the same time. I got a little flack for having the students turn in their papers on the last day of class instead of finals week, actually. But I told the powers that be that I really had to be done by this week (not just starting) because of the baby situation. They were okay with it then. How they could forget I'm nine months pregnant with my huge belly sticking out is sort of unimaginable.
ReplyDelete