The Minimal Pair: Episode 008 

Show Notes: The Minimal Pair

Title: The Little Episode That Could

Episode no: 008

Date: Recorded on 5/8/14

Introduction: So, it’s finals

time…how are you holding up?

Topics in Language Learning

Students’ perception of their own

performance:

Students who think they are doing

fine/don’t seem worried, but are failing

Students who are doing fine, but

constantly worry about their grades

Students who wait until the very

end of the semester to ask what they can do about their grade

Students who didn’t do the

original work, but want extra credit

Students reactions to final grades

[17:04]

Methodology

How to deal with a test/writing prompt

that doesn’t go as planned…

The test takes longer than

anticipated

Give them extra time?

But what if another class is

coming in…?

The test results were lower than

expected: was it too challenging? How to decide:

Look at scores overall: did

everyone do poorly?

Look at individual scores: did

anyone do drastically worse than they did on previous tests?

Adjusting scores for tests that

were deemed disastrous

Avoiding the same mistakes in the

future/gauging the length of time and level of difficulty of future

tests

[32:27]

Adjunct Antics

Career Adjunct?

Being an adjunct wasn’t meant to

be a career, yet that’s what it is for many people

Feeling like a second-class

citizen

Unions: the solution? Or part of

the problem?

SHOUT OUTS: Dan Clark, thanks for

listening and giving us positive feedback on the quality of our

recording—it means a lot, coming from a fellow pod-caster (First

World Podcast). Also, I have a HUGE shout out to Stephanie, for

figuring out our microphone problem so that we could record tonight,

against all odds. This truly was the “little episode that could.”