Hung up on grades

The last two weeks I've been grading final exams for both my classes. Surprisingly, the students seemed to learn quite a bit OR was it that I hand held them through the final exam too much by providing them with a pretty good study sheet...hmmm I'm not sure but I want to believe that it was the former. I did make it so that they had to review every lecture and article in order to prepare for the final so they had to learn (or memorize) something...lol

Well, early in the semester, I told my students that I'm "fair and transparent grader" and that "if they came to lecture, applied what they learned to thier assignments and turned in all thier work, they would do well in class."

Ok, so when I finally calculated my final grades, I realized that 40% of my class got A's. NOW I know I am a good teacher BUT I can't possible believe that all these students were "creme de la creme." Students that have done well in class, should get anywhere from a B to an A-...However, there needs to be a bit of a bell curve, where fewer then 20% (ok 25% get A's)....right?

So what I realized was that though I was told that the NZ grading scale was different from that of the US, I never truly processed it. I looked at it, took note of it and even included the grade scale in my course syllabi BUT I never sat with myself and analyzed how much "I" internalized the US grading system.

So what do I mean....well here is the NZ grading system:
Grade Range %
A+ 85-100
A 80-84
A- 75-79
B+ 70-74
B 65-69
B- 60-64
C+ 55-59
C 50-54

and here is one from the US

Letter Grade Range
A+ 100-99
A 98-96
A- 95-90
B+ 89-87
B 86-84
B- 83-80
C+ 79-77
C 76-74
C- 73-70
D+ 69-67
D 66-64
D- 63-60
F 59-0

Ok, So though I was told that a grade range of 79-100 was some-sort of A in NZ, when I was grading each assignment I tended to use my internalized US scale ("bad" 65 and below, "ok to good" 70 to 80s and "pretty well done to impressive" 90 to 100).

I found it really difficult to give an essay that "answered the question but wasn't very good" a 50, though that is a "c" grade which is exactly what they should have recieved.

Anyway, so what I realized is that I was much more of a "laid back grader"...not on principal but because I had some real issues with numerical grades and hadn't let go of the meanings I attached to them. 50 for me as a US student and US professor meant awful, fail, and "F". Where in NZ it's a "C!"

It's amazing how entreched these things are in us. I remember telling students not to get soo caught up with actual numerical grades and here I am completely caught up by them. I was really frazzled about how my final grades ended up...I told Clinton that I couldn't get my head around the NZ system and then he said something that really helped me embrace this new grade scale..." he said well NZ actually works on a much fairer numerical system....if you got atleast 50% of it right then you get a C (since C is the middle of the letter grades)." That logically made sense to me and being able to understand the new system made me feel better.

So, next semester I will be much more prepared to hand out those 50s...which may take the students who've heard that I was an easy grader by surprise!!! LOL

Sugar and Spice makes all things....AMAZING :-)

It's been some time since I have posted on this blog. And it’s not because life has become normal (though in some instances it has) but probably cause life has changed so drastically that I needed sometime to indulge and then center myself in it.

New Zealand has without a doubt changed Clinton and my world forever!

It's been about 5 and half months for me here and my life has been rocked....

* I finished teaching my first semester at a University here in NZ (I will definitely post soon about this experience)

* Clinton has begun to pursue a number of his extracurricular life interest (a total of four of them which I will let him share with the public once he is ready :-0)

* We are wonderfully engaged and cemented in our love, commitment and partnership

* AND we are blessedly expecting our first child before the end of this year :-)

All of the above were absolute surprises for me (Clinton had been preparing for the engagement for a while so that wasn't a surprise for him or his bank account...lol...BUT the rest of it was). We learned that we were having a little one in late March and we excitedly (almost about to pop) kept this huge event to ourselves till we were in the 3 month clear. Once we received clearance from our midwife (ohhh I will definitely post soon on the NZ maternal health care because it is sooo fantastically different from my experience in the US), we began to share it with family and loved ones (If I have been playing phone or email tag with your in the last 2 months....now you know why I was trying to reach you...lol).

About a week ago on a Friday morning, Clinton and I went to get our third sonogram. This sonogram would allow us to check on the baby's growing anatomy and, hopefully, find out the baby's sex. In the beginning, I had a really strong feeling that it was a little boy (Clinton and a few others felt the same). However in the last few weeks, this little one has been sending me female vibes (and at times I would find myself humming "it's a girl, it's a girl" and then quickly talking to my now very visible prego belly "oh baby I'm sorry if you're a boy, we will love you lotsssss"). So it was pretty clear that though I deeply wanted a healthy baby...I also hoped it was a little girl. This pregnancy process made me realize what was my underlining "family ideal"...A partnership at the foundation with a first born child that was a girl. I didn't even realize that was what I wanted until now...I guess looking at my life, as the first grandchild, it's not too hard to see how my own experience created that as a possible ideal. Women have been anchors in my family and I guess that’s what I secretly wanted for my own.

Well, after a few minutes of look at the baby's incredible bone structure (spine, rib cage, brain, little hands, little feet and even heart), we saw our little one's female anatomy and it was confirmed (though not guaranteed...the technician was like, "it looks like it’s a girl but every now and then I could be wrong")...."it is a GIRL."

Clinton and I are elated! It's so great to know who our little one is developing into. And since I thought she was a boy at first, I have a feeling she will be a tough little girl...lol

All in all, everything is amazing. I have thankfully had a very good pregnancy and am hoping that it continues this way.

Sugar and Spice surely does make everything Nice!

The pics I have included are from when I was 4 months and a few weeks (in Sydney), at 5 months and when I was at the sonogram appointment minutes before learning we were having a little girl).