What Was I Thinking?

In addition to running my dissertation experiment over the past week, which I will have a final update later today, I’ve been grading the final papers for my class.

In going through them I began wondering what I was thinking assigning such a large paper. Each paper ended up being a minimum of 5 pages, with some as many as 10. And I had one for each of my 35 students. What was I thinking giving this assignment?

I gave the students explicit instructions on how to structure their papers and how important it was for it to be in their own words. Yet I found two of my students had plagiarized portions. What was I thinking giving this assignment?

A couple of students went overboard. I instructed them to print and hand in the library database entry for the articles that they were using for this assignment. Ten of the students turned in their articles in their entirety, giving me each 80 to 100 extra sheets of paper to carry. WHAT WAS I THINKING GIVING THIS ASSIGNMENT?

I guess I have to chalk it up as a learning experience. Seeing as how this was my first time teaching a course on my own some of what I did throughout the semester hit while many things I did missed. I’m not sure where this assignment falls. I think many of the students got something out of it, but was it worth what I had to do with the papers over the past week?

I guess that this was yet another step in the process of making me a good professor.