What sucks

There are a few aspects of my career choice that are envied by most. Many folks envy the flexible schedule, the control most teachers have over their day to day activities (profs in particular), and the mythical summers off.

One thing that truly sucks is grading.

I don't mind reading 52 papers. Providing feedback to my students is one of my core job descriptions (if they gave us job descriptions, which they don't). But I HATE trying to take thoughtful, reasoned feedback and turn it into a letter.

Now, those of you who know my academic interest in assessment (or testing) might be surprised by this. After all, what is testing if not scoring someone's ability to do something and turn it into a percentage or a letter grade? (Note that this is a trick question)

I like using rubrics (those grid like forms that teachers often use to check off how well you've done on different aspects). I like conferences, I like students visiting to me to talk about how to change this paper or talk out an idea. But trying to take Susie's*** paper full of great ideas but completely lacking any organization and Jose's well written nonsense and figuring out a letter to assign? Yuck. Do they get D's for not completing all elements of the assignment (assuming the assignment was to include grammar, organization, and content)? Does one do better than the other? They both clearly have problems; but how much do these problems matter to the whole?

Today's office hour is a perfect example. My students received their first major grade on Monday. Let's just say that it didn't go so well for most of them (or for me). The average grade was a C, no As at all, and a fair number of Ds. They were less than thrilled. And, in a paragraph of feedback, it wasn't always easy to both point out the areas they do well, address major issues, and propose something to focus on for next time. That's a lot to cover. A student came to my office hour this afternoon who had one of those "what in the heck do you even do with this paper because it is so confusing it makes your head hurt" situations. And, although it was challenging to write down these things, in discussion, we addressed all and many more. In an office hour, I can pose problems and make students come up with solutions. I can tie the paper they just got a grade in to the writing they will do for next time. I can brainstorm with my students individualized strategies for what THEY can do BEFORE turning in their next paper (e.g. Jose always looks for commonly misspelled words, Fredrick checks all his sentences to make sure they have verbs, Annisa does a reverse outline to see if her sentences belong in her paragraphs and to see if her paragraphs support her paper). I can't do this in class for my students. And, honestly, I can't do this for each and every of my 52 students.

In theory, I have a 20 hour a week job (half time). Now, I teach for 6 hours a week. I'm obligated to have 4 hours of office hours a week. I'm already at 10 hours with my obligated "showing up" time. Then, add in lesson planning, photocopying, responding to student email, reading the darn textbook before the students do, making additional appointments, and oh yeah, GRADING, and there's no possible way that fits into 10 hours a week. (Note that 52 papers times 15 minutes a paper equals 13 hours alone and I have papers to grade every two or three weeks).

So, the result is, honestly, that the students who make appointments and seek help get enough instruction to do well. And the students who don't? Some of them get by, some do not. So, in a way, students are required (but not explicitly) to come see me outside of class to be successful. Granted, some students still haven't learned that they need to see me IN CLASS to be successful. But the students who missed class today are going to be unhappy. I extended the due date for the next paper, and they aren't going to know about it.

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*** Note that I never talk about specific students or classes in this blog. Any student names used are purely my imagination and details used are amalgamations of many real and imagined characteristics.