Whenever I have large stacks of grading, I find that I can power through for a while but the closer I get to being done, the harder it is to force myself to get the last few papers done. This is true even if I take a big break - for example, I finished grading all but five papers yesterday morning and then I started working on something else, figuring I would start fresh this morning and just finish them off. I did manage to grade a couple this morning but it's now six hours later and I just can't seem to find the mental wherewithal to do the others. I have, however, vacuumed my living room, worked a bit on another project, and done some prepping for next week's classes (and now I'm writing this...). For some reason, I just can't seem to get my brain to focus so I can grade those last few papers, even though I know that it's not going to take all that long and if I can just do it, I will feel incredibly happy to be done with the whole stack. Is it just me, or does this happen to other people?
By now, you may have heard about the biology professor at Louisiana State (Baton Rouge) who was removed from teaching an intro course where "more than 90 percent of the students... were failing or had dropped the class." The majority of the comments on the Inside Higher Ed story about it are supportive of the professor, particularly given that it seems like the administration did not even talk to her about the situation before acting. I tend to fall in the "there's got to be more to the story so I'll reserve judgment" camp but the story definitely struck a nerve with me, partly because I recently spent 30 minutes "debating" with a student about whether the last midterm was "too hard" and the whole conversation was super-frustrating. To give some background: I give three midterms and a cumulative final, plus have clicker points and Aplia assignments that make up about 20% of the final grade. I do not curve individual exams but will cu...
I have that problem at the beginning or during the middle, but not at the end. If the papers/exams are poorer on average than expected, I get depressed and full of self-doubt about my teaching effectiveness, and look for ways to avoid grading and distract myself - like vacuuming, prepping a different class, etc. But when as I get closer to the end, psychological momentum builds and helps me get through the rest.
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