I just checked the online course registration form for my classes next term, and so far I have 108 students signed up for my four classes.
I'm teaching: two sections of the same survey, which are capped at 30; an introductory course on Super Huge Famous Author, also capped at 30; and a seminar on Pretty Darn Famous Author, capped at 25. I knew the surveys would be full--it's a required class for English majors--but SHFA is at an inconvenient time, so I was hoping to have a slightly smaller class (nope--it's full), and PDFA isn't exactly the biggest draw, so I was hoping for 15 (so far I have 18, which is okay, but more might add it to fulfill their seminar requirements).
Maybe I can scare some people off in the early days?
One way or the other, this I can promise you: this blog will feature a LOT of complaining about grading in the coming months.
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Professing Mama commented at 2:34 PM~
WOW. I feel for you. That is a hell of a lot of grading.
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My Daily Struggles commented at 2:35 PM~
Blogging helps me avoid life altogether.
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jo(e) commented at 6:21 PM~
I always love it when other bloggers have more grading than I do.
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Margo, darling commented at 10:39 PM~
Holy hell! Forget grading; it's a lot of prep, even if you do have a repeat.
I always assign a ridiculously small amount of grading for surveys. To me they seem to scream Spot Quotation midterms and short-answer finals.
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Bardiac commented at 8:48 AM~
Ouch!
A lot of prep and a lot of grading.
I've found that it helps to have staggered paper due dates, even within one class. If I do it right (not that it happens often), I get a steady trickle of papers, say, five or so a week, in the bigger surveyish classes. I'm not nearly as intimidated by 5 papers, so I can usually grade them relatively quickly. That's the theory, anyways. Sometimes it actually works, too!
I hope PDFA and HFA are fun ones, at least :)
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La Lecturess commented at 2:38 PM~
Thanks for the sympathy, guys. I'm already planning on staggering my due dates for papers (not all that easy, actually, given the way reading assignments fall), but I think I'm going to have to go out and buy a calendar on which I plan which days I'm giving quizzes or reading responses in which classes, so that those are staggered, too!
(Oh, and did I mention that I'm only teaching 2 days a week? Yeah. It'll be less time on the train, but those two days will be pretty hellishly long.)
All that being said, I am in fact really looking forward to all these classes. I enjoyed teaching the survey last term, and I'm beyond psyched about the other two classes--the seminar is on an author I work on, and the single-author survey is on an extremely fun (and frankly relatively easy-to-teach) guy. If only I were teaching only ONE section of the survey, I'd have nothing to complain about.
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Terminal Degree commented at 1:56 AM~
The dean at my last university always gave a small assignment on the very first day: summarzie the syllabus and the structure/organization of the text. Due at the beginning of the next class. Two pages, typed.
It always weeded out the worst of the slackers and made his grading a little easier! :)
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La Lecturess commented at 6:59 PM~
TD--
Ooh, I love it. I may seriously have to consider stealing that one.
