I do not know why, but I always get butterflies when posting grades. I know that grades are the currency of higher education for students. And all grades do not mean the same to all students. Some students will literally come unglued if they do not get an A; you know those kids because they tell you so at the beginning of the semester. Some kids will take a D, no problem, because they are just filling in their bingo sheet to get the sheepskin (showing my age) and pursue the career that awaits them upon graduation. There are a million other reasons to be sure and somehow I am sensitive to each one.
Perhaps it is because I was high strung myself and achievement oriented and typically the top student in my class for all the degrees I took as an undergraduate and graduate student. Of course, those were the days that grades were not posted online like today on Blackboard so students know their grades all along the way. I used to be on pins and needles for over a week waiting for my grades to arrive in in the mail to see if my final grades matched those I had calculated on my own. Speaking of seeing grades online, even my son can get daily feedback on his grades in middle school by going online which is insane because there were no computers other than calculators when I was in middle school.
Maybe I am nervouse because I care. Maybe I want the students to be like me when I was a student and dedicated to earning an A and disappointed when many fall short of the mark. Who knows, all I can says is that I am always nervous when posting grades because of what they mean now and will mean later in the life of each and every student. Anyone else feel the same?
2 comments:
i also used to get butterflies, but now i get a feeling of satisfaction that a semester long task is done. This semester i had a student, from the fall semester, challenge the grade i gsve her. i went back to my records and disv=covered that i had been generous. i don't know if she will go all the way to the Acadmeic Committee but will see. most of the grades in my classes are based on direct participation and production, so a student recieves nearly 1/3 of their grade from that. this aforementioned student always came late to class and tried to leave early so the loss of points added up quickly. she also is one of those students who felt entitled to an a whether or not it waas earned. luckily this is the first student i've had who challenged my grading.
thanks for sharing.
Mick
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