The weather has been beautiful, and we had a day off yesterday. What did I do? I sat in my windowless office and updated websites and worked. I was really annoyed that I just didn’t get done until after dark. I missed out on the entire gorgeous day.

I’m realizing that I’m going to get 4 emails for every applicant we have for our REU program, each of which needs to be dealt with, replied to, filed. If we have 200 applicants, I will have 800 emails to deal with in the next month and a half … eeek.

Today in Mathematical Modeling we did a 2.5 minute free-write on our upcoming writing assignment (a dialog in which we explain what is mathematical modeling). This was mostly to make sure they’ve got something written down now; they are to have a complete rough draft done Thursday.

Then we did a shorter free-write on what are the most important things to get right on the assignment, i.e. identify the grading priorities:

1. Follow the directions from the assignment and those given in-class; address all of the points you are supposed to address.
2. Organize your writing so that you present material in a logical, well-thought out fashion.
3. Write clearly, simply, concisely to explain each point well.
4. Use good sentence structure.
5. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, appearance.

Now if I just had a better grading plan for these to make the grading go fast when I get the final drafts. I’ve been reading about rubrics and other grading techniques, and I’ve been teaching this class for a year and a half now. I don’t have it figured out. Yet.