T-shirt #36: Kraftwerk: We are the robots.

T-shirt #36: Kraftwerk: Dedicated to GRADING ROBOT

I am Grading Robot.

Though I have been a college instructor for almost 30 years [gulp: how did that happen], and though I have graded my way through thousands of papers in my career, I did not start calling myself GRADING ROBOT until I started teaching for various online universities in 2009.

Currently, I teach for four schools, and three of them are online schools. With my current course load, I have a maximum of about 160 assignments to grade per week. This number represents a potential maximum, and actual numbers are much lower. For instance, this week I graded two sets of assignments for my main school early in the week. With 30 students in each class, I generated about 60 comments for those sets, but the comments are all much the same and the classroom activity system generates scores for me. Easy Peasy. Posting the comments for the first two sets takes around two hours total time. I had discussion assignments to grade at another school, but these can also be completed quickly. With lower enrollment numbers, I worked through about eighteen assignments for one class and ten for the other class; but not all the students completed the discussion, so actual numbers of comments I must concoct are probably closer to fourteen and six or twenty total. Next up, I had written assignments at the main school, which could be another sixty assignments, but actual numbers totaled only 30. Yes, HALF the students do not submit the written work (at least not on time). Still, this is the most time consuming part of my week. I still have three more sets of written work at the other school to grade by Sunday (though I am supposed to be done by Saturday but so far this has proven to be a soft deadline), and a new set of assignments at the one ground campus school (but this is a class of four people) to grade by next Wednesday. The second school has an extra set of assignments for the week, which will bring my total to around thirty-six assignments, accounting for attrition, to complete by Sunday (as I said, the soft deadline).

And then I get to do it all over again next week!






See what I mean? Grading robot. The only way to survive such a work load is to streamline the process, find ways to speed up the repetitive feedback, and watch the clock. It's all about rhythm, repetition, and a certain tempo. Even so, grading written assignments can be quite time consuming as each student receives individual feedback. Yet, the process is much like Kraftwerk's music. Clockwork grading machine. Machine, Machine.

"We are the robots."

GRADING ROBOT.

So, this Kraftwerk shirt really calls to mind the idea of my work as Grading Robot; this is one of Kraftwerk's robot shirts. (I have another; stay tuned.) The shirt's image is just the kind of thing I love. It would be even better if Kraftwerk's name was not on the shirt. The image speaks volumes.

Damn, I love this shirt.

I have reams of material to assault your senses about Kraftwerk, but today's post is dedicated to how I think of myself as Grading Robot when I wear this shirt (and often when I am not wearing this shirt). In perspective, I am operating on--at best--six hours of sleep. I got up at 5 a.m. this morning to finish grades due at 9 a.m., which sounds easy enough, and it is when I am not so exhausted. But the work is repetitive and only takes a small portion of my brain capacity.

Grading robot.

Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot.

Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. 

Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. 

Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. 

Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. 

Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. 

Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. 

Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot. Robot.

Robot. Robot. Robot.

Robot. Robot.
Robot.

Kraftwerk 3D: The Robots Live 13-10-2011

To close today's entry, a few random Kraftwerk facts.

1. My first Kraftwerk album was a used copy of Trans Europe Express, though I may have heard Computer World at my friend Steve's house (Steve Curl as mentioned in T-shirt #32: D&D) before purchasing that LP.

2. I did not see Kraftwerk live until a few years ago at the State Theatre (now the Fillmore) in Detroit: June 3rd 2005. (I updated this date and the pic of the ticket on 1306.13.)

3. I own another Kraftwerk shirt though I do not like it as much as this one.

3.5. Kraftwerk's style of music and live presentation fits my geeky aesthetic perfectly.

4. Since the initial purchase in the 1980s, I have purchased the band's entire catalogue either on compact disc or LP.

-chris tower, 1304.26 11:58
Photo courtesy of Liesel MK Tower