Astroprof’s Page

End of the semester approaching

Published on Apr 28, 2008 at 4:44 pm. 1 Comment.
Filed under college teaching.

… and I can’t wait!

As always, the last two weeks of the semester are a bear. There are a mountain of papers to grade, exams to write, and end of semester forms to fill out to keep the college’s administration happy. A large part of my time spent in these last two weeks is bookkeeping. And, of course, there are the end of academic year meetings. Technically, the academic year runs through the summer, but many faculty are not around much in the summer. Our teaching contracts are nine months. Teaching in the summer is extra. So, some faculty teach, some do other things around here, and some just disappear until the fall semester. I have never been able to take off summers. I rather like the extra income that teaching summers provides. This year, with higher than normal gasoline and electricity prices, that is extra important. But, with some faculty not here, they make all of the academic year paperwork due now. And, you can’t fill out the forms early when you actually have time, because they are only just now sending out the “new and improved” forms that we are to fill out this year.

Of course, there are also plenty of students who are expected extra time with me these last two weeks. I will gladly spend time with them in the 14 weeks before. But, now, I am under the gun to get everything done in the last two weeks myself. So, when they bring me an entire semester’s worth of work to grade, I simply point out that my policy on late work is laid out in their syllabus about late work. That is there for a reason. I do not have time to grade an entire semester’s worth of work in the last week. They adults, so I don’t feel that it is wrong to hold them responsible for not turning in work when it is due. And, of course, the policy is in the document that they got on the first day of class, so it should not be a surprise.

Normally, I really like being a college professor. However, the frantic stress that happens at the end of each semester, and the double stress that happens at the end of the spring semester, always gets to me. But, of course, I am not alone. Everyone else around my department seems just as frantic. I see some faculty in other disciplines, and they seem to be going along quite smoothly, and I can’t figure out how they manage that. Everyone here is beside themselves.

So, for my regular readers, expect a significant drop off in the number of entries on my site for the next two weeks. I’ll post when I get a chance.

-Astroprof