Random Thoughts

I am one of those teachers who bends over backwards for her students.  Now that my kids are all gone, it fits into my life to do that.  My husband doesn’t object and he is big enough to take care of himself if he needs something.  But this semester I have a group of students who are extremely demanding.  They question every assignment grade.  They wanted to submit many drafts, with only the most minor of edits made.  And since I have more students than normal this semester, this has been a real problem.  I ended up spending all weekend every weekend working on stuff for school.  So I decided to make some changes.

Last week I explained to the group currently writing papers that I would look at three drafts and I would look at them on certain days.  If they wanted me to look at the draft, it had to be submitted before then.  So yesterday I looked at 20 drafts.  But that was it.  Of course, some students submitted a second draft before they read my comments, but I am ignoring those until I check drafts again on Wednesday.

I hope that this will help make the students more responsible and thoughtful about the work they turn in as well as help me find some balance between work and life.  We both need it!