Yawn! and Yay!

I finally finished editing my course syllabus for the Spring. I'm including all of the same readings (for my own personal skimming needs), but I've compacted the reading load into less days so that I can add two more videos into the mix. I'm teaching a research paper class, and I've made it to specifically focus on American culture and the American dream. I've included The Merchants of Cool and Barbie Nation for my weeks on consumerism and gender (respectively). I also usually show American Pimp when I discuss race and class issues. Hopefully, I've paced the essays out more (I have a hard time gaging my own grading limitations) so that I can get all of their drafts back on time. Last term, I had some difficulties with keeping up with my own rigorous essay schedules. I had to drop one essay and one group presentation in order to make room for more grading time. That was horrible. I'm still keeping those two items out, but I will be requiring both group and individual conferences on rough drafts.

I think it's important not to require a grade for the rough draft of the paper. By the time the students write the rough draft, they are more concerned with overall feedback than an actual grade on the paper. However, I definitely wouldn't say that this is a good idea for any other paper. They need a grade on every paper prior to the rough draft in order to feel secure in their overall class grade. At first, I wouldn't accept such an idea. But then it happened to me in a graduate class. I never received any of my grades until the portfolio was turned in. That was a really bad experience.

Other than that, I've got to head back to the office to return two library books and change the grade of a former student. Then, it's back to working on my master's project. I'm actually quite excited to have it completed (well, in about a week -- for the first draft)!