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

Forgot to mention that on Thursday, the sky cleared up real fast and well such that in the afternoon, you wouldn't think there was a deluge in the morning.

As I expected, the students were late because of the traffic caused by the rains, but eventually, they were all present. So that's a 10 point addition to their 5% recitation etc. grade.

They weren't complete anymore in the lunchtime make-up though (third one - halfway through!) and like before, I made their attendance based on their recitation/boardwork.

In my graphics class in the afternoon, I told the faculty attendance checker about the early dismissals she marked in her report to the Dean/EVP. I said that I left them computer exercises to do which I just told them to submit to the faculty room at the end of the period. She said that she thought the class was already finished because they were just playing games.

I told her that from that class on I will stay with them in the lab until the end of the period, to ensure that they are working. I have given them the instructions for up to Exercise #27 (and more are added each meeting) but so far they are only up to #21. That ensures that they should be occupied until the end of the period to finish their work or get ahead of the others. I should also suggest to them about working during their free time and just submitting it in class to catch up.

Also, the secretary was fixing up the final exam schedules. I couldn't have the graphics class hands-on exam during a Saturday (Dec. 13) because she said the airconditioners would not be turned on, so I'll have an early exam for them on Dec. 11 (Thursday).

Yesterday I had the personal constellation activity for my 1250pm class. One of them outdid the other classes' reference to Finding Nemo by calling his constellation Centuri "The Tuna" and calling the brightest star Alpha Centuri.

Not surprisingly, again, in this class I had to answer questions that dealt with the rules of the activity, from something as mundane as whether I allowed the use of pencils or if the lines between stars could cross, to whether I accepted that a student's constellation looked like what they thought it looked like. One even said that he was uncreative and therefore couldn't proceed with the activity.

Just as expected also, some of the worst achievers during the rigid memorization exams were the ones who came up with the most elaborate designs yet were able to submit earliest. Makes me wonder if they are in the course that shows their greatest strengths, or if they are just following the dictates of their parents.

In my 1030am and 230pm classes we had the ellipses activity, which is part of Cycles of Nature but not yet identified which cycle. If my 1250pm class had done this activity (which I plan to give in the first half of the Nov. 28 class, with the integrating lecture on the second half), I would have included at least the procedure part of this activity in Monday's exam.