I'm toting around a stack of rough drafts right now, the last ones I'm commenting on for the entire semester, and I've been trying to find time to grade them without taking over my private time. I'm on a crusade to preserve private time right now. Well, in order to "slow down" and have time to myself, I've begun using a countdown timer to keep me on task and to limit the amount of time I'm spending on any one given student rough draft.
Fifteen minutes is the magic number. I've been giving myself fifteen minutes and a bulleted list approach to feedback for each student draft. To my surprise, I'm able to almost fill each student response sheet with pointed revision feedback. I'm going to be able to turn around a whole class full of essays in the matter of just five hours. I don't know why I've never considered giving myself a deadline. It's brilliant. The timer goes off, I write my last bit of endnotes and I move on to the next student's paper.
I've always tried to keep track of the amount of time I spend on each student draft but I've got the feeling that I haven't been altogether accurate with my timekeeping.
The point of all this. Harness time to our advantage instead of being a slave to it. By using time to keep me focused and on task, I'll be able to meet my deadline and not exhaust myself with 3 am grading sessions. HOORAH!
nice work, kyle. i hope i can remember this if i teach a comp class someday. you'll be the first person i call for some tips like this one. what is the "student response sheet"?
ReplyDeleteKatey,
ReplyDeleteThe student response sheet is a bulleted list. It begins as any letter does, with a direct address and short paragraph of introduction to what is about to take place. The rest is a bulleted list of places to look for deeper analysis, places for new paragraphing options, organizational suggestions, etc. Nothing fancy. Hope you are well and the foot is healing.
Kyle
Good God, why haven't I ever done this? I've got 75 this weekend: trying this technique for sure.
ReplyDeleteCurious--sounds like you've gone back to commenting on rough drafts. Did you feel a huge difference when you removed that step last time?
E - Good luck with it. It worked well for me. The class where I'm doing rough drafts is that freshman seminar and not an actual "writing class". Many techniques needed to be reinforced there as it wasn't given in formal instruction like in WR 115 or WR 121.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know how this is working for you. I was just searching for a timer I could download that would remind me to stop grading after 15 minutes. The papers have taken over -- and continue to take over -- my life. I am at a coffee shop on a Saturday night, for example, grading, instead of hanging out with my family!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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