Week 5 of the semester...

So, I'm teaching German 101 at LMRU (Large Midwestern Research University). Since we are technically limited to 3000 photocopies per semester, I send most of my students' homework assignments per Email. Last week, at the end of week 4, I still had students asking "What assignment? Is that what was in that Email?" Get a clue! Yes. That's what that email with the subject line of "German101: Homework" was all about!

*grumbles*

I guess I can't complain too much. Most of my students are getting As and no one is failing.

I did have to lay down the law on late assignments, though. Usually it doesn't much matter for me whether I get an assignment turned in one day or the next, but when I get assignments from the previous week or even two weeks ago, that's kinda annoying. It's even worse if it's something that I actually have to read and correct (as opposed to listening lab stuff that I just mark done or not done). There's nothing like the feeling of getting to the bottom of a stack of 15-20 student essays and being done, fertig, terminada, klaar, fini...and then getting another one turned in a day or two later. So, I've told the students that any late work will only receive half credit.

Note: If I assign verb drills to be done before the grammar test, then maybe it would be beneficial to do the verb drills before the grammar test. Practice making perfect and all. It really burns me to see students with blank sheets...and then they wonder why their grades suffer.

That's a good thing...if they choose to not do the work, their grade will usually suffer anyway on test day. Then I don't have to feel bad about it.

I like teaching, but it's annoying as a teacher to have slacker students. On the other hand, I tend to be a slacker student, so I can see both perspectives.