Other things going on other than blogging
Things have been pretty busy lately. This past Thursday and Friday were my Fall Break. My friend Grace W. visited, and we chatted, drank tea, and played with beads, making lots of cool stuff. And we watched tons of Horatio Hornblower. I love Horatio!! Chris and I are very much on a Horation kick. We're waiting for the last one to come from Netflix, and we've begun to borrow the books from the Hamiltons to read aloud.
I'm also busy teaching and grading and TRYING to get my paper ready for the conference in less than two weeks. Aaack!
Something they never tell you before you start teaching: giving tests is more painful than taking them. I gave my first test just over a week ago, and the whole time I was just a wreck, hoping they would do well and hoping I explained things well. I gave them a wide curve; but still, most of them didn't do as well I had hoped. And I even gave a study guide! The thing that disappointed me most was that these are graduate students, thus they should know how to study better, especially when told explicitly how and what to study. The one person who studied well aced the test. But for a first test the grade range wasn't too bad. I learned a lot in writing a test, too, about how to organize my lectures better. Two things they should teach T.A.'s: how to write syllabi and how to write tests.
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oh how is grace? this is quite random, but she came up in a conversation with dave (of infradig) because their record company is from her home town.
Posted by: bobw | 11.10.04 16:01
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Syllabi are really just an exercise in wishful thinking.
Posted by: jeep | 12.10.04 08:26
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Bob--Grace is doing fine. She's working at an art conservation firm in NC. She particularly specializes in paper and restores all sorts of cool stuff that's on paper. I'm always in awe of people who use their majors.
Actually, Mike, I'm doing pretty good with my syllabus. Except for a few minor adjustments, I'm right on schedule but exactly a week behind due to one class's being cancelled due to Hurricane Ivan. I know what you mean about the wishful thinking, though...Because I'm only able to cover about half the music i wanted to. Due to time, though, I'd rather do less well than more and get behind. Having a less discussion oriented class than GT also makes a difference.
Posted by: Jeannette | 12.10.04 12:04
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on giving tests............LOL
Grading translations is one of the biggest pains in the neck I have ever heard of.
Maybe the syllabus and test instruction came with the education courses we opted out of?????????
I really don't think that either one take long to figure out. And if you haven't already, you will soon.
It's a good thing that you and Chris go on thesame sorts of kicks!
Posted by: mom1 | 13.10.04 12:26
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You were the bomb in CHOW Art& Music...you really explained the music and the idea well to musicilliterates like me. Thanks so much!
I dig what you say about giving tests. It gets even more painful when you have to grade them. Daphne always made us not-write our names on the front of our essays so she could grade them without knowing whose they were. It's a good discipline for me, too...because then I start grading the kids I like more easily. That's not just.
Posted by: Krista | 05.11.04 18:36