We’re literally days away from the end of fall classes. With the smell of holiday break in the air, it would be easy to lose sight of the goal. So here are some funny time wasters, but then it’s right back to work for all of you:
- Some people (none we can name) believe you’ll never be taken seriously as a teacher until you have a professorly name. Lucky for you we stumbled upon the Plucky Professor Name Generator. Now you can get your very own scholarly pseudonym to go with that elbow-patch cardigan.
- It seems like everyone is using infographics these days. No doubt, representing information visually has endless applications in the university setting. We just happen to like visual.ly’s collection of hilarious infographics too.
- We at the GATA Network don’t condone pranks or shenanigans of any kind. That said, what a brazen group of Harvard students did to the Yale campus before the most recent Harvard-Yale football game was pretty funny. Posing as Yale tour guides, the pranksters told potential students things like “…there’s a lot you can do [at Yale]: we have great WiFi.” Watch the full video of their escapade here.
Happy Friday!
If you follow GradHacker like we do, you knew about last week’s “Share your Workspace” photo contest. Don’t worry, we didn’t win either.
But the contest did get us thinking about best practices in officing. Yes, just like grading, offices have best practices. Whether you’re marking papers or writing them, you need a space that is conducive to good work. Here are a few things to consider when setting up your workspace:
The standing desk. Researchers argue that there are multiple potential benefits to converting your desk into a standing desk, including potential health benefits. Maybe it’s compelling enough that a recent study conducted by Business Insider suggests that standing can boost productivity by 10%. You can convert your own desk for relatively cheap and join the ranks of some pretty “lofty” (we went there) company.
The exercise ball chair. Another option for those of you suffering from “I-sit-at-my-desk-all-day” back aches, replacing your office chair with an exercise ball is old news. The jury is still out on whether these chairs solve more problems than they cause. That said, some amazing advances have been made in the last few years to make the exercise ball look more like an actual office chair.
Jazz-up your cubicle. Because, let’s be serious, the word “office” in relation to GA/TAs is often more accurately “cubicle”. It’s no secret that cubicles are the worst, but there are things you can do to make yours more bearable. Melanie Pinola at LifeHacker has reviewed both exercise ball chairs and cubicles. For the latter, Pinola makes some interesting recommendations. For instance, did you know there are cubicle friendly fish?
Other office hacks. Sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. Ilya Pozin has put together a great list of little things you can do to make your office better entitled “25 Office Hacks You Need To Know“. Our favourite? The brownie in a mug. Because it’s a brownie in a mug.
If you read our post last Friday, you might know about the debate over learning styles. Sachin Maharaj argues that teaching to different learning styles has not been proven to help students. The complicated part is that Howard Gardner, the scholar whose work the theory of different learning styles is generally (incorrectly) attributed to, has also recently come out against the theory, as Maharaj explains. If you didn’t get the chance to read his article in the Washington Post, Gardner discusses the “lexical terrain” surrounding learning styles, multiple intelligences, and a host of other terms that are often conflated and calls for more research on the effects of learning styles.
What’s interesting is that, despite the debate, what Gardner advocates for in the conclusion of his article is a multimodal approach that still attempts to reach as many students as possible by appealing to multiple strategies. Gardner offers three pieces of advice for teachers:
1. Individualize your teaching as much as possible. Instead of “one size fits all,” learn as much as you can about each student, and teach each person in ways that they find comfortable and learn effectively. Of course this is easier to accomplish with smaller classes. But ‘apps’ make it possible to individualize for everyone.
2. Pluralize your teaching. Teach important materials in several ways, not just one (e.g. through stories, works of art, diagrams, role play). In this way you can reach students who learn in different ways. Also, by presenting materials in various ways, you convey what it means to understand something well. If you can only teach in one way, your own understanding is likely to be thin.
3. Drop the term “styles.” It will confuse others and it won’t help either you or your students.
Are these practices you incorporate in your teaching? What do you think the term “styles” adds/subtracts from these strategies?
To read more of Gardner’s original article, visit the Washington Post here.
We’re another week closer to the end of classes. In case you have “so-close-yet-so-far” syndrome, we’ve really endeavoured to take your mind of things in this week’s We Made It: It’s Friday. Just count the hyperlinks.
