Midterm exam

I'm sitting in class waiting the last 40 minutes for the three students who are still writing an exam (oh, now Katrina's done, stapling forcefully, ready to go). Matthew gets up to sharpen his pencil - again. Kristi tilts her head to put her hair behind her ear, drink from a Nalgene.

The exam wasn't my best. I hate when I don't think I've asked good questions. The essay questions, especially, had a couple of clunkers, although the one that I added at the last minute seems to be the most popular: "Which one of the works we've read so far this semester has helped you begin to answer the questions we began the course with: What is America? Who are Americans? What does it mean to 'be American'?" Our of five question choices and 30 students, 15 students chose this one! I suppose that makes sense in an American Lit course (post Civil War lit).

I don't think the exam was hard, especially - but we'll see what the think. :-)