"In My Opinion . . ."
April 5, 2000
The quarter ends on the 7th of April, and I am, as usual, waist deep in grading papers. It's no easy task. Each child expects and deserves helpful comments intended to provide meaningful feedback about his or her progress. The problem is that I usually deal with 90 language arts students and 60 history students, and by this time of year the majority of them are writing essays: reams and reams of essays.
Each essay contains several items which make up a paper trail, the roadmap of the writing process. This means that a one-page, 3 paragraph essay comes bundled with 3 or 4 other papers (pre-writes, drafts, comments and edits from peers). Not only do I have literally hundreds and hundreds of essays to evaluate, but they weigh a ton! Dragging them home piecemeal is not an option. For 20 years I've fooled myself into thinking that if I do 10 papers a night, just 10 lousy papers, I'll keep up with my work and feel better for it. Phooey. My home is my castle, and I like to rest, relax, and play there. I do NOT like to grade papers there.
That leaves me with three ways out: stay late every day (and put up with obnoxious traffic jams), stay REALLY, REALLY late every couple of weeks (and be utterly exhausted for several days after), or give up an occasional weekend and have a marathon grading session. Usually I choose door number three.
This past weekend, after 6 solid hours of reading, evaluating, and putting comments on a few hundred papers, I made a dent in my pile. I may not have completed everything, but I did enough to feel virtuous. If I work like crazy while the kids go to library tomorrow and I lock my door and pull out all the stops on Friday afternoon, I just might finish it all. I want that clean slate. I want an empty in-basket. I want my desk back.
The kids think I'm being such a good guy about homework this week: NO written assignments. I won't burst their bubble, but in truth, I am no saint. I'm just sick of grading essays.