There Must Be a Horse in Here Somewhere

As mentioned yesterday, I collected my students' final portfolios this morning. Once my roster settled at the beginning of the semester I had 16 students. After the final add/drop date (mid-March) I was down to 10. Of those 10, 3 stopped attending class, opting to fail despite having missed the chance to drop. So I only have 7 papers to grade, which isn't so bad. And I like the students that I had left at the end of the semester. They all liked me too, and seem to think that I was a good teacher (based on a survey my department conducted that I got to read some of the answers too). Of my 7 students, unless their final papers are wildly against my expectations, 1 will get an F, 2 will get Cs, 3 will get Bs, and 1 will get an A.

At some point in my pedagogy class back in the Fall semester, we were warned against grading on a bell curve, since "with small sample sizes such as [my class], bell curves will be neither natural nor expected." Oops.

Part of their final portfolio project was to write me a letter which reflected on their experience their semester. Some of them took this letter as an opportunity to compliment me, presumably to give their final grades some last minute bolstering. Here are some highlights of the praise which was heaped upon me:

"I thought my grade in [that essay] was going to be higher so I was a little disappointed but I know your grading is fair, that's why I never complain about it."

"It's nice to see people that adore their careers as much as you do because it makes me appreciate more my career."

"I want to thank you for all the effort and dedication that you gave me during the semester. That shows a lot the kind of person and professor [sic] you are."

So there it is. Small student-to-teacher ratios are good, if for nothing else then for the ego of the teacher.