Family, I Hear You. I Love You. Go Away. This Weekend, I’m Marking Papers.

No, I don’t want to see the new jacket you picked out with your mother. No, I don’t want the hamburger you brought home for me. No, I don’t want to go for a walk. At least not while I’m marking notes on page 7 of this student’s 10-page term paper draft. I hear you. I love you. Go away.

I did end up taking pictures of my daughter in her new jacket; I gratefully ate the burger my wife brought home and also went grocery shopping & child-shuttling; and I went for a long walk with my son. I just didn’t do all those things exactly when they wanted me to, because when they first asked me, I was not a father or husband, I was Marky McPaper Markerson.

My teacher friends with lots marking before the term ends.. how’s it gong?

I’m averaging an hour and 15 mins providing feedback per freshman research draft. I have just 4 more to go in that stack. Slow going, because I am not an expert in criminal justice, or the psychology of the mind, or what have you, so I have to read at least some of the sources the students cite in order to engage meaningfully with their ideas. I hate being interrupted in the middle of marking a paper, so I am pretty crabby with my family.

I also have about 14 more AmLit papers (but they are shorter) and 9 more Intro to Literary Study creative projects. Students will revise all of these in the next couple of weeks.