Why is My Schedule Still So Full?

The deadline for dropping beat me---my backlog is:
CS 11: Some MP1 and MP2 stragglers
CS 131: LE2
CS 135: PS 1-4

Add to that:
CS 11: MP3 solutions
CS 131: MP and report specs, Modules 3 and 4
CS 135: MP and report specs, SW 3 solutions and checking
Javacup problems (10)

So, I'm keeping an eye on my students for CS 11, and I am trying to solve their machine problem, annotate the solution and devise a class-based solution. And my mind wanders to the Javacup problems.

And I wanted to write??

Discombubbled

Woke up a lot later than expected. Felt disoriented in the morning. I think I've properly zombied through the day, so will check in with my better half later.

Decisions on Bad Data

So, arriving today at work, I was greeted by three dropping slips. Two, I know, were in the hands of those that needed it. A third, on the other hand, was in ambiguous territory. So, I enter the "are you sure?" phase of the exit interview, and all three had decided.

So I sign the release forms.

Later, I determine the status of Mr. Ambiguous---only to find that he is well within the territory of the doing fine. (Except for the machine problems, which I have yet to check, but I am doubting that that is too low.) In fact, he may be in line to pass within a decent margin by the next two requirements.

So, is this guilt, or is this merely the mechanism?

Must... Hold... On...

Ugh. Under the weather again. Will get most of the stuff done first. After what I'm currently checking (CS 135 LE 2), only CS 131 LE 2 will be on paper---everything else (assorted CS 11 MPs, majority of CS 135 PSs) will be digital. Then, again, making a program to determine the answers for CS 131 LE 1 helped cut into the time it'd take to check, so I will probably write the general answers down first, encode and program, and use that to speed up the checking process.

T minus 72.5 hours and counting...

Edit: After the department meeting and three hours later, I am done with the CS 135 LE 2, and have not started on the solution (program) for CS 131 LE 2. Will start later, maybe implement, maybe be done maybe tomorrow morning...

Droppin' Like Flies

Hmmm... apparently my sales-pitch for not dropping is not working on the math majors. Although one claims that shifting is the issue, or that either CS 11 or a major would be dropped, is getting an average of 70, 80 or even 86 over the four easiest requirements too difficult? Or have they been too menaced by previous requirements that "easy" would be too relative a term?

Either way, that makes CS 11: 5, CS 131: 0, CS 135: 1. So far. And that doesn't count those that have gone AWOL on me.

T Minus 104 Hours

... until the end of the dropping period, 5 PM on Monday. I still have maybe four class-exams worth of papers to check, but the going is surprisingly fast. Computers can help make life easier.

Am currently in the CS 11 lab, looking busy. So are my students. There's a high likelihood that for every student doing the third machine problem, another one is looking at Friendster. I hope nobody is doing what I wouldn't do at school.

Edit: 104 hours - 32 hours for sleep - 9 hours for food - 4 hours for gym - 8 hours for travel - 12 hours for the weekend events = 49 hours and counting! That's not even removing the inevitable 10+ hours for goofing around! Maybe 38 hours, maybe less, then!

Shotz!

Am way behind my schedule. Thank my sinusitis bout from Monday to this morning for that. I do have LE2 for CS 131 ready, but not the checking. At least I have my "answer key" program at the ready.

Remaining for Monday:
CS 11 - check some MP1 and MP2 solutions, determining new documentation (geom example)
CS 131 - check LE 1 (today!), print/photocopy/give LE2, check LE2 (make LE2 solution)
CS 135 - check PS 1-4, LE 2

Incomplete

On the cusp of ten days before deadline for dropping, I have the following to-do list:

CS 11: check ME 4 & 5, MP 1 & 2 (by today?) prog11 [geom example] (by 15th)
CS 135: check SW 2, PS 1-4, LE 1 & 2 (by weekend?)
CS 131: solve PS 2 and upload (by 13th), make and solve (and upload) LE 2 (by 15th), check LE 1 (by 15th) & LE 2 (by 19th)

Now, I have a schedule. Will I keep to it? (And there's nothing said about days after the 20th, such as the solution for CS 11 MP3 and specs for CS 11 MP4 on the 22nd, solution for CS 135 PS 5, and collecting [and eventually checking] CS 11 MP3 and CS 135 PS 5 over that week.)

Whoops

I seem to have left the grades I meticulously checked yesterday at home. Sigh. At least I am done with that. Now off to other things.

Long Examination and Cursory Assessment

I do have a long-standing habit of brief long examination cycles from conception to evaluation. In essence this is mostly because I believe (and execute) that examinations are the purest form of assessment for students, and although this is not entirely fair for worlds of reasons, and not entirely true, for most practicum and laboratory-based classes. Even in the latter cases, if your practicum is mostly held outside of teacher supervision, the examination is the best individual assessment tool, until probably the time when brain scans will be cheap, concise and won't damage the aforementioned brain (any more than higher education does).

I keep my cycles short (except in the case of inevitable checking backlogs, but only then in the checking and feedback portion) so that there is less chance for the unsavory to occur. I rarely keep copies of the newest exam over for longer than overnight, and rarely reuse them. (The exception, unfortunately, is for the CS 135 examinations, one of which I am currently proctoring, having taken over for the eternally gracious Ate Mila. I was proctoring my CS11 examination, which had ninety minute overlap.)

I do try to make checking short as well, as a contiguous period. It helps me remember to score similar answers similarly, to keep things fair.

Itchy & Scratchy

I currently look like Rudolph on a low night, my nostrils crimson with the agitation from my fingertips. I know today will be slow, as I had already done a wad of work yesterday, yet a wad and more still remain. Have to make two (maybe even three, or four, counting sets) long examinations for tomorrow, and will prepare a problem set for today.

Making Time

Made good time over the weekend vis-a-vis the third module for CS 131. Hoping to get some checking done over the week, to lighten the load. There are, after all, three long examinations arriving, and a problem set to check and another to make. Otherwise, just the geometric example for the CS 11 class, and that's still next week.

I wish it was easy to get into the mood of writing checking. Time to bust out the "Checking Stuff" CD...

Edit: The problem set has been cast, and the solution to the one that will be submitted is on the way. I should make some of the specifications to the machine problems and reports that I will have submit at the end of the semester. Maybe I can get through this dropping season without going mad...

Edit: Two problem sets cast, and a Freudian slip corrected.

Talk is Good

Actions are better. Got the rest of the slides for CS 131. Am slightly ahead with my module schedule, but way behind on my checking sked.

Muggy Mood

Don't ask.

Keeping My Eye on You

Today is the deadline for MP2 for CS11, and barely have any idea how well they are progressing. The few questions I have fielded yield no insight. On the other hand, I have encoded the first ten pages of CS 131 module 3, which is half of what I plan to cover tomorrow and on Friday. I wonder if Prof. Quiwa got my note? Will ask him for the slides later, after the class.

I hope three hours minus lunch will be enough to encode the next ten pages. Looks like it might, since I've spent less than three hours on the first ten, so far. But there are tables to fill in the next half...

And I still want to actually have some leeway, so I may start on the rest in the weekend. Will I have the breathing room I need in February to write?