- Because taking a break doesn’t mean you have to avoid being scholarly, you might want to read Sachin Maharaj’s opinion piece from the Toronto Star about learning styles, which Maharaj calls “educational fads”. Where do you come down on issues like self-directed or discovery learning?
- Not like you need us to tell you, but why not waste some time on Cheezburger today? Calm down. We said some time, which implies a reasonable amount, just to take the edge off. After all, much of what’s posted there acctually comments on the state of education, like this, or this, or this. There’s a lot of wisdom on Cheezburger in general, but especially about the issues facing education.
- And if you like cartoons and stuff but you want something more intelligent, why not watch some clips from Animaniacs? There’s a whole thread on YouTube devoted to intelligent clips from the show. And then there’s this one where Brain sings “A Meticulous Analysis of History”. And then there’s one where Brain and Christopher Walken argue about the laws of physics. That’s Christopher Walken arguing with a mouse. You’re welcome.
Happy Friday!
A few weeks ago, Katy Meyers at GradHacker wrote about what graduate students can do to improve their job outlook in an uncertain job market. Speaking of the startling percentage of unemployed graduate students, Meyers argued for the need to develop transferable skills out of what we already practice.
The same could be said for GA/TAs. Whether teaching is something you want to pursue as a career or just a part of your studies, your experience in the classroom is helping you to develop transferable skills. Marketing those skills to potential employers is the hard part, and that’s where Preparing for the Job Fair 2014 Workshops come in handy.
This Friday Next Tuesday, November 26th, will be the first of four workshops focusing on everything from resumes, to interviewing, to career planning. The workshops all lead up to Job Fair 2014 in January, explained below:
For the 15th year in a row, the University of Windsor and St. Clair College have partnered to host this recruitment event for our students and graduates. Each year, we welcome over 60 companies who are actively recruiting for employment or volunteer opportunities. Approximately 1500 students and alumni from the University of Windsor and St. Clair College have historically attended.
For more information on the job fair, head to http://www1.uwindsor.ca/cce/job-fair-a-partnership-to-the-future.
And learn more about the workshops at http://www1.uwindsor.ca/cce/preparing-for-the-job-fair-2014-workshops#20131126T130000.
No matter the context, handing back graded assignments is the surest way to bring the temperature down in any room. Often, in spite of your commentary or review, there are students who just can’t accept the mark they’ve received. (That’s why there’s a whole wikiHow on “How to Get a Professor to Change Your Grade”). And while it can be difficult to deal with a challenge to your teaching practices from a stressed out student worried about how your test will affect their GPA, it’s not fair to just dismiss their concerns, nor is it fair to cave to every demand.
Here are some tips on how to navigate the dreaded grade challenge:
- Take a breather and reconvene tomorrow. That goes for both you and the student. Make it clear that you will see any student seeking clarification on the grade they received only after that student has taken 24 hours to review the grade and your comments. This is the surest way for level heads to prevail. Rob Weir (2011) also suggests requiring students to bring detailed notes about their assignment and how it can be improved if they would like to discuss their grade.
- Don’t offer extra credits you haven’t planned for. Weir (2011) also cautions against offering extra-credit assignments that will only add to your work load. These types of measures also tend to lead to widespread challenges, as the deal you make with one dissatisfied student is sure to appeal to a number of others. Before you return an assignment, develop a plan for how you will handle appeals for extra credit. Rather than offer extra marks or alter the grade distribution, consider forming support groups for students who acknowledge that they need to improve on future assignments.
- Keep detailed records. Very recently a friend told me about a frustrating experience she had in one of her courses. Despite receiving average grades throughout the term, her final mark at the end of the term was a narrow fail. Reviewing the grades she had received on individual assignments, she found that there was no mathematical way she could have received that final grade. When this was brought to the instructor’s attention, the grade was promptly changed. The moral of this story is that your students will keep track of their marks, and so should you. Stanford University’s Teaching Commons explains that, “Such records will make it easier for you to justify and/or reevaluate a student’s final grade if necessary.”
- Know the policy. The University of Windsor has specific guidelines for appealing grades, but many supervisors prefer to settle grading disputes for GA/TAs before the matter is formally appealed. Discuss grading disputes with your supervisor so that you know what recourse you can offer students that are still unsatisfied with their marks after you’ve met and discussed them.
