As a teacher you are expected to do X number of gradings per year (in my case that would be four). As a teacher you are expected to be evaluated X number of times per year (which in my case happens to be two). As a human being I do not deserve the right to evaluate someone so righteously as if I were superior to them in any discernible way nor do I deserve to be evaluated based on two arbitrary days in the course of a year. As with everything I say - I am right and I am wrong.
I am right for several reasons;
1. I am a human being and as such (if I am honest with myself) I am quite flawed. How can I justify judging someone else for what they are doing properly or improperly? On the same token, how can I be judged for what might end up being the two worst days of my teaching career as a result of so many factors?
2. I am a student of so many things, I am still learning, I am hardly a master of anything, regardless of what my certifications tell me I am.
3. I do not view myself as better than a single one of my amazing students - they truly are my equals and where does any one human being get the idea that they have the right to judge any other human being for their skills/perceived inadequacies?
I am wrong for one reason;
1. I have lived much longer than my students and by default of not being a complete tool I have lived and learned more than they have till now.
So am I being overly sensitive about the idea of putting a numerical value on their learning and their abilities? No. No I am not. If I graded on a one to one hundred scale every single one of these young men and women would be a one hundred because they are all amazing in their own way. I am just grateful that they are in my life. I only hope that if they were to grade me that they would give me a four for how much I care about them, how much I respect them, and how useful I have been as a mentor in their lives.