Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

To continue my discussion yesterday, at this point I'll share some of the students questions regarding their quiz yesterday. Of course there were the usual concerned questions about how many exams we'll have, and how many points this test will be worth. I hadn't decided on either, but I just gave an underestimation to placate them.

One question in the quiz asked if the movie fit their idea of how contact with extraterrestrials would happen. If not, they were supposed to give a movie that did fit their view. One student, who has consistently shown keenness in his inquiries the past month and a half, asked if it was okay to answer just "yes" to that question.

"That's up to you," I said. "It's an essay-type quiz." Was he expecting that a short answer would get full point for that item? They are subjective questions, therefore there are no right or wrong answers. I'm after the intelligence of their answers, and how they express themselves. Not getting their point across clearly, either because of bad grammar or being too lazy to elaborate their answer, would be deducted against them.

I would be trying to grade them as my play/movie/book reviews were graded in school: based on the insights presented that impressed the teacher.

On a side note, for the first time I didn't dismiss the classes as soon as they finished their test. I made them wait, because afterwards I gave them the results of their first exam, inserted in their group envelopes and expected to be returned still in there.

In my 1250pm class about half a dozen students asked me what the total number of points was, without even hearing their classmates ask the same question.

Note to self (then it shouldn't be written here!): indicate the total number of points in future test papers.

In one class though, it seems I gave them the wrong times for the rising and setting of the first and third quarter moons. I'll have to recheck their papers then. The risk of not having notes when lecturing.