Teachable moments

The end is near! Grading is 1/3rd done.

As I mentioned in my last doom-and-gloom post, I'm trying a new approach to end of term grading this time around: instead of collecting final papers during the final exam period and then leaving students with a vague "email me if you want your paper back" offer (which they almost never do), I collected papers during the last class meeting and am handing them back during the final exam period. I'm not meeting students in a group in the class; instead, I'm sitting in my office and letting them drop by during the 2-hour exam period window.

When I set this up, I didn't really expect many students to come pick up their papers up. I thought it would just be a good way for me to force myself to get the grading done in relatively short order. I was surprised, then, that about 2/3rds of today's class actually did show up to get their papers. Sometimes it was a quick "here's your paper; any questions?" exchange, but sometimes I got to spend 10-15 (or more) minutes with students.

Quite a few students didn't do so hot on this paper, which is a disappointing way to end the class. But I was able to have good conversations with them about that. I offered generous readings of why they might have struggled; they owned up to not putting as much effort into the papers as they could have; we generally agreed the poor results had more to do with effort than ability or intelligence. Several students said they appreciated hearing that I don't judge them as people when I grade their papers (especially when they don't do great jobs on the paper). Some nice (teachable) moments there.

When I decided to use the exam period by sitting in my office doling out papers, I thought I was copping out a bit. Even if we don't give exams, we're supposed to have "meaningful" experiences during our assigned exam period. I honestly can't think of a more meaningful way to spend those hours than by having honest but supportive conversations with students about the work they've done this quarter, their own assessments of their strengths and weaknesses, and their goals for the future.

My other gen ed class has their final exam on Friday, so tomorrow will be spent grading their papers. And then I have my grad class's papers to grade on Friday, but this system doesn't apply to them. I actually did meet with them as a group during the final exam period and we did, in fact, have a meaningful educational experience. And pizza and brownies.