Grading is the most awful part of my job. I hate it. I love prepping (learning) and like lecturing (sharing what I learn). Even more I love watching the students work on things throughout the semester that show they are learning. I hate grading.
The main reason I hate grading is that I never know which students are using my critique to learn. So, I err on the side of reading, writing and explaining way too much for nearly every assignment. I do this in effort to help, but I also do it so there aren't end of the semester arguments when someone receives a C- or lower and can not move forward in the concentration.
Regardless, it takes a lot of time. Depending on the assignment I feel like I'm spending 10x's (or more in the poorly done assignments) the time they spend on the assignment, critiquing their work.
This would not be a bad thing if the papers that I give the most effort correlated to the students who put in the most effort. But this is almost never the case. Often I spend the most time on the papers/projects/writing that were thrown together at the last minute and demonstrate a clear misunderstanding of the material, or a clear disinterest. I don't understand why you're in my class if you aren't interested in the material. I teach courses that are "required" in the focus track. Go do something that you like and leave the class to the students who want to learn the material. Please.
It's finals week and I'm grading final projects for the writing and production class. This course was by far one of the most frustrating I've had in my 10 years of teaching. Several of the students came into this class without having developed the skills/knowledge they should have received in the prerequisite courses. It's really frustrating having to remediate more than half the class. This means that the students who did their work, were diligent and proactive about learning, and WANT to learn are pulled down by the students who are in my class because even though they are in their junior year, they still don't have a clue about what they want to do... I don't mind helping the students who may have been left behind because their learning style didn't fit with the prior instructors, but this is getting frustrating too.
I'd love to say "automatic F," "JUST READ THE BOOK! - then you will be able to follow lecture and participate in discussion," or "please consider another major." But that's not me. I want my students to feel the passion about the industry. I want to show them that they are young and this is the best time for them to develop their own ideas about the industry. Think about all of the people in media who made giant changes, many were in their 20's or younger. Philo Farnsworth, Orson Wells, William Randolph Hearst...
But instead many of my students come late if they come at all, don't purchase the required texts. I'd love to discuss further, but I have hundreds of pages of projects to grade...
The main reason I hate grading is that I never know which students are using my critique to learn. So, I err on the side of reading, writing and explaining way too much for nearly every assignment. I do this in effort to help, but I also do it so there aren't end of the semester arguments when someone receives a C- or lower and can not move forward in the concentration.
Regardless, it takes a lot of time. Depending on the assignment I feel like I'm spending 10x's (or more in the poorly done assignments) the time they spend on the assignment, critiquing their work.
This would not be a bad thing if the papers that I give the most effort correlated to the students who put in the most effort. But this is almost never the case. Often I spend the most time on the papers/projects/writing that were thrown together at the last minute and demonstrate a clear misunderstanding of the material, or a clear disinterest. I don't understand why you're in my class if you aren't interested in the material. I teach courses that are "required" in the focus track. Go do something that you like and leave the class to the students who want to learn the material. Please.
It's finals week and I'm grading final projects for the writing and production class. This course was by far one of the most frustrating I've had in my 10 years of teaching. Several of the students came into this class without having developed the skills/knowledge they should have received in the prerequisite courses. It's really frustrating having to remediate more than half the class. This means that the students who did their work, were diligent and proactive about learning, and WANT to learn are pulled down by the students who are in my class because even though they are in their junior year, they still don't have a clue about what they want to do... I don't mind helping the students who may have been left behind because their learning style didn't fit with the prior instructors, but this is getting frustrating too.
I'd love to say "automatic F," "JUST READ THE BOOK! - then you will be able to follow lecture and participate in discussion," or "please consider another major." But that's not me. I want my students to feel the passion about the industry. I want to show them that they are young and this is the best time for them to develop their own ideas about the industry. Think about all of the people in media who made giant changes, many were in their 20's or younger. Philo Farnsworth, Orson Wells, William Randolph Hearst...
But instead many of my students come late if they come at all, don't purchase the required texts. I'd love to discuss further, but I have hundreds of pages of projects to grade...
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