Let The Paper Dump begin

A lot of things in cyber space are very different that their real world component. Teaching isn't one of them. This is the end of the semester for my students in Texas and it's exhausting me. My general rule when teaching is I don't care when a student hands in their work. It's more important to me that they do hand in. I try very hard to get rid of all the bull shit assignments, so the assignments I require are, for me, the really important ones.

Needless to say, I get paper dumped at the end of the term. This makes me tired and cranky, but gives the kids the chance they need. I know other teachers who strictly enforce due dates, and I've seen lots of kids take a zero because they couldn't get an assignment in on time. This seems to be really pointless. Unless of course the content of that assignment wasn't really important to begin with. If the work was essential for their progress, isn't it better to make sure they do it rather than enforce a time line?

It's better for the student, but like I said it makes me cranky, not kick the dog cranky, that takes W, but cranky never the less. It also interferes with my ability to write anything worth while. I have a few blog posts I've been working on but can't seem to really tweak to the point I like them.

I'll try to get them up soon, especially the third part of the zombie zeitgeist.