Today was the last day of class for 2005 at the seminary here in Mexico City. I still have a few final exams to give (tomorrow), and the students still have their projects to turn in (due date: TODAY). They always turn them in late. But…at least the classes are over. That means one thing: Christmas is close.
It also means another thing: I have to turn in grades soon. From my evaluation of the students so far, they have been learning the information. What they don’t have is a lot of structure or organization. I credit the way they have always grown up in school (lecture, take notes, spit out what you memorized). That doesn’t jive at all with the way I teach (or how I believe people learn). I cannot tell them exactly how to plan lessons or how to do their projects. My job is to make them think. Allow them to process and evaluate things. This is difficult, I believe, for them. So, we’ll see how they do on the projects (which are a better evaluation of what they have learned than the “exams”).
