On retiring a well worn accordion file.

The Gradapocolypse/ Gradearmageddeon approaches and while cleaning my office (part of the process) and looking at how I will carry the papers, I realize it’s time to retire a well worn folder.  It’s covered with thoughts on assessment and wisdom gleaned from reading student work.  It doesn’t seem right to uncermoniously dump it in recycling until I’ve reviewed such thoughts as

  • I don’t like to be teased while grading papers (I like writers to get to the point, but the message may have been meant for my family).
  • The idea of “the accidental poetry of NNS might be racist (I’m feeling it’s B*llsh*t at best).
  • “Gradearmageddeon” was copyrighted in 2012 on the folder.
  • Find another way to say “word salad” without hurting a student’s feelings.
  • Keep goals achievable
  • observations on the “throw it up on the wall and see what sticks” theory of drafting (as it applies to spaghetti,) or the sh*t flinging monkey model of engagement.
  • an ode to getting up at 5 am and finding a clean well lit coffee shop at which to grade (cause home and the office are to be avoided for optimal productivity – elimination of distractions).
  • a survey of somewhere between a passel and a plethora of student social media accounts indicates that messing up in my class correlates with messing up in life choices an overwhelming amount of the time.
  • A student once asked, “have you ever thought that writing could be an art”? well dude…  Have you?
  • epicly – epically – ?  wordy
  • the grammar and mechanical nuances of parsing  “I wish I Knew What I Know Now When I Was Younger