Saturday I spent the morning at a local trade conference and the afternoon at a dissertation writing workshop. The writing workshop was actually very good and maybe I'll blog some of the advice here later. But all this meant that I got no grading done and the papers need to be turned back by Tuesday. It's really difficult to read 20 essays and think of original comments when they all have the same general problems. 20 more tomorrow and I'll be done.
Why is grading so unpleasant? Do some people like grading? Does the fact that I find it so unpleasant mean that I'm not meant to be a professor? If the students were different in some way would it be more fun? If I were different would it be more fun?
Now I have to sleep.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Up to my neck in grading
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2 comments:
Please do blog about the workshop!
I only know one person who enjoys grading, and he says he made a deliberate decision to enjoy it. He does it in a cafe with his favourite drinks and food (the only time he lets himself off his diet), and he says he tries to focus on (a) the hilarious mistakes students make (because there's always plenty of those, (b) useful clues as to what he should focus on in class more and how he should restructure things in the future and (c) the intriguing and clever things the students sometimes say (he says although they are few and far between, if you think of it as a treasure-hunt, it's almost like a game).
But he's kind of unusual. I don't think not liking grading makes you not cut out to be a prof. If that were the case, there wouldn't be enough profs to go around :)
No worries! I despise grading and procrastinate it until the last possible minute, yet still love being a professor.
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