powered by SignMyGuestbook.com

Ask me about my blogspot thang - 2006-06-07

Jim Is Dead, Long Live Jim - 2006-05-04

More Creek Jumping, Going To New Orleans, And To B'ham - 2006-05-02

Finals And Cleaning Out The Ruined Pool - 2006-04-29

End Of The Semester, And A Rabbit Doesn't Make It - 2006-04-25

Get your own
 diary at DiaryLand.com! contact me older entries newest entry

2006-04-29 - 5:20 p.m.

YEAH, IT'S FINAL exam time. I just finished grading the second of three that I give. The one today is the biggest, at 135. Yesterday's is the second biggest, at 105. And on Wednesday I wrap it up with my smallest section, only about 65.

So I also have to enter lab grades given to me by the graduate student lab instructors. The useless one gave me handwritten copy, not alphabetized, and she totally farked up converting her goofy ABC system into numbers, so I gave all the students ten points more than she was able to. Once all of this is entered, I have to go through and calculate averages with dropping the lowest exam. Then, to give letter grades from all of that, I go through and make sure all the students got at least a 60 for a lab grade; if they didn't, I flunk them, as a spur to show up in lab and be able to pass for hominid. Especially in my Biology 1 classes there are always about 10 who don't really believe me, apparently. They might have an overall average of 70 with that 52 in lab, but I'll still flunk them. The anger is almost palpable sometimes. But, that's what the syllabus says, and I repeat it several times in front of class (so that the students with the wit to show up on a regular basis hear it, at least). This is all part of my routine that I call the Mussolini Headkick, keeping everyone in good order and on the right track. Most students are cool with it... I hope!

Ruth and I hope to work on our abandoned swimming pool in our backyard tomorrow. This is an almost archeological site, where the previous owners installed an in-ground pool and abandoned it when it became too much work cleaning out all the leaves. So it's a flat bottom opening up towards the house, with a low retaining wall on two sides. Much of the bottom has been overgrown with various weeds but we've been thinning them out over the last year. Tomorrow we'll make another push on it, digging out some of the dirt where weeds grow and cutting down the crappy honeysuckle bushes. I stand firm by my conviction that any nursery that sells English ivy or Japanese honeysuckle should be shut down at gunpoint, and the owners forced to work hard labor for several years to make up for the damage they've done selling invasive weeds. But tomorrow, I'll just go out and cut down the goddam things myself, along with Ruth.

previous - next

about me - read my profile! read other Diar
yLand diaries! recommend my diary to a friend! Get
 your own fun + free diary at DiaryLand.com!