red pens and grading

Tags

grading, photography, photos, red pens, students, teaching, writing

As a lecturer I go through quite a few red pens, and this year is no different. Over the years I have discovered that my preference are gel pens, they seem to just slide over the page and allow for quicker marking, but when stuck (or when I run out of ink) I switch over to my trusty red Stabilo.

But this year, while I sit grading my students work and slash red all over their pages I can’t help but wonder how much red will be on my own pages this year. After all I am currently in the unique position to be both a student and lecturer, the grader and the gradee.

Knowing that your work will be scrutinized and compared to a grading scale is somewhat disconcerting, and not very inspiring. And while I understand the need for unification of grades I am discovering I am not really too found of being on the receiving end.

Maybe that is why I am  being a little more generous this year when it comes to giving a grade, when stuck between two I tend to go up, when working out percentages I round up. I just hope that my lecturers will do the same – after all  don’t they say, what goes around comes around?

red pens and grading scale

 

needing more time

Tags

Ballybunion, busy, Ireland, photography, photos, students, Women in the Media, work

This week I am extremely busy. Between working all off last weekend and my students completing their end of year projects, designing and editing a small local magazine and getting all of my grading done I have no time whatsoever.

It is only Wednesday morning and I feel if it should be much later in the week, but at least I will be (hopefully) meeting my wonderful friend J. before she heads back to Berlin at some point.

And I do have something else to look forward to. On Saturday I will be driving right across Ireland to Ballybunion on the west coast to take part in a Women in the Media conference. The only problem is it means getting up at 5am in the morning to arrive in time for the first symposium, and I know I will be longing for more time in bed when that alarm rings. However a few hours of lost sleep is a price I am very willing to pay for this great event.

I went last year and it was wonderful. Lots of amazing women (and a few supportive men) talking about the world of media. A great place to meet like-minded ladies, network and just have fun.

A bonus is that Ballybunion is truly beautiful, if a little deserted at this time of year. Situated right by the sea and littered with sandy coves it is very relaxing and I can’t wait for my mini-break away.

But until then, I will just keep busy and count down the days and make sure my camera is charged for the weekend. After all I am sure to have few hours in the afternoon to take a couple of photos, like these I took last year.

chasing deadlines

Tags

deadlines, magazine, media, miscellaneous, students, writing

If I talked about growing-up yesterday it should be about gray hair today. My students are running me into an early grave.

My third years have are producing a magazine and today I have to send the finished product off to the printers, the deadline has come. Sadly I am still chasing after work, I am four images, two captions and an edited piece short of completion.

So while my students are probably still in bed, turning over and dreaming the dreams of the young I am tearing out my hair and have spent countless hours fixing up their work.

But I must say it is shaping up nicely, if only the deadline wasn’t here. With no time left and my email-bombardments left unanswered, I am left still chasing deadlines hoping for a miracle.

 

caught cheating

Tags

cheat, cheating, education, mental-health, society, students

People cheat, we fudge the scores to win in games, we pretend we have trained for 40 min when it really was only 35min, we sneak that piece of chocolate into our mouths even when we are the only one who cares. We basically take short cuts to make life easier or more pleasant for ourselves. And as long as we just deceive ourselves and no one gets hurt it may not be a big deal.

But when a student cheats it’s a different matter. Of course we all know that students cheat, in fact studies show that more than two thirds admit to cheating on exams, homework and assignments. And interestingly enough people with history of plagiarism as students are more likely to cheat on their partners, defraud on taxes and not follow the rules in workplaces later in life.

When I discovered that a student handed in an assignment that had been copied and pasted I not only felt lied to, but was all so annoyed over the fact that he thought I wouldn’t notice.  Now I am left with the decision over what to do and I am very unsure.

On the one hand I want him to learn a lesson, teach him that every action has consequences, something he will hopefully take on board and remember later in life. And on the other hand I don’t want to be too harsh, as he is only a second year student and the main reason behind cheating is feeling too much pressure.

However as cheating does change how a person views right and wrong, I think it better to fail him on the one paper, talk to him about the reason why and hope it makes a change. After all I believe that honesty is too valuable to throw away and the only way you can succeed in life is to be truthful to who you are, not cheat no matter how high the temptation and always remember there is a right and wrong.