The grading thread

[nonsensical]

The monthly research threads in a different part of this forum made me think that it might be nice to also have a place to share our progress on grading and other teaching-related tasks. I wish that we were all in a big room together grading our own piles of things while commiserating and eating candy, but this virtual room with virtual snacks will have to do for now.

I am grateful to past me for staggering the deadlines of major assignments in my classes. I just got a stack of things to grade from one class and have gone through about a quarter of it so far. I'm expecting two more stacks before the semester is over but focusing on this one for now. How about you?

[arcturus]

I will have a stack of papers to grade as of this evening. The early submissions have been a mixture of "OMG, how could you have gone so wrong" and "OMG, how lovely - on target and correct length". The latter, of course, are so much easier to grade. My goal is to knock this out before Monday, so that I can take a genuine break for the holiday.

[OneMoreYear]

Apparently my past self did not talk to past nonsensical, as I have 2 grading piles that must be done RIGHT NOW!  I feel like I am constantly grading this semester, which is in part due to some of the changes I made for classes to increase some scaffolding. And part due to changes in submissions formats with online classes. And part due to the fact that my brain is constantly foggy from being online constantly. I have been hosting virtual "grading parties" for my TAs in one of my classes. While no one would mistake it for an actual party, at least they are mostly turning things around in a reasonable time.

[mamselle]

To cut down on the grading for some scaffolded assignments, which I've always looked at a little sideways as generating more work for the instructor than the worth the student could take from it (since the idea of getting them to do parts at a time still means lots of procrastination, just domino'ed on top of each other...), I've done things like the bibliography as an "exchange papers, grade in class" exercise.

They'd need to email their work to each other at the start of class to make it work virtually, but it could still be done online.

It's also a valid teaching moment because the reality of what others' work looks like can either serve as a shining example, or a heads'-up moment if it's not so stellar. And it broadens the grading pool so I don't do all that work.

In other words, they check each others work, looking to see, a) Are there at least three sources?; b) Are they alphabetized?; c) Are they formatted correctly (MLA, etc. styles are on a Ppt projection for them to check against); and d) Do the topics/Titles make sense in reference to the paper title?; and e) Is the owner's name on top of the page?

Each gets a point, and it counts for that day's quiz grade. I'd call them out, give a minute for checking each point, move to the next point, and be done in 5 min. They can annotate with red text and resale with a "graded" suffix, then email to me while the class is running.

When you record the grades, you can see if anyone missed anything, and you'll have the time stamp on the re-saved file, to ward off shenanigans.

Might save an hour or so for a class of, say, 50 art history students with a term paper to write.

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

Bog forbid.

I finished marking the early essay submissions today. That still leaves 100 or so at the end of the semester.

Happily, I've automated the bulk of my other marking.

[nonsensical]

The idea of having students check their peers' papers is an interesting one. I did something like that at some points when I was an undergrad and had mixed experiences, but I'm glad that it has worked for you!

I've graded two more projects today. Still more left on my plate for the weekend or early next week, but hopefully I will finish this pile before Thanksgiving.

[mamselle]

The idea of having students check their peers' papers is an interesting one. I did something like that at some points when I was an undergrad and had mixed experiences, but I'm glad that it has worked for you!

I've graded two more projects today. Still more left on my plate for the weekend or early next week, but hopefully I will finish this pile before Thanksgiving.

It only works for the very straightforward stuff, like the 5 points I mentioned; "Are there three of this, and one of that?" etc.

Although it might be interesting to see if they could spot a thesis statement in other peoples' work, since they often seem to have trouble including one in their own...

M.

[Harlow2]

Just finished two sets of rather disappointing grad papers.  We definitely need to work on supporting assertions. Quite a number of writers made grand generalizations based on  limited perspectives. These are older students with experience, but they are new to this level of grad work (and have high pressure jobs), and I know they are exhausted.  Still it is important that they use the opportunity.

[nonsensical]

This weekend I finished the stack from my first class, minus a couple of assignments that students turned in late and which I'll probably do next week. Now I have a bit of breathing space before I get a new stack from a different course.

[OneMoreYear]

I completed one set of grading/feedback. I have one set which must be done today. I will get another set tomorrow from class no one wants to take so they are all cranky about putting in any work.  Then I'm hoping that my TAs for other class will send me their initial reviews of an assignment by Tuesday, so I can use Wednesday to get most of grading done before the official holiday (won't happen, but I'll at least take Thursday off).

[teach_write_research]

My great plan of three small papers with feedback and then one slightly longer final paper has collided with students' pandemic exhaustion. What a mess.

[arcturus]

I was making good progress on my stack of papers over the weekend but I got derailed by a major plagiarism case. After spending an hour tracking down the original sources, I just did not have the heart to go back to grading. Now I am well behind in my schedule to get these papers graded before the holiday. I am kicking myself for spending so much time on a clear-cut misconduct case, and for the lack of mental discipline to get back to grading the others after finishing the documentation with that one.

[mamselle]

But it can be demoralizing and depressing to see such stuff--it's like the death of your trust in the class to do right and not wrong by their own learning opportunities.

Mourn first, then move on. Or move on as you mourn.

But you can't leave out the mourning.

M.

[arcturus]

Thanks, Mamselle. That really helped put things in perspective!

[AvidReader]

I was making good progress over the weekend until my (brand new this semester) computer stopped working (again) and I spent three hours on the phone with tech support. :( I have ~260 papers left to grade this semester, as well as 54 annotated bibliographies. I need to grade at least 20 today.

Will check in later . . .

AR.