Friday, December 07, 2007

14 Minutes Left!

Holy cow . . . there are only 14 minutes left in the EAP 3 writing final exam. I'm trying to type as softly as possible so I don't disturb the people who are still in the exam. I can't believe the course is over. It's been a good 13 weeks. I actually feel like everybody's writing has improved, and that makes me feel good inside :-) I can't wait to put nice checkmarks beside all of the perfect thesis statements, topic sentences and concluding statements!

Anyway, now comes the big job for me . . . I have to mark everyone's final writing exams, calculate the course grades and then submit them to the registrar's office. I think I'll be drinking a lot of coffee this weekend. Usually the way I tackle the final exams is first I just mark them for grammar - making note of all the grammar, punctuation and word use problems. Then I read the exams again for content and organization. That way, I read each exam twice before I come up with a final mark. I hope people chose a lot of different topics. That makes it more interesting for me while I'm marking. The worst thing in the world is marking 25 essays all on the same topic. For example, if everyone writes about solar energy, I might just go crazy!

Well, I hope all my students stay in touch with me through the blogs. It's been a great semester. Good luck everyone!

11 comments:

Aakanksha Kalla said...

Nice to see a teacher who wants to put "checkmarks" besides his students' answers. I thought teachers just like to find mistakes in the papers and like to put crosses more than checkmarks =)

Matheus said...

hahahahahah, I don't believe you were blogging during the exams. That's is really cool!!! I can imagine what I was doing at that time... going over the essay again, etc. That was why you were looking intrigued with something... actually you were worried about disturbing us. I was way back there, but I think nobody noticed! Scott I'd like to thank you again for everything and wish you happy holidays!!!

Julia said...

I hope that the others indeed chose different topics, because I did write about the energy source (oops),not solar though...Gosh, you definitely have a lot to do...I wish you to have a lot of energy for that( but not the energy essays...)

maja said...

I didn't notice you typing. I know how much work it is to mark essays, and I'm glad I don't have to do it;) Hopefully people chose different topics, but I doubt anyone wrote about Canadian art. Have a good weekend!

Ahmed said...

Good luck on marking. Have a nice weekend.

Hanna Hasegawa said...

You were typing the blog during writing exams!! I thought you were checking our scores, so I was pretty worrying about my score. Thank you so much for teaching us in this semester. If you need a cup of coffee, come to a coffee shop which I work.

Zahra said...

Ohhhhhh,i saw you were so serious and thought you are doing your research about something

ERIC said...

That's cool. When we are doing our Final exams. You are doing your blog. I know it should be hard. Now, I wanna say thx to you. You are doing great in this semester. I really enjoy the life in EAP 3. I will miss you

Allen said...

I totally agree with Eric and I wanna say that as well. One thing that I really appreciate is you always read our blogs and write interesting comments for us. I know, it is not an easy job.

Ghazal said...

Ah, Scott. It is such a thoughtful blog and I honestly enjoyed reading it. However, it made me a little upset. Believe it or not I really missed everyone, especially the EAP writing teacher, Scott. I will never forget you in my life because you actually made a huge inspiration in my writing skills.
Regards,
Ghazal.

Gennady (G) said...

Wow Scott! I remember you blogging every two days or even more often. You are probably very busy. Good luck with your education, and thank you for a wonderful semester and all the fun!

I think I'll blog soon too. I've found that blogging is one of the easiest ways to get rid of an extra energy and emotions.

See you later "G"