17th November 2007 (Saturday)

Saturday: 4 hours total.

0.25 hours following my tutorial group students' online discussions on WebCT.
0.5 hours thinking about whether to proceed with each of three book-writing projects that several different publishers want me to pursue.
1.75 hours preparing esc-30006 lectures and online resources for next week.
1.5 hours marking 1st-year student tests. A lot of students wanted to refer to the Isthmus of Panama in their answers. About 70 students did so, but managed about 20 different ways of spelling it! Here are some of their bizarre spellings and misunderstandings:

• Ipathus of Pameline
• Ismar Panameus
• Isima of Panamar
• Isama of Paninar
• Isthus of Panama
• Isthis of Panama
• Ismus of Panama
• Ingalamus Panama
• Isethus of Panama
• Isathus of Panama
• Isathmus of Panama
• Isthamus of Panama
• Istimus of Panama
• Itsmus of Panamar
• Ithumus of Panama
• Islas of Panama
• Pirmis of Pangaea
• Pangeian
• Iapetus
• Gateway of Isthamus
• Gateway of Isthamas

Even though they're only first-year students I'm astonished by the extent and variety of their wrongness!