#SOL17 Day 5
Pocrastination is like a credit card. It’s a lot of fun until you get the bill. ~ Christopher Parker
Today I have been playing “The Grading Game.”
Game pieces: 48 argument essays in Google Classroom, one set of reading comprehension assessments, and a few miscellaneous assignments that were turned in late due to absences.
Rules: I must meet a certain benchmark before I can turn my attention to something else.
How to Play: 1. Grade at least five essays before I can check my Facebook page.
2. Grade another six essays before I can eat lunch.
3. Grade another seven essays before I can watch an episode of Say Yes to the
Dress
4. Grade the last five from Periods 1 & 2 and I can write my Slice of Life
So here I am. I have successfully graded one section of essays. I only have 25 essays to go along with the reading assessments and floaters. How come it always comes to this? Why can’t I keep on top of my grading so that it doesn’t pile up at the end of the trimester. You would think I would have learned a thing or two in my thirty years of teaching.
Well actually I have. No matter what, or when, or how, the grading will get completed before grades are due. I don’t assign anything that needs to be graded during the last week of the trimester, thus I have until this coming Friday to finish up what doesn’t get completed today.
So, I must get back to grading and coaxing myself into getting it finished! I would still like to check my Twitter account and read for pleasure. How many papers do you think I will have to finish before I am free to do those things?
Rita DiCarne 
This made me laugh! I have been trying to remain in my seat working on papers that I have to complete for a class an my rewards have been to go and do some ironing, or wash the dishes! It just goes to show you how despicable the writing process was to me if washing dishes was a treat!
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You deserve a weekend off! It is so hard to keep up with all of the minutia. I think we’ve all been in your shoes before, wondering where on earth those tests or papers could have gone.
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Oh, I feel your pain! I, too, bribe myself with a lot of different things in order to sit down and grade those essays. I never made a formal game of it though. It sounds like I should make one before my next session of endurance grading. (That’s not avoidance at all. Nope!)
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I remember this game, although I was fortunate not to have to play it when I became a reading specialist. I know you’ll win, Rita!
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Oh my, avoiding grading is exactly why I decided to comment on posts right now!
I love your game. I think I may need to play a similar game myself!
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Thirteen years in, and I feel everything you’re saying. I need to get better, but it does get done. My main reason for wanting to get better isn’t the stress it causes me, but how unfair it is to my students. Our new term starts after spring break, and I have devised yet another plan. Fingers crossed.
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Grading is so hard! I end up throwing a lot of stuff away because I’m tired of grading. I do teach second grade though, so not as important.
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