The Grade Monster

I've got bittersweet feelings about today.

Sweet:
>March Madness begins today. Some the best games, competition, and sports drama of the year for the next couple of weeks. I'll be able to watch/listen to college basketball as I grade all of my final papers.

>I got to spend a little time in my nice DePaul classroom today, peacefully grading and listening to satellite radio music.

>My students are coming by my office with intelligent questions on their research papers.

>Despite a lot of mishaps, the quarter went pretty well and I learned a lot more about teaching.

>I've heard back from a lot people about possible work.

Bitter:
>This may very well be my last time of teaching at DePaul. I have to find work and I probably won't be teaching here in the fall. I can't afford to putz around with too much temporary work anymore. Student loans are hell.

>I have a mountain of papers to grade, and this only for two of my four classes. Over 40 final research papers on the legal system, 8 - 10 pages each, will surely drive me insane by Saturday, but I have to post final grades next week.

>Good teaching work is ending and there's currently no work to replace it. Hello, financial stress.

>Freshman research papers make for hard reading and grading. Assigning final grades is difficult because assessing performance is more than numbers. There will be people pissed with their grades. I have to document the grades very carefully, sifting and organizing loads of information. The grade monster is hungry, impatient, and still intimidating to me.


I hate letting go of things, and I'm still early in my teaching career, so I'm going to miss the connections formed with some students. I'm also glad that I won't see some of them ever again. I'm definitely going to miss the process, the routine established over the past 10 weeks, and the familiarity of setting. I predict there will be large consumptions of alcohol and basketball today and tomorrow to help me through the process: screaming at KU and Illini players to work the clock while I read my fifth paper about euthanasia, abortion, or the death penalty. It's going to be a beast.