{"id":572,"date":"2013-01-10T16:42:18","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T14:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/?p=572"},"modified":"2013-01-10T16:42:18","modified_gmt":"2013-01-10T14:42:18","slug":"marking-papers-again-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/2013\/01\/10\/marking-papers-again-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"MARKING PAPERS AGAIN: NUMBERS <\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before writing this post I have checked my other two posts, written in the same week of January, in 2011 and 2012. Yes, this is the time when I must mark the papers (1,200 words on average each, including abstract and bibliography) for Victorian Literature (second year, compulsory). This year there are 53, I\u2019ve gone through 44 in 3 days, 9 more left for tomorrow. And, then, in two weeks time, possibly 15 will bounce back in, I hope, much improved second versions.<\/p>\n

What is worrying me this time is how long marking is taking me (I\u2019m no doubt getting old). I initially thought I could do 18 every day in three days, but I have ended up doing only 10 the first day, 19 yesterday, 14 today, with 9 left for tomorrow (with emails as short breaks, lots of coffee, too much chocolate). My working day, which started at 8:30, is not quite over yet (it\u2019s only 15:15); still, the headache that has forced me to give up at one final point these last two days is already here. (It leaves 30 minutes after I quit)<\/p>\n

I was reading yesterday that working with your brain is really tiring to an extent that is hard to imagine for people working with their body. It really is. I think we misunderstand very badly the effort it takes. Particularly, marking \u2013 it\u2019s so exhausting that I\u2019m taking a break to write<\/em>, as writing feels like rest. What, then, I\u2019m wondering, is so tiring? And, obviously, can I make this task lighter?<\/p>\n

As I wrote last year, the problem is that I can\u2019t simply read, I must correct everything down to the last comma (I proof-read, yes). I\u2019m beginning to hesitate about whether this is professionalism or a pathology, a mild a compulsive-obsessive disorder (or OCD). Perhaps it\u2019s the same thing, as academic work seems at times pathological in its compulsory attention to detail. Every time I correct a comma or change a word for a better synonym, I wonder what effect this has on my students \u2013why is she so picky? I\u2019m sure they wonder. My comfort is that ex-students often thank me for being so punctilious, which doesn\u2019t help, by the way, to alleviate the burden, just in case I miss something relevant. Anything.<\/p>\n

This year, I must say, the papers are quite good \u2013some a real pleasure to read. This is very rewarding, and an enticement to go on, believe me. In quite a few cases, I wish I had time to continue the conversation on Charles Dickens or Anne Bront\u00eb over coffee but there\u2019s no time, everything is rushed so… The worse thing, of course, is writing the comments on the less accomplished papers. I realise that I must be precise about what exactly is wrong with a paper to help the student improve but, my God, it\u2019s really difficult to find the right tone and strike the perfect balance between advice and dismissal. I do my best…<\/p>\n

In the end, I realise, it\u2019s not so much a matter of what marking entails but of the amount of energy it takes with so many students. To be honest, I don\u2019t know that 53 are a high number but when I think I\u2019ll have 80 in my first year course next semester I do panic. Numbers in my elective, 30, seem about right but, then, in our state of crisis, this feels like luxury. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before writing this post I have checked my other two posts, written in the same week of January, in 2011 and 2012. Yes, this is the time when I must mark the papers (1,200 words on average each, including abstract and bibliography) for Victorian Literature (second year, compulsory). This year there are 53, I\u2019ve gone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teaching-tools-and-rules"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}