Schools out for the summer

I finished teaching today!

I've been teaching a summer session of Developmental Mathematics (read: pre-college math). It met Monday - Thursday, 8:30 to 12:15ish. It has been all prep for the final and the ACT Compass exam, an exam students must pass to enter college math. Thus, all my students had taken the ACT Compass exam and failed it, meaning this course was prep work for it.

I started out with 18 students and it dropped down to 16 by the end. Of those 16 students who completed the class, three passed.

Yes, three. Today I failed 13 students. Ouch.

I talked to the head of the math department, as I was concerned. He said it was mostly the luck of the draw. He personally had taught a class where only one person passed. Still, I've been upset today. I feel like I failed as a professor.

I know that isn't true. I know I did as much as I could. Because I corrected the final exams, I know that the mistakes made were covered. Several mistakes made I specifically warned the students that "Students always make these mistakes. Tests will ask you this. Don't be one of those students!" For instance:

-1 - 6

The answer is -7. Most of my students thought it was 5 or -5.

Oh well. I did pass three students. They did a great job, and I am sure they'll pass the ACT now. As for me, I'm just going to leave it behind and relax in Minnesota this weekend.