- Remember you’re human, too. This can really mean two things:
- First, it’s possible you made a mistake. Clerical errors have been known to happen to even accomplished academics, and once in a while students end up with grades they don’t deserve due to miscalculations. Never take for granted that the grade you’ve assigned is the grade you intended.
- Second, be compassionate. As GA/TAs we have the benefit of being student teachers and thus being able to sympathize with student problems. No matter how frustrating or challenging a dispute may be, try to remember the enormous pressure students are under. Remind students that grade is a reflection on one example of their work, not a comment on their ability or potential.
- Stay firm. While it’s important to be compassionate, it’s equally important to uphold the academic standards of the course. Let sympathy and compassion dictate the way you approach a dispute, not the way you grade. Whatever reevaluation you perform should be based on the merit of the work.
References
Weir, R. (2011). Sympathy, no surrender. InsideHigherEd. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2011/11/11/essay-how-deal-complaints-about-grades-papers
Stanford University. (n.d.). Strategies for fair and conflict-free grading. Stanford teaching commons. Retrieved from https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/resources/teaching/evaluating-students/assessing-student-learning/strategies-fair-and-conflict-free
We’re weeks away from the end of Fall Semester, but who’s keeping count? It’s hard to top last Friday’s Neruda themed post and the funny goings-on therein, but what we’ve collected below should make the end of your week a whole little smilier and pleasant.
- What does Kung Fu have to do with reading? Everything. Sort of. As Nancy Chick suggests, we could all improve our reading skills by taking notes on Bruce Lee. Read more about how you can bring Lee’s “fierceness” to your reading practices in Chick’s blog post, “Reading Like Bruce Lee”.
- Sharpie Sandbox is back! That’s right, the GATA Network’s favourite illustrator is back at work, posting her illustrated musings on life post-university. Which is funny, because “The Cycle” could just as easily apply to the life of a GA/TA (just substitute “grade” and “coffee” for “write” and “beer”).
- If you’re a GA/TA, you probably enjoy the misery of other people (say most students). But say you really do enjoy misery? You’re going to want to know about the Broken Pencil’s Deathmatch, where writers submit their stories in the hopes of squaring off against each other in a head-to-head competition where readers get to vote for their favourite story and be vocal and vicious about it. And submissions are now open!
How many times have you overheard discussions about which teachers are tough markers and which classes are a breeze? When you’re the one taking the tests, it may seem like common sense to seek out easy grades, but shouldn’t grades be consistent from class-to-class or teacher-to-teacher?
As standardized testing and curriculum reform are debated at the elementary and secondary school levels, teaching and learning specialists are beginning to push for more accountability in assessment in higher education. While we all have individual teaching styles, we should be able to agree on standards and best practices when it comes to grading, even if it is a subjective process. The type of accountability this brings to the assessment process is best described as inter-rater reliability.
What Is Inter-Rater Reliability?
The term inter-rater reliability is used in research methods to refer to consistency in the types of responses received to a particular judgement. When we use it to talk about grading, however, inter-rater reliability means coming to an agreement about the quality of student work and the grades we assess. By coming to this agreement, we ensure that students are treated fairly and are subject to the same expectations regardless of their section or instructor. This also means determining clearly for yourself what A+ work looks like.
How Can We Practice Consistency?
Consistency in grading starts with developing standards for the quality of work expected, necessitates establishing practices, follows from sharing those expectations and practices with students, and ends with committing to these initiatives during the assessment process. Here are some ways you can ensure consistency in your marking:
- Use a rubric. Over the last few weeks, we’ve talked a lot about using rubrics in your grading. Why? Because developing a rubric for an assignment and providing it to students both before and after assessment provides an outline for what a “good” assignment should look like. From the instructor’s perspective, a rubric can also serve as a measuring stick when determining where student work rates according to the guidelines.
- Communicate with your supervisor. As GAs and TAs, the grades we assess are often according to standards communicated to us by our supervisors. Before you start marking, make sure you have a clear idea what your supervisor is looking for. Especially when you don’t have a rubric to guide you, clarify these expectations by considering the questions posed by Boston University’s Centre for Excellence & Innovation in Teaching:
- What components are you looking for in the answers to this assignment?
