[nicollo]

I put more effort into grading each paper, test, or quiz than 85% of my kids put into writing them. Each one. It is a thankless job and I have thought “WTF is THIS” over and over and over again

Near the end of my teaching career I finally figured out the best way to get through grading mass quantities of essays/ written responses was to record feedback by voice, attach it to an email, and move on. Saved me so much time and allowed me to provide much more feedback than if I were writing or typing it on the papers.

[nicollo]

... btw, the only time I ever lost a student was one time that I was harshly critical instead of positively critical, which is what I always strived to do. It was my idiot V.P.’s daughter, so might have been something more to it than just straight feedback, but I still regret the tone of my criticism.

Other than that I always remained positive, leaving it to the kids to decide if they wanted to act on my teaching or not. Teachers who insist on imposing outcomes on students will always lose them.