Two weeks ago, I taught a small unit on persuasive writing based around William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily." After learning about southern Gothic literature, reading the story, and discussing persuasive writing, I gave my students the assignment that would prove to be the bane of our lives for the next several months: A persuasive essay.
As it would turn out, the district and state assessments this year will be primarily concerned with persuasive writing. This gave the majority of the students a concrete reason as to why they should pay attention. Unfortunately, Halloween gave them all a very fun excuse as to why they should not pay attention at all. It should be fairly clear as to which reasoning the students adhered...Thankfully, the day after Halloween (Coincidentally also the day that my supervisor came to observe me...Yeah, I didn't think that one through...), they were all quite tuckered out. :) And, because they all worked so hard that day, I agreed to let them turn in their persuasive papers the following Monday...
Two weeks and a barrage of excuses later, I still have not received everyone's papers. On the one hand, it has really spread out the workload that comes along with grading 27 essays. On the other, though, how lenient can I continue to be?? First, the late policy at my school says that a day late automatically results in 50% off. Second, my CT informed me that regardless of my policies, the school's administration requires us to accept late work so some students will not turn in the paper until the end of the semester or even the end of the year. What??? How does that teach students responsibility and accountability?
Finally, my own personal concern is maintaining the same objective grading state-of-mind as I am receiving a few papers each week. Over and over again, I have heard teachers say how you don't want to be the first paper they grade because they will be incredibly tough on it. Meanwhile, the last papers to grade get the best scores because the teacher is tired of grading at that point. Sadly, as the semester continues to charge ahead and my students continue to drag their feet, my available time for grading papers is shrinking fast! I am just hoping that my own assignment load does not result in students who just spit out papers getting grades that perhaps they did not earn.
