Unterrichtsfreie Zeit

May 15-August 15 is our "vacation" as I have heard several non-academics call it. People in academe know that it is an outside-of-contract time during which you do not get paid but yet work even harder. So in Germany this time period is more accurately referred to as “unterrichtsfreie Zeit” (i.e. non-teaching time). And really all summer means is that I do not have teaching commitments and there typically are only a few committee meetings. Yet, I still am writing letters of recommendations, answering questions from students, reading various milestone papers (comprehensive exams, QRPs, Capstones, ….). Naturally, I have to plan my courses for next year (three of them are new to me, and the fourth I need to really rework). Of course then I also help with the camp, hopefully even camps. On top of that is working on data analysis, new IRBs, setting up new projects, writing up completed projects, revising articles, etc…. But the great advantage is that since I do not have to teach, I can simply be anywhere doing this work. Right now Benni and I are in Germany. This is my last attempt to collect the kind of study abroad data that I really want. If it does not work out this time, then I just give up, I think. Of course Benni is being entertained by all my family and my mom’s kindergarten kids. So, I actually have some time to work. Today I even had an initial meeting with a student who will be doing her Capstone with me in the fall. She is currently doing her study abroad here in Freiburg. This weekend, I will set up my work plan for my four weeks here. This year I timed it so that we are here while my mom and my dad have their vacation/unterrichtsfreie Zeit. That will give me some very good work time and free child-care.

Grading Scale

Since I got to MSU, I have been frustrated with the grading system. I really would like to have more variance. There are some students who are sort of As but not as much As as others. I really would like to be able to give a 4.0, 3.75, 3.5, .... I feel like that would be more meaningful to the rest of the world. It's not like I can annotate the grades (e.g. Got an A with 97%, barely got an A, ...). But I also don't think it is fair to give the students a 3.5 only because we do not have a 3.75 at this university. I would even prefer the A, A-, B+ better. Because 3.5 has the taste of B+ and I have students who are clearly a range, just not solid A. So, I really would prefer to give them an A- rather than having to choice between 3.5 and 4.0. Granted, it's all a numbers game, and I don't give final grades. I sum the components and then I look at my grading scale and it is x or y. But because of this conflict between the 4.0 and the 3.5 I have set my bar a little lower for the 4.0. Which works in acknowledging the A part for the people who would have gotten the A- in other parts of the country, but it really does not make the true Aers special enough.
In general I furstrated with the grade system, especially in the lower level language classes. Because language develops through practice, a lot of the grade is made up of practice, i.e. effort. So let's say John and Jeremy get a B. Now, the assumption would be that there are both good speakers of German (given the level) and somewhat decent students. In reality that might be true, but it might also be that John is really not that great at German, but puts in a lot of effort, so still ends up mathematically a B. John might be terrific at German, but simply does not turn in the work. So, now they both have a B, but the meaning of that B is really totally different. I wish I could write how the grade came about. In a away, I guess, I liked the report rather than grade used at Reed College. I think that would also allows us to push students higher and at the same time accomodate better those that really want to learn but have a little bit more difficulty.

Meeting Marathon

Today was a meeting marathon: College faculty meeting, SLS faculty meeting, and the department faculty meeting. A lot of the information was redundant and in the end I could no longer sort out who said what. And most of the time I was thinking: I still have to grade so much.
But now I have finished looking at all the portfolios. I have graded many other random things. I am hoping to get all the grading done by Wednesday, this includes the reviewing of the QRP I got. Then I "just" have to plan my two workshops, the High School Camp, and the basic structure of the two courses I will be teaching in the Fall. All of that before I leave on the 11th. We shall see....