Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Grading Papers vs. Everything Else

Which would you rather do: Read a pile of semi-interesting student papers, or . . .

-Climb new boulder problems
-Go to Happy Hour with best friends
-Meet a newborn baby
-Watch a flag football game
-Observe a dance class
-Spend two hours in a local bookstore
-Eat ice cream
-Read Hunger Games with a kid
-Make homemade tortillas
-Write a letter
-Drink decaf coffee
-Eat Gugeria
-Clean the bathrooms
-Play Mario Cart on an old Nintendo 64 system
-Lead climb indoors
****Read an entire book
-Thumb through a trashy magazine
-Talk to your mother?

During my relaxing weekend, I chose to do everything else and paid for it Monday morning with this pile of papers to read and grade, and a bunch of tests to assess, too.  The good news is that my students wrote interesting and well-organized papers which thankfully, I read and graded every last one of them today.  But if it were not for the onslaught of papers I am expecting tomorrow, I would have procrastinated.

Notice I starred "Read an entire book"? Probably the best part of my weekend was I actually read this entire book on Sunday - something I haven't done in 8 years.
It was an interesting and engaging book that I didn't really "like." Rather, I was both interested and fascinated by how religion interacted and interfered with the growth of individuals. If you want a book that is not predictable, read this one. And if ever I find myself in a quandary over grading vs. everything else, as long as the alternatives are as good as that list I did above, I'd gladly avoid doing the all-consuming task of grading.

2 comments:

  1. That was my response, I didn't really like it but was interested in the themes of the book. Also, it reminded me of Atonement, in that a young character making a mistake that ruins the lives of some family members and feels guilty into adulthood. Neither are among my favorite books but both have interesting ethical dilemmas. Good book group discussions could be generated.

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  2. Thanks Annie - I'm glad I read it,thanks to you and Stanley!

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