Ready, Set, Teach
A blog about two beginning teachers, on opposite coasts, working to increase student achievement.
Mollie Dickson
My name is Mollie Dickson and I am currently a first year teacher. Having explored many different career opportunities, I have ultimately chosen to pursue my passion to teach. This is my story...
Please feel free to contact me with questions or comments at readysetteach@gmail.com.
Melissa Mullineaux
Hello! My name is Melissa Mullineaux and I am a first-year teacher. I am teaching 6th grade English at a public middle school in Washington, D.C. I interned for the Chalkboard Project assisting in management of the CLASS Project during the summer of 2009. I look forward to sharing the many challenges and highlights of my first year!
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Disclaimer:
The Chalkboard Project is hosting this blog as a way to further the discussion about K-12 schools in Oregon. The authors' views do not necessarily reflect the policies and priorities of the Chalkboard Project.
Another “First”: Grading Papers
Posted on Jan 19 2009 at 9:32 AM
Three days, five cups of coffee, and twenty-six papers later, I am finally done. With a cramp in my right hand, I take a deep breath and smile. I did it. I have officially experienced my first weekend of grading papers. And now I know why teachers refer to it as “a weekend of grading papers”; because it is just that—a full 48 hours of reading, responding, and wondering how you will ever reach the bottom of that stack (which I did just this morning, with a great sense of accomplishment and relief).
Before walking out the door on Friday afternoon, with my stack of students’ final papers securely nestled under my arm, Miss. Jones offered me one final piece of advice (a warning really): “Now don’t spend too much time on those.” She smiled, as if secretly knowing I would do just that. Looking back, I think a more direct approach may have done the trick—something like, “DANGER: papers have the potential to consume you physically, mentally, and emotionally for hours at a time, days even. They grab a hold of you, sit you down, and selfishly hog all your thoughts and energy. Friends and family can put up a fight, but they will never win. Only once the stack is complete, will you be able to reenter your life.”
Honestly, this was me—from Friday afternoon until Monday morning—I fell victim to the powerful, all-consuming force of “paper grading”. But it was my first time; it will never take me that long again (so I say now). Although the papers sucked me in this weekend, I have to admit a secret confession: I enjoyed it. Yes, somehow I found myself perfectly content—marking in the margins, laughing out loud to sixth grade humor, offering words of advice to young, aspiring writers, and sharing bits of wisdom that I once received from my dad, as I myself learned to love language—hoping that my encouragement will ignite within my students a burning desire, an urge, a craving to explore their minds and express their thoughts through writing.
So my first time grading papers… a long, intense, yet extraordinary, weekend.
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