Subject: Please read carefully

From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 21:02:53 -0800 (PST)

Hi,
I want all of you to be cooperative in this thing. Prof. Lorden, 
Kristy and I talked about problems with the new grading system and the 
best way to overcome them. Here is the summary.

First, please be responsible. For example, if you graded HWs last week 
then you should expect that there will be late HWs next week and so 
please go and look for them. Just to give you an illustration what I 
mean by this I am sending you a photo in the attachment.

Students turn in HWs in Math 2b box assigned to their section. Kristy 
collects them at 3pm on Monday, sorts them to the right section (since 
sometimes they don’t know what’s right) and marks those that turned in 
HWs. Then she puts them into the folders (each section has one). It is 
your responsibility to return these folders to Kristy before Mon at 
3pm. Then she splits HWs to two groups (5 sections  and 6 sections) 
and puts them in grader’s mail boxes. She has the list of the graders 
for each week.

Graders organize grading. The grading should be done by Wednesday at 9 
pm. Grades should be written (clearly) in the spread sheets. Make 2 
copies for each section. Originals  go to Kristy and she will enter 
the grades. You (graders) put the folders to the mail boxes of TAs 
together with one spread sheet copy. There will be some late HWs.  So, 
save other copy for your records and that way you will know whose HWs 
you are expecting. See more about late HWs below.
 
Each week there will be some late HWs. These should be put in a 
special box at the top shelf. It says Math 2b late HWs. That way they 
will not mix up with new HWs. It is student’s responsibility to mark 
the time when they have turned them in. Kristy will collect them 
throughout the week and write “late” on these HWs. If they haven’t 
marked the time she will mark the time when she collected them. The 
latest possible time is next Mon at 3pm. There will be a 
special “late” folder. Kristy will put all late HWs in this  folder 
and leave it in the mail box of one of the graders from the previous 
week. Graders  have to grade these HWs  and bring  the scores to 
Kristy.  Then they have to put HWs to the right mail boxes (use the 
spread sheets to find out the right TA for each HW). All this has to 
be done by Wednesday at noon.  Scores from late HWs will be marked in 
red. 

Thus, every week by Wednesday at 9 pm each TA will get a folder with 
graded new HWs and possibly some late HWs. Each TA has to check that 
for every recorded score there is a HW and vice versa. Also see if 
those late HWs were approved in advance. It is your responsibility to 
address all inconsistencies before your recitation. 

Graded HWs are now put in a box at the bottom shelf in yellow 
envelopes. There are 11 envelopes for each section. I browsed through 
them to see that all are graded. We can not use the old system any 
more because some students  turned in their HW in the folders with 
graded HWs.  If a student doesn’t put a cover sheet then you need to 
attach it.

An email will be send to all  students to inform them where to put 
regular HWs, where to put late and where to pick up graded HWs.

In any step try to be helpful. If there are no folders try to email 
the right TA. If you find an old HW among new ones don’t just ignore 
it and so on. This grading system has to be better organized because 
we are all responsible for 200 students and not only for 20. If  
something is not at the right place it is hard to keep track.

We will meet on Tuesday and can talk about this in more details.
Best,
Mirjana Vuletic

---

From: Benjamin Leitner <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:26:15 -0800

In regards to late homework, here is my rant after a very long few days.

I'm tired of late homeworks and the mess they cause.  Today in my mailbox I 
had 2 late HW3's from my section.  They were not marked late, nor was there 
a time listed for when they were turned in.  Neither student had asked for 
an extension.  In fact, for one of them, we found her HW2 ungraded (and 
thus presumably very late) in with the HW3's.  I'm also grading 121b, and 
last week I had a student request an extension (HW was due Thursday), and I 
granted one until Monday.  It was not turned in on Monday, instead, the 
student came to office hours Tuesday, and when everyone else was done 
asking about the current homework, this student kept me later and asked 
about the old homework (I didn't, at the time, put it together that he was 
the one who'd asked for the extension, I'm terrible at linking faces to 
names).  Then, after getting all the answers from me in office hours, this 
student turned in the homework sometime between then and Thursday 
morning.... I'm so sick of this.

So.... my policy, for myself, whenever it is within my power and authority 
to use it, will be simple.  Any homework that is turned in late (after I 
pick them up) or after the deadline for an established extension (if 
granted), unless there is some compelling reason (Dean's excuse, medical 
emergency... other very good reason) will be a zero... period... 
exclamation point..... end of story.  I'm sick and tired of being walked 
all over and made to feel bad because I don't bend over backwards for the 
poor students who can't manage to get their work done on time.  Not even 
that, since I almost always grant extensions when asked... students who 
can't even be bothered to ask for an extension when they can't get their 
work done on time... NO MORE.

<sigh>  Ok... ranting over.... I feel better now.  Now.... time to unwind...
-Ben

At 09:02 PM 2/1/2007, [email-masked] wrote:

>sometimes they don't know what's right) and marks those that turned in
>and puts them in grader's mail boxes. She has the list of the graders
>for each week.
>
>will not mix up with new HWs. It is student's responsibility to mark
>throughout the week and write "late" on these HWs. If they haven't
>special "late" folder. Kristy will put all late HWs in this  folder
>graded HWs.  If a student doesn't put a cover sheet then you need to
>attach it.
>
>the right TA. If you find an old HW among new ones don't just ignore