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It has butterflies.

This semester

Things I’m looking forward to:

-Critical Race Theory is always fun to teach, and the new articles we’re going over should be really interesting.
-Lots of familiar faces — some of my favorite students are in my classes.
-M/W isn’t too bad of a schedule (but see)

Things I’m not looking forward to:

-8 a.m. Wills and Trusts — yeesh. (But, at least the class isn’t going to be on asymmetrical times — small blessings).
-All of the little changes I’ll have to be making for the new edition of the casebook (though it does look really nice)
-Tracking 20 students through the paper writing process; I like reading the papers, but herding and reminding and 20 students to get drafts in in time will be a bit of a chore.

Some Links I’ve Liked Lately

Matt at JI discussing what conversion means, in both LDS and Protestant theology.
Sheryl at Segullah on wanting to be married.
Edje at JI on creatures named after Mormons.
Jayson Stark on the tragedy of Pete Rose.

Re-re-launch

Let’s see if I have enough energy to keep up with this blog, a second time.

Still alive

I’m still alive, and recovering from grading.

The home stretch?

Sunday morning, 10:29.

Awake around 9. Finished 1&2, then 3&4 around 10:15ish. Currently 5 questions into 5&6.

11:47 — finished with all WT short answers. Before noon, too. Yay!

Okay, off to wash Doey’s hair, then to Essay 1.

1:08 — got kids off. Have grading sheet draft done. Need to revise it.

Grading marathon, 5-30

12:10 pm — have early draft of Essay 2 grading sheet. It needs work. Goal: Grading sheet done by 12:45.

12:51 pm. It always takes just a little bit longer.

Preliminary point sheet – done.
Stack of grading sheets – ready.
Music of the moment – Stone Temple Pilots, Vaseline.
Lock and load.

1:43 — done with the first six. Slow going.
2:21 — ten down! Also, got the excel spreadsheet all ready and Essay 1 and MC numbers into it.

3:11 — stopped for lunch with M. 13 exams down.

5 pm — damn, I was kinda hoping to be done with this one by now. Only done with 25 so far.

Also drew up a short answers grading sheet.

Still to do:

BA: Finish Essay 2.
Recalibrate Essay 2.
Input Essay 2 onto spreadsheet.
Make point sheets for mini-essays.
Grade mini essays.
Input mini essays onto spreadsheet.
Input participation onto spreadsheet.
Curve and assign grades.

Wills and Trusts:

Make spreadsheet.
Draw up point sheet for Essay 1.
Make grading sheets for Essay 1.
Grade Essay 1.
Recalibrate Essay 1.
Put scores into spreadsheet.
(Ditto for Essay 2 & 3).
Make point sheets for short answers.
Grade short answers.
Input short answers onto spreadsheet.
Input participation onto spreadsheet.
Curve and assign grades.

Yeah, miles to go before I sleep.

Music of the moment: Evanescence, My Immortal.

5:51 — have been rolling. 39 essay 2’s down (!). 4 to go. I want to beat my head against a wall. Brain is melting.

6:14 — done with first pass through on Essay 2. Need to look over and recalibrate any that need it.

Need a mental break first. Going to put together wills spreadsheet.

6:50 — have wills spreadsheet done. Grading sheet for wills SA done.

7:35 — what happened? how did it get to be 7:35?

9:08 — have mini-essay A graded, now on to B and C

9:40 — mini-essay B is done, but only 16 people selected it. C is going to take longer. And so are 3 and 4.

10:06 — ~80% done with first read-through of C. Damn damn damn, it always takes longer than I was expecting.

10:37 — all done with C.

Going home to do 3 and 4.

1:22 a.m.

Finished BA a little after midnight. Have the first two short answers finished for W/T now. Tomorrow: The rest. (Also, my annual report). Yay!

Today

Slept late. Breakfast, shower, drive to work. Forgot some files, so I had to call home and get them sent in.

Now the grading marathon begins again.

Grading Progress

5 pm — Detailed initial point sheet for BA essay 1 is done. (It will change slightly as I grade.)

6:20 — done with first six. Revised grading sheet. Feel somewhat on a roll.

6:46 — ten down

7:28 — fifteen down. brain is melting.

grading music: coldplay, fix you

7:56 — twenty down. I am a grading machine.

Time to go home, get some dinner, then continue.

8:50:
made it home, ate some dinner, collected thoughts. now ready to grade like a maniac for a while.

9:51 — only up to 26. Going slower than I was hoping.

10:41 — just crossed 30. Hallelujah.

Music of the moment: The Airborne Toxic Event, Sometime Around Midnight

11:30 — done with all of the typed ones (37). On to the written ones (6).

11:32 — damn, I hate ugly handwriting.

12:15 — it always takes longer than planned, doesn’t it?

Well, first pass-through is done. I need to recalibrate the high end, but the grading sheet didn’t move much, so I don’t think I need to recalibrate others.

Essay 2 is going to be interesting. Putting the grading sheet together is going to be a pain. But a good half dozen students didn’t do it at all, and a dozen more were very short answers. So grading should move more quickly. It’s going to be a bloodbath.

12:26 — okay, done. Need to put into a spreadsheet.

12:44. Putting together the grading sheet for Essay 2 is giving me a headache. Who was the genius who came up with this question, anyway?

Today

May 29

Doing: Grading sheet. Big pile of exams to grade.

Feeling: Reflective, a little sad.

Music: Taylor Swift, Love Story. Yes, it’s cheesy.