When professors turn nonsensical....

[Toastyfuzz]

Ok, I just wanted to get some other opinions on this. My History of English class has a presentation due tonight, which I hope I'm ready for. We were all alerted last class that these presentations were to be graded 100% by panels of other students in the class. Yes, the prof is not doing any grading herself on this project that is something like 1/3 of our total grade in the class. Normally she's a good prof, but this strikes me as ridiculous. My family's not paying for me to be graded by other students. I feel like this will only add to the drama, and that popular students will be graded more highly than we without ten million friends. I hate drama.

What do you think of this situation? Fair? Unfair? Just plain st00pid? Tell me.

[Frong]

You already know where I stand on this. I vote for Professor Is Too Lazy To Grade Things Her Own Damn Self.

Anyway, go join the renga in the haiku thread, 5p00n3j. It's fun.

[wavemeister]

My main point of objection would be the 100% grading by the students - yeah, I know how it feels if another "classmate" is spoiling or even wrecking your grades just out of envy or dislike. Without the "input" of a class mate just out of rage for being lesser graded than me, I got a "2" ("B") in German instead of the "1" ("A") the teacher initally wanted to give me for my leaving certificate. Duh.

Me as a prof would grant them a third, so if some of them don't like you, their decision won't spoil your grade too much. If the prof don't like you, you're fooked anyway.

[Diabolique]

Hmmm...I would also object that, but...I seriously doubt it'll make a difference being that the teacher has already made up her mind, so just go through with it and hopefully it'll be the last time she does this.

Good luck! Hope it goes well!

[Nakor]

I would grade them myself after, and then also grade the grading. That would make more sense.

[Frong]

That would be twice as much work, though, and Lazy Professor is lazy.

[Masamune]

Bah to lazy no-grading Teachers!!!! Fark you! Fark you with a rusty, dull spoon!!

That was my biggest anxiety as a child. We used to have to switch papers with each other and then call out the grade to the teacher when he/she was done going over the answers! Sorry, but I want my fark ups to be for the teachers eyes only. Once, in tears, I begged a History teacher to please keep my papers and grade them herself, but she literally told me to suck it up and do better. Then, I wouldn't have to go through the embarrassment. I don't know how much better I could have done seeing as how I was ahead of the whole class anyway (I pwned them all when it came to History!!!)

Still, good or bad, my grades were not anyone's business. The kids hated me and lazy teachers often gave them fuel for their fires.

[Frong]

The state of the entire education community in this country is pathetic. Even normally good teachers get away with doing dumb things at times, and the dumb teachers get away with it ALL the time. Just to even be able to get into the M.Ed. program at Ohio State to get a license to teach early elementary, I'll have to take like an entire year's worth of undergrad-level prerequisite classes first, probably in large part because the existing professors that teach these generic wastes of time don't want to lose their jobs. Example: there are three entire "Math for Teachers" classes just to teach you how to teach 5-to-8-year-olds to do math. THREE. Last I checked, I know how to add, subtract, multiply and divide, so it shouldn't take you three quarters to explain to me a few good methods of conveying the concepts to kids. Laaaaame.

Anyway, I would never make my students do peer grading if I were a teacher. If I'm getting paid to teach, I'm getting paid to grade (and subsequently help the kids learn from their mistakes and improve). School is annoying enough as it is. The last thing students need is more stress.