Dec 09, 2010
The Grading Bunker
Last week my Roomie Miranda and I were in the kitchen pulling fruits and veggies from our weekly produce box. I stopped passing pears for a moment and asked her, “What’s 50 times 30?”
She’s smart, so she said, “1500. Why?”
“Holy!” I said, “I get 1500 pages of student writing next Tuesday at noon.” (I’m not sure why I didn’t do that math 4 months ago when I wrote my own assignments.) I started passing pears again and said, “Time to prepare The Grading Bunker.”
The Grading Bunker is not so much a place as it is a state of mind. Perhaps the hardest part about grading 1500 pages of student work is the tendency to seek out any excuse to stop. The toilet needs to be scrubbed? The dog wants out? Did the phone just ring? The car needs an oil change?
No. It can all wait. The students need me. They have worked hard and they deserve my undivided attention.
The Grading Bunker allows me to sit down, shut up, and grade until I’m finished. Surrounded by some fresh flowers, my favorite snacks, some fizzy water, and sometimes a snuggly cat or dog, I sign up for the long haul. I sit down in the chair. I grade, I grade, I grade.
This is where my experience as a runner comes in handy. Running is fun, sure. But who really LOVES to get up in the pitch black morning and do a hard run? And out on the course, I promise you I have every one of these thoughts: “I can’t do this. I won’t finish. My feet hurt. I want to stop. My knees are creaking. I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. I’m grumpy. I don’t feel like running anymore.”
But, a runner puts one foot in front of the other.
And that’s what I do in The Grading Bunker. Breathe. Focus. Compliment. Suggest. Evaluate. Enjoy. Cringe. Clap. Laugh out loud. Admire. Respect. Remind. Reinforce. Finish.
Recently a colleague asked me how I make time to exercise despite all the grading I need to do. I replied, “I only have 13 years left in my job, but I have 40 years left in my body.” That’s one reason I try to focus on fitness and nutrition first. Another reason is that exercising gives me discipline that carries over to my teaching. It’s amazing what you can do when you commit to something body and soul.
And so goes The Grading Bunker. Start it. Finish it. That’s what I just did.
