Skip to main content

MCC Daily Tribune Archive

No More Pencils. No More Books. No More Teacher’s Dirty Looks.


As students it never occurred to us that our rampant excitement in getting out of school for vacation was exceeded only by that of our teachers.  We thought our teachers lived at the school and had no life or interests beyond teaching us.  I can still remember the shock of seeing my third grade teacher in the grocery store and asking my mom, “What is SHE doing here?” It never occurred to me she had to buy groceries or do anything other than wait for me to get to school each day.

Then I student taught second and sixth grades (not at the same time). I loved the second graders. Sixth grade was a whole different thing. I remember standing in front of the class while they were taking a test and chanting, hopefully only in my head, “I hate being here. I want to go home. I hate being here. I want to go home,” for the entire test. (I believe this peek into my psyche has now eliminated me from any chance of teaching a COS course!)  Forget the bestselling book because I know the REAL secret:  teachers love vacations and snow days even more than students. I bet half the false fire alarms pulled in schools are done by teachers. I know I was tempted more than once.

I’m sure all the MCC teachers are of a higher quality than I. Still, there must be, deep down inside, some little tickle that will only be relieved when the semester is over and vacation is looming. Personally I’m in a full blown itch fest myself. The fastest way for ALL of us to escape and close down the fall semester is by getting the final grades in. They are due on December 23 at noon. If you can get them in earlier, that is great!

We distributed a grading instruction sheet early this week and I’m attaching a copy in case you didn’t receive one. Here are a couple of highlights:

For those of you grading from your home computer, be sure to access MCC@HOME before attempting to log into Banner. (This info. isn’t actually on the grading instructions because I forgot it!)

Remember to input the last date of attendance for all “F” grades regardless of whether the student never attended or whether they took the final and failed the course. (I believe I have mentioned this so often that no one could possibly forget to do it.)

You can grade students a few at a time. You don’t have to do the entire class at once. Do not delay submitting grades while you wait for one student’s work to come in. (This is one of the thrilling perks of Banner.)

If you have grade related information you need to send to R&R, use <
mailto:gradenotes@monroecc.edu>. This is a mailbox solely for grading questions and is checked constantly throughout the grading period. (We love reading notes from you!) You will actually receive faster service using the mailbox than trying to call us.

Have a wonderful holiday break! My mom and I will be looking for you in the grocery store.

Deborah Benjamin
Registration and Records
12/10/2008


Attachments:
icon Grading fall08 cover.doc