How to Get Your Grading Done: A Theatre Teacher’s Guide

Please note: This post was typed with tongue firmly in cheek.  I fully appreciate the fact that, as a theater teacher, I have way less grading than anyone else in the school.  That being said, I think most of this list can apply to any school-related task that you just don’t enjoy but have to do.

1. Sit down at desk.
2. Open grade book.
3. Realize you need some tea before you start.
4. Close grade book.
5. Go to the kitchen and put the kettle on.
6. Realize that the sink is full of dishes.  Wash dishes.
7. Realize that the sink is filthy.  Wash sink.
8. Pick up kettle to pour water into mug.  Realize stove is dirty.
9. Clean stove.
10. Bring your now-cold tea back to your desk.
11. Open grade book.
12. Stare at grade book.
13. Close grade book.  Check facebook.  Promise yourself that you’ll start working in 5 minutes.
14. Spend 15 minutes on facebook.
15. Close facebook.  Open grade book.
16. Check to do list to see what else you need to do before the end of the school year.
17. Organize to do list by category and priority level.  Panic when you realize “finish grading” is priority one.
18. Realize drinking all that tea has made you have to go to the bathroom.  Promise yourself that when you get back you’ll do your grading.
19. Go to the bathroom.  Come back.  Stare at stack of assignments to be graded.
20. Organize stack of assignments into more manageable chunks.
21. Write blog post about how much you hate grading.
22. Announce that if we would just switch to proficiency based diplomas, we wouldn’t have to do all this stupid grading.
23. Become curious about how the switch to standards based education will affect grading.
24. Spend an hour researching the effect of standards based education on grading.
25. Realize you are in no way prepared for the switch to standards based education.
26. Start going through your old curriculum materials, aligning them to current standards.
27. Decide the current theater standards don’t address whatever you think is THE KEY to theater education.  Give up on standards.
28. Look at to do list.  Realize how much you need to do to be ready for the fall musical.
29.Start making audition packets for the fall musical.
30. Look at the clock and realize it’s past 10.  Decide you can’t grade effectively this late.  Promise to do twice as much grading tomorrow.