I vowed to finish all grading for my writing students over the weekend, and sitting here at 7:30 a.m. Monday, I will admit that I fell far short of that goal. I have just let it pile up for far too long… even about eight hours of grading was only enough to make a dent — a noticeable dent, though. 🙁
After wading through so many papers, I can only say that the amount of material actually absorbed by my students over the course of the last few months is disheartening. Many of them are producing far better essays than they did when they arrived, and for that I am grateful. But on a repeat of their beginning-of-semester diagnostic grammar quiz, about 75% of the class actually did worse than they did at the beginning of the semester. WORSE. How the hell do I explain that?!?!
{sigh}
Anyway, this week is our last week of regular class, and next Monday they all ship out to take their exit test. My hope is that about 50% pass on the first try. Those who don’t come back for another week of review before getting a second chance. Of those who actually show up, I expect somewhere around 75% to pass on either attempt. That’s far better than my instincts predicted in past semesters, but then again, I have many more (and far better) students this semester than I have in the past (on average).
In other news, I gave my methods presentation last Tuesday and think it went well. The professor did ask me a question after I’d sat down that I couldn’t answer, but otherwise was able to deflect or answer all questions lobbed my way. I also went first, which I think is psychically beneficial.
We bought a new car last week. I’ve been wanting to get one for quite some time, and in fact we came close to getting a Mazda 3 about two years ago. My Corolla was paid off in May and it turned 100,000 miles old last week, but that wasn’t really the impetus (even though *some* might think it was). Nope, instead it’s the fact that we’re going to Arkansas twice in two weeks at the end of the month (once for Thanksgiving, a second time for a top secret thing I’ll tell you about later) and I wanted to be able to take “my” car at least once.
We got a 2008 Nissan Sentra fully tricked out with all the options available save the spoiler and maybe one or two other little things. It’s navy blue (I’ve always wanted a navy blue car) with a tan leather interior. I LOVE IT.
Let me say that again: I LOVE MY NEW CAR.
It’s awesome. Infinitely more comfortable, infinitely smoother to ride in, and feels amazingly larger on the inside despite only really dwarfing the Corolla in height.
It’s fantastic.
I can’t wait to drive to Mountain Home next week!
Holy crap! I just realized Thanksgiving is next week. :O