Diagnosis: Grading Overload

I have this awful habit. I let work pile up, ungraded. Last year, it was because I was making all of my worksheets, powerpoints, and labs from scratch. This year, it's sheer procrastination. It's kind of a binge and purge if you would.

At the beginning of a quarter, I slack off on collecting a lot of work. I figure we've got a whole quarter to do work for grades. The things I do collect, I put to the side because I can grade it a little bit later. No matter how easy it would be in reality to grade, I psych myself out. Multiply this by 5 classes, and it piles up fast.

Then it really is a daunting task. I usually measure in inches, as in "I have 5 inches of work to grade!" When it was SAT season, I had 5 hours in which I had nothing but grading every other Saturday that I could do. Without that, it has gotten out of hand.

So today, I buckled down and graded for just over 5 hours. This means through period 1 (they were taking a test), period 2, period 3 (again, test), and the beginning of period 4. I'm pooped! Done! I have a lovely pile of tests left to grade, but that is it. I will not collect anything for the rest of the year save the final study guide and a packet about rockets.