This is an address delivered by Emerson before the Senior Class in Divinity College, Cambridge, Sunday Evening, July 15, 1838 and I believe is relevant to each of us today. I challenge all of us to read this. A friend referred it to me. Amazing and humbling!
http://www.emersoncentral.com/divaddr.htm
It's long, but really good! Take the time :)
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
On reading the ORDs
When you take your ORD exam it is sent to Louisville and then out to 4 different locations (in the fall only). At those 4 locations your exam is graded by 2 people from each Presbytery in the area.
Readers convene the day of reading and are prepped as to what is expected of them. Like how to write comments and such. We are given a study session of about 1.5 hours on the exam we are about to grade and then we all grade papers all day. You read the test and look to see if it answers the question properly. As an ordained person this is easier since I know the material. There were several elders there but not a whole lot - I imagine this was a lot harder for them. There are experts on the exams (those who wrote the questions) there to answer questions graders have. All papers are read twice. If there is a question of pass/fail it is read a third time and the writer never sees the grade that doesn't agree. All comment sheets are read twice. If your comments are inappropriate you rewrite them. When all exams in one category are graded all readers move on to the next exam. In my reading group we read Polity, NT Exegesis, and Theology.
You get up at 7 and eat breakfast. Then you grade until 12. Lunch break and you grade until 6. Dinner break and you grade until 10 or you fall asleep. We do this for 3 days straight. The experience is a lot like studying for exams. Everyone is focused on one activity and tired. There is endless snacking and coffee consumption. There is a real spirit of camaraderie.
I loved this experience. Graders are really cool people and this experience takes a lot of dedication. Graders transportation, room, and board are payed but there is not compensation given for time and we are putting in 10+ hour days.
I really enjoyed this work of the church. For one, I met a lot of cool people that are in my general area. Also, I updated by brain on theology and exegesis. It was like a thinking retreat. Finally, it was so neat to realize readers are just people. As someone who failed an exam due to what I believe to be reader error, this was a good experience for me. It really is true that most readers want you to pass (although there are a few grumps).
Each time I picked up a test I thought of the person who spent hours writing it, I thought that this may be someone's last hurdle to ordination, or this may be someone's third time on this test. I tried to pray for each one. My first failure was hard to give but necessary. After that I am afraid it got easier. Overall I consider myself a lenient grader, only because I know what it feels like to be on the edge and fail. There were some exams that were crazy awful, and some that barely passed. I wanted to be able to write in the comments how lucky they were to pass but that is not allowed.
Overall, reading ORDs is a lot like taking ORDs. All the people together in one space, focused on one task, sharing snacks and coffee, and doing one big project for the church. It was awesome, and unlike taking the ORDs I would love to do it again.
Readers convene the day of reading and are prepped as to what is expected of them. Like how to write comments and such. We are given a study session of about 1.5 hours on the exam we are about to grade and then we all grade papers all day. You read the test and look to see if it answers the question properly. As an ordained person this is easier since I know the material. There were several elders there but not a whole lot - I imagine this was a lot harder for them. There are experts on the exams (those who wrote the questions) there to answer questions graders have. All papers are read twice. If there is a question of pass/fail it is read a third time and the writer never sees the grade that doesn't agree. All comment sheets are read twice. If your comments are inappropriate you rewrite them. When all exams in one category are graded all readers move on to the next exam. In my reading group we read Polity, NT Exegesis, and Theology.
You get up at 7 and eat breakfast. Then you grade until 12. Lunch break and you grade until 6. Dinner break and you grade until 10 or you fall asleep. We do this for 3 days straight. The experience is a lot like studying for exams. Everyone is focused on one activity and tired. There is endless snacking and coffee consumption. There is a real spirit of camaraderie.
I loved this experience. Graders are really cool people and this experience takes a lot of dedication. Graders transportation, room, and board are payed but there is not compensation given for time and we are putting in 10+ hour days.
I really enjoyed this work of the church. For one, I met a lot of cool people that are in my general area. Also, I updated by brain on theology and exegesis. It was like a thinking retreat. Finally, it was so neat to realize readers are just people. As someone who failed an exam due to what I believe to be reader error, this was a good experience for me. It really is true that most readers want you to pass (although there are a few grumps).
Each time I picked up a test I thought of the person who spent hours writing it, I thought that this may be someone's last hurdle to ordination, or this may be someone's third time on this test. I tried to pray for each one. My first failure was hard to give but necessary. After that I am afraid it got easier. Overall I consider myself a lenient grader, only because I know what it feels like to be on the edge and fail. There were some exams that were crazy awful, and some that barely passed. I wanted to be able to write in the comments how lucky they were to pass but that is not allowed.
Overall, reading ORDs is a lot like taking ORDs. All the people together in one space, focused on one task, sharing snacks and coffee, and doing one big project for the church. It was awesome, and unlike taking the ORDs I would love to do it again.
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