I had planned to do several things today. I began where I left off yesterday with the exams and got into a rhythm -- well maybe more like a binge grading event <sigh>. Once I start I just want to finish it all. It becomes difficult to do anything else while the exams are still sitting there ungraded. It may be some sort of neurotic approach to work, but it has been like this since I began this job. I've tried to do it differently, but it just never seems to happen.
Now -- I didn't just sit in one place for 16 hours. I have to get up and walk around to get tea or lunch or whatever. Sitting for great lengths of time grading has led to visits to my physio for 'grading injury' -- a muscle spasm in the neck and shoulder that impairs movement and interferes with sleep. Just in case you are wondering, I have colleagues who have encountered the same thing, so it isn't unique to me. Sitting for extended periods also messes with metabolism and just walking around can help us to counteract that effect. So -- I do move and stretch between questions. Today I went outside to run errands twice -- once to the bakery and to get milk and the second to buy supper at the cool wood-fired pizza wagon just outside of my back yard and a quick walk across the graveyard -- yes, that is what is on the other side of my back fence. It was crazy busy there (the pizza place not the graveyard), so I placed my order and came home to do some quick household chores before going to pick up the yummy item.
I have yet to find someone who teaches and enjoys grading. I have problems with the system we have invented, but other ways of evaluation won't give people the number they need on a piece of paper to prove to the world that they know something. Questions can work one year and be utterly misunderstood in another year. Grading can be painful when people totally miss the intent of the question and go off on a tangent that doesn't answer the question. I grade blind -- not knowing whose exam it is until all grading is done. I also grade one question at a time across all papers to be as consistent as possible. The process can become frustrating and the trick is to stop and walk when that feeling begins -- it will help with that consistency thing <smile>.
I often hear a line from a musical when this process is in full swing -- "I'm thwarted by a metaphysical puzzle, and I'm sick of grading papers, that I know." It does make me smile. The song also contains a link to food -- so how more perfect could that be for me? <smile> I'll share that song one with you all today. Enjoy!
Santa Fe -- Rent (movie cast)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHmKaG4ZDNE
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