- What is the relative weight of these components? Are they equally important?
- What is excellent performance on this assignment? What is average performance?
- Grade assignments in groups. When I was responsible for marking assignments in a section of a large first-year course, I often received comments from students about how other sections leaders graded differently. To make sure you’re on the same page as your colleagues, spend some time marking assignments together.
- Make your expectations clear and stick to them. Consistency in grading also means treating students equally. Have a late policy and stick to it. Develop a rubric and stick to it. In general, whatever standards you develop should be maintained in each student interaction.
- Grade sections/parts/questions individually. Especially when marking exams or midterms, grading each student on the same item at the same time can help to ensure fair assessment.
We Can Help
If you’re looking for help developing your own marking schemes or just some advice on grading in general, the GATA Network can help. Contact us at gata@uwindsor.ca and ask for a consultation with our team.
You may have heard the old adage “Work smart, not hard”, but it takes on new meaning when you’re marking student work. Last week we introduced some resources on grading compiled by Beth Koontz at Vanderbilt University. But at the end of the day, when we’re faced with a stack of students’ assignments and a stack of our own class work, and when both are due at the same time, what we really want to know is how we can make our grading more efficient.
We aren’t alone, either. In fact, marking efficiently was such a huge concern to the University of California Berkeley that they wrote a guide specifically for graduate student instructors called “Tips On Grading Efficiently”. Some of these strategies (or versions of them) already happen to be part of my own grading repertoire:
- Make notes to yourself as you grade. As the guide suggests, this is a great way to make sure you’re being consistent in your grading. I sometimes used two sets of notes: one with comments for each individual assignment and another with more general comments for the class as a whole. It can also be helpful to assign grades on these notes first before assigning the grade to the assignment itself. That way, if for some reason you change your mind about the grade you’ve assigned a student, you won’t need to scratch it out on their assignment.
- Time yourself. Not because marking is a race, nor because you should be quick about it. You just have to budget your time. My supervisor used to tell me that every paper I read should take about 30-45 minutes to grade. When I found that I was taking upwards of an hour or an hour and a half on some, I began to get worried. When I started timing myself, I realized that it made the whole process more equitable because I was giving each assignment roughly the same amount of attention (AND I was getting to bed on time). Some assignments will require more attention than others, but as Berkley’s guide suggests, it’s best to save these for last when you already have a good sense of the work you’re grading.
- Throw grading parties. I can’t count how many times I had a colleague read an assignment to make sure my evaluation was fair, and often these colleagues were returning the favour for advice that I had offered them. Your fellow GA/TAs are a tremendous resource, and consulting on specific issues you’re having in your grading can make the process more efficient for all of you. Think of this as an investment in efficiency.
- Type out your comments and attach them. If you’re like me, you probably type faster than you write. Typing can save a lot of time for summative comments especially.
For more on Berkeley’s guide to efficient marking, head to http://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/grading/efficiency.html.
Pablo Neruda once said, “Laughter is the language of the soul.” Right? We weren’t there, and we can’t speak Spanish. We’re really relying on the Internet for this one. And the Simpsons. And why would the Simpsons lie?
So let’s get soulful, because our minds and bodies probably need a break. Here are a few funny odds and ends that might speak to you as a GA/TA:
- Those innovative listers over at BuzzFeed curated a pretty awesome collection of funny teacher moments last spring called 33 Teachers Who Got The Last Laugh. To be clear, we’re not endorsing any of the teaching techniques you’ll find there as pedagogically sound, but don’t tell us you never thought about spelling out Lady Gaga lyrics using elements in the periodic table.
- Surviving the World’s advice on Academic Bribes flies in the face of everything we know about assessment and best practices. It’s also quite funny. Beware the compliment givers.
- Sometimes you’d rather think about a fictional school in your favourite piece of literature than anything to do with real life (e.g., grading papers, writing papers, understanding the marks you gave/received on papers, etc.). Well, did you know that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry has its own RateMyProfessors page? As you may expect, the ratings are rather tongue-in-cheek. If you’re into that, you might also want to check out the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.
We’re now at 24 days and counting. Happy Friday!
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