Things I learned while grading

Firstly, I did not spend enough time on New England, particularly declension and the role of the British government in softening the original Puritan system. Next time, make some more time for that, and even if I do not talk about the Salem Witch Trials, do talk about the dominion of New England and do put a brief sketch on the board with the dates and highlights of the various charters.

Secondly, We pretty much ignored the Carolinas. As far as the kids are concerned, there were three regions in the colonies, not four. They know of New England, the Middle Colonies, and the Chesapeake and that is all. Oh, they have some awareness of the Caribbean and we did talk about South Carolina but we only talked about it once in the slavery class and in passing during the mercantilism sub-lecture. I do not know how much time I want to spend on the Carolinas but I do need to say more.

So far I have read the essays from the kids who did well on their identifications, gotten a feel for what was possible, and then graded a couple of essays. I am going with minimal markup so I can try to crank these things out by Tuesday. I also started reading Uncle Tom's Cabin so that I can give them their paper topic. I have no idea on the topic and need to focus on grading and Jefferson prep not on Ms Beecher Stowe. I also have to give the little warning talk on Tuesday to let them know that I am very aware that there are obnoxious language and offensive attitudes in the book, both from the author and from the characters.

J and baby are off to the farm market. I get to grade.