Tommorow is our last day reading essays. Word 'round the campfire is that we'll be done soon after lunch. I've now graded 650 essays. The grading went much slower this year on question three because so many more students seemed to have a grasp of it and actually attempted to answer it. Last year I had a ton of students not even try to write anything.I've had fun again this year. The week started out a bit rocky. The weather was colder and rainier than last year. It took me a little longer to warm up to the grading rubric. Most of us feel that the rubric was too generous to the students this year. It took me an adjustment to hand out points for things I would never accept in class. But the motto here is to "drink the Kool-Aid." Just go along and no one gets sent home.
Once I acclimated things started to hum along. My table leader was cool. Good group of fellow readers both at my table and in my yurt (the ballroom is divided by curtains...two tables to a section...nicknamed yurts.). No annoying loudmouths as I've heard about at other tables.
The weather was weird today. It was nice and warm. Then around noon a front moved in. Lightning (mountain lightning is a whole lot scarier than flatland lightning) and hail. Me and a buddy had to run to our dorm for cover instead of the farther off cafeteria. Felt like we were getting hit by bb's. Pictures are on the flickr account HERE.
But yesterday was nice. (photo above is me enjoying the sun and mountains during lunch break.) We've had a couple of nice days. I got to walkabout last night for about an hour. Two days ago went to a movie with some of the crew. Good group of guys here. Have not been bored...except when reading cruddy essays. That can wear you down fast. I start to twitch everytime I hear the words "racial ideology."
Good trip but looking forward to getting these essays out of the way.
