Thursday, December 11, 2014

Final Exams Again

Yes, It's that time of the school year.  Friday was the last day of classes, and Tuesday and Thursday I will give final exams to some grad and some undergrad students.  This is a stressful time for my students, much less so for me.

As I have mentioned before, it is  nice to have a job with clear beginnings and endings.  Finals, are, final. They are what we call "summative" evaluation as they are supposedly a test of what a student has learned all semester long.

Few people realize that grades have ONLY ONE purpose- to leverage learning.  That is, grades provide some leverage to encourage students to learn a little more.

I took a lot of final exams, and have given quite a few more over the 30+ years of teaching.  Most of my classes have exams.  Most students have a pretty good idea of what grade they will make on the exam, because the grade they made during the term pretty well predicts what they will get on the final.  A few students surprise me, but it is few.

We too will face a final exam.  It's call the Bema seat.

Romans 14:10-12 says, “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat…so then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” Second Corinthians 5:10 tells us, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 

Some people misunderstand, this judgement.  It has NOTHING to do with entering heaven, it has something to do with our "rewards" in heaven.  We Believers will apparently stand before G^d and explain what we did with the talents that were give us for our stewardship. 

What grade are you expecting?

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