Strategies to help with the hardest part of our job: grading

If you are like most academics, right now you are in the midst of grading or getting close to the end. Although not everyone admits to it, most of us don’t like this very necessary and important part of our jobs. There’s no surprise here: it’s difficult, tedious and there is a lot riding on it. For end-of-term grading, as opposed to mid-term grading, there is often less at stake, because many things like final exams don’t get returned to students. In this case, getting through it and on with your holidays is more of concern than “teaching” through your grading. I have to admit grading has been one of my least favourite activities as a professor, but I’ve been working on it and have a few tips to make it more manageable and more enjoyable over the years. 

My best strategy so far is something I call my 1-2-3-4-5 technique. This is particularly valuable when you have essays or longer-form assignments to grade. The challenge is to keep up the momentum when you have to plow through a lot of prose. Start with just one item. Then take a very short break where you maybe surf the net or get up and get a glass of water. Then do two items, then take a break. Work up to five in a row of assignments or essays, taking a break after each set. Then start working back down again until you get to one. Take a much longer break then. The concept here is “I can just do X more of these” until a break happens. It’s easy to do just one. As you build up to five, it will be a bit more challenging, but you have all that productivity behind you. On the “way down” back to one, you can tell yourself, “I only have to do X more of these” until you get back to doing just one. Anyone can do just one, and that allows you to look forward to something. If you do a couple of cycles of these, it is amazing how many papers or assignments you can get through, and you won’t even notice the time going by. 

The other method which works quite well for me is employing the Pomodoro Technique (which is usually used for writing or heavier tasks). The concept is simple and is based on the scientifically established fact that people’s attention works best in 25-minute increments with five minutes for rest and refreshment before starting the next Pomodoro. You can put aside several hours of grading time, divided into these 30-minute segments. Instead of grading for 90 minutes or so before taking a break, and then finding your energy lagging, the short breaks after every 25 minutes leave you refreshed and able to go on for a longer time. The breaks need to be away from the computer (if you are grading online) or from the place where you are dealing with paper materials. So, answering or reading email is not ideal. Getting up for a short walk, doing a few stretches, or getting a glass of water are perfect ways to just turn your attention away from the task at hand for a short bit. Then you can resume, more refreshed. 

Although these are good methods for handling large amounts of grading, another important factor is to NOT grade at home. There are too many distractions here, like food, television, other jobs, and other people. Go to a place where there is nothing else for you to do (office on campus) or where there is white noise (a coffee shop or restaurant). This way you could order a coffee, maybe have a snack or meal, but you are limited in your time there. You need to get on with it and get out before they kick you out. You are also not distracted by other tasks, people, or things. Also, get grading as soon as you can after your assignments or essays or exams come in. Letting them sit only makes the temptation to procrastinate stronger and the ability to start the job harder. 

Finally, think of great ways to work grading into your teaching. If your class consists of less than 15 or 20 people, consider oral exams. It is almost impossible to cheat, you can schedule them back-to-back in an exam period with no need to read someone’s handwriting, and you get a good idea very fast as to whether the student has understood the material fully. Grading like this is instantaneous and on-the-spot; you can give a quick feedback email if you want, or debrief right there during the exam. This is much better than invigilating a three-hour exam and then slogging through the exam booklets. And, it’s personal and interactive – many students prefer it.