Grading

Well so far I still enjoy grading.  I'm sure I'll get bored and frustrated soon, but so far I'm having a good time.  Maybe it is just a power trip. After so much time in the writing center saying things like, "well it just depends on what your professor wants," it is nice to finally have the last word.

 I am too soft on my grading. I know it, and I'm working on it.  I saw the effort level drop after the first couple of essays.  The students knew I was an easy grader and they stopped trying so hard to impress me.  I think the root of the problem is my own history with grading.  I always tried to write the best essays I could, so a bad grade for me never reflected a lack of effort.  I guess I assumed students would try to improve their writing even if they got a good grade.   I assumed if I marked all their mistakes, they would try to fix them for their next paper, but most didn't fix anything if they weren't going to lose points for it.

I also have a tendency to blame myself for student mistakes.  If they make glaring errors, it must be because I didn't explain it well enough.  One student last week turned in a paper that was 90% direct quote for the article.  She didn't plagerize. The quotes were cited, not correctly, but they were in quotation marks. I know I have told them not to quote, but my first reaction was to blame myself. Maybe I didn't say it enough.  Well I bit the bullet and told her to redo it.  I'll get tougher.

I have told my class that I would start grading harder, especially if they are doing something wrong that we went over in class.

I think I got a little more effort out of the first Obama summary.  I hope I can raise the bar enough to get some really good lit review at midterm.