Of late, i've been pretty efficient at marking (in terms of number of assignments/tests marked over total number of submissions, within say two weeks of their being submitted). Now that's really not saying much at all, given that i think i've set the bar pretty low over the past few years. And just like in any good history structured essay question topic, there are various factors that have played a role in this being the case - less classes, less students, less random last-minute duties being those that come to mind.
Something else that has factored in is that, after so many years, i've come to the realisation that home is far from the best place for me to do any marking, and so when i'm not in school but still have marking to do over the weekend (i.e. every day of every weekend), i sometimes find myself marking while parked in some cafe, having ordered one or two overpriced drinks (and perhaps an overpriced slice of cake/ pastry too) in order to buy me at least a couple of hours of solid marking time. And thus far suffice to say that this strategy has paid off.
As is always the case, success comes at a price. In this case, rather literally. Having always been one to tut-tut at seat hogs who somehow can make a single drink go a hell of a long way, i tend to feel guilty about having my cup/plate empty while i'm still taking up space in the cafe, and so, particularly if i've a lot to clear, i may spend close to $15 (which by my standards is high - enough to buy one 473ml tub of Haagen-Dazs and still have enough change for a small cup) in one marking session. It doesn't help that i'm rather a slow marker, as i generally cannot help but write quite a few comments for each script - score one for formative assessment. The result: when i was clearing old receipts from my wallet , i did an impromptu summing up of all the marking-related receipts over just the past few weeks and the result was a three-figure sum. Gasp.
However, if the alternative is going back to being heavily behind in my marking (as opposed to the current status of not-too-heavily behind), give me the current state of affairs any day. Just hope that the formative assessments are actually forming something of worth in the students' minds...
Something else that has factored in is that, after so many years, i've come to the realisation that home is far from the best place for me to do any marking, and so when i'm not in school but still have marking to do over the weekend (i.e. every day of every weekend), i sometimes find myself marking while parked in some cafe, having ordered one or two overpriced drinks (and perhaps an overpriced slice of cake/ pastry too) in order to buy me at least a couple of hours of solid marking time. And thus far suffice to say that this strategy has paid off.
As is always the case, success comes at a price. In this case, rather literally. Having always been one to tut-tut at seat hogs who somehow can make a single drink go a hell of a long way, i tend to feel guilty about having my cup/plate empty while i'm still taking up space in the cafe, and so, particularly if i've a lot to clear, i may spend close to $15 (which by my standards is high - enough to buy one 473ml tub of Haagen-Dazs and still have enough change for a small cup) in one marking session. It doesn't help that i'm rather a slow marker, as i generally cannot help but write quite a few comments for each script - score one for formative assessment. The result: when i was clearing old receipts from my wallet , i did an impromptu summing up of all the marking-related receipts over just the past few weeks and the result was a three-figure sum. Gasp.
However, if the alternative is going back to being heavily behind in my marking (as opposed to the current status of not-too-heavily behind), give me the current state of affairs any day. Just hope that the formative assessments are actually forming something of worth in the students' minds...
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