Thursday, November 19, 2009

Odds and Ends Thursday 34

The hell of this week is over. All 468 Computer Studies exams have been marked, tallied, and put into the computer. It was a harrowing process, and it feels good to be done. I was under the impression that this would be an easy week, which hasn’t really come true. But Maengi and I agreed that next week will be a lot easier. Then again, that’s what I thought last week. So we’ll see. Here are some other odds and ends from the week:
  • Students’ exam answers: What kind of people use computers? People that are rich and people that have many families overseas.
  • My spreadsheet seems to be popular among staff. Some have been antsy about getting the raw marks, but most seem content to wait until to get their entire gradebook printed out. It’s a pretty sweet deal, if I do say so myself. Teachers have been asking what they can do for me. I’ve clearly gained some social capital.
  • There have been bugs though. Apong noticed that it was translating scores into grades incorrectly; it was the equivalent of calling a 78 a B rather than a C.
  • I just saw the “Night Court” episode of 30 Rock. That show is great.
  • Still no word on what the huge shipping container on my front lawn contains. Yesterday there was a backhoe parked next to it. What does this all mean?
  • I told my year 12s they could come knock on my door if they had questions. So two students approached me after class to ask if they could get my cell phone number so they could call and ask me questions. I hesitated, but I gave it to them anyway. And now one of them texts me all the time. Or he’ll call and hang up before I can pick up so his phone isn’t charged for credit. The test was last week! Stop calling me, dude.
  • Last Saturday’s post showed the left side of my face duplicated. The non-dimple side.
  • The most difficult part of grading tests is when the student answers a question with a total non sequitur. There was a question on the year 11 test, “Name 3 places to find the copy and paste tools.” And in a desperate attempt to demonstrate some sort of computer knowledge, a student might write something like, “RAM holds the data that the processor is currently working on.” This would throw my brain for a loop each time. I could get a good rhythm going, and then an answer like that would pop up, and I’d have to stop and ponder and figure out what in the hell was going on. It slowed me down.
  • The vacation request forms list a bunch of phone numbers for US Embassies and Peace Corps offices in other countries. It turns out there’s a Peace Corps office in Cambodia, and now I totally want to go.
  • The Nokia T9 Word Predictor knows “Pol Pot” and “Khmer Rouge”. “Khmer” in particular annoys Blakey because the phone throws that out as an option before “Limes”. It seems like “Limes” would get used more often than “Khmer,” but I could be wrong.
  • The mosquitoes have been out in full force lately. Around the clock, no matter where I am, those guys are everywhere. Very obnoxious.
  • Holiday music is in full swing now. All week my school secretary’s been playing Christmas music in the teacher’s lounge while we all sit around and grade. Almost everyone gets really into it when “O Holy Night” comes on. “Little Drummer Boy” also seems to be extremely popular.
  • Students’ exam answers: What does ROM stand for? Romantic Occupation Memories
  • Students’ exam answers: What does RAM stand for? Romantic Assistance Memories.
That’s all I got for now. Hope you’re well. Pictures below.


The year 13s have been playing volleyball after school before dinner.


Mira and Marie during yesterday's chocolate session.


Me during yesterday's chocolate session.

1 comment:

Barb Carusillo said...

Okay, Romantic Assistance Memories sounds good to me. A PT student once stated that ORIF (which means Open Reduction, Internal Fixation) meant "Oh Rats, I Flunked!" at the end of a pop quiz of medical terminology for which she wasn't prepared. I still chuckle over that one.