- Staple any papers held together by paperclips, folded corners, or sheer force of will.
- Print out papers turned in by email, stapling if necessary.
- Alphabetize papers by students' surname.
- Divide papers into sets of ten and paperclip together.
- Create a grading rubric.
- Create a spreadsheet in which to record the grades.
- Find a supply of appropriately colored grading pens.
- Try to locate your drawing board.
- Double-check that the state and county correctional facilities will not, in fact, correct papers, not even those from state university courses.
- Leave papers, grading pens, and rubric on kitchen table overnight to see if elves will come to grade the papers.
- Write a blog post about ways to put off actually getting started on grading those papers.
12. Read blog post by someone else procrastinating on grading papers.
13. Comment on blog post.
14. Reply to comment on blog post.
15. Read comments on blog post after reading blog post.
16. Wish I could come up with more things to do to keep from grading (or, in my case, finishing a manuscript revision).
17. Whine some more.
18. Eat chocolate.
19. Get jealous at others working on manuscript revisions rather than grading.
20. Pour glass of wine.
21. Check to see how many days until return of Mad Men.
22. More chocolate and wine.
23. SIWOTI
24. Snicker at yet another Santorum headline
25. Notice email that your university is considering changing Learning Management Systems yet again (3rd in 10 years).
26. Leave intemperate comment on the official "feedback" discussion board about proposed LMS shift.
27. Pour another glass of wine.
28. Instigate Twitter discussion about how much shifting LMS so frequently sucks for faculty and students.
By the way, let the record reflect that the stack of papers I'm putting off grading is one I received today.
So, you should be impressed that I'm getting the procrastination done so quickly!
Grade the papers, to keep from having to attend a textbook selection committee meeting.
fusilier
James 2:24
29. Straighten out desk, putting stray papers and books away.
30. Check email one more time.
31. Clean out file cabinets
32. Create new file folders for all junk in file cabinets
33. Clean out fridge
34. Go to store to replenish office food supplies and restock fridge
35. Alphabetize all books on office bookshelves
36. Take care of the book orders that are 2 months overdue
36. Find & send grading humor google images to colleagues
37. IM all your friends on FB
38. Look for publishing opportunities
39. Rank the list of publishing opportunities
40. Put the list of publishing opportunities on your To Do list and go back to staring at the same stack of ungraded papers.
Think of research ideas based on the issue of grading papers and write an abstract
41. Post blog post, share blog post, then comment on blog post.
42. Make lunch plans with the colleague you haven't seen since August.
43. Write committee reports because you control the grammar.
44. Realize that spring starts in three weeks and begin maniacal laughter.