Grading Papers...

is a race against time, and to make matters worse, I'm a really grumpy grader.  It's not because I think I'm brilliant and that the students I'm grading will never live up to my expectations or something like that.  Not at all.  In fact, reading their papers makes me empathize with the difficulty and complexity of expressing oneself.  In their writing, I see so many of the same errors that I make.  So, it's not from some grand high up position that I look down on these papers.  It's just frustrating when you have limited time and you keep reading for pages and pages and cannot figure out what in the heck someone is talking about or arguing for/against.

To be frank, grading just isn't nearly as "fun" as I thought it would be.  It takes me about an hour to grade each paper, and I have 30 students, so within the week that papers are turned in, I have to prepare to teach my section, complete my own reading/writing/ homework, AND grade all of the papers.  Let's just say that these pressures don't bring out the most generous attitude and commentary that I have to offer. The time pressure sets up an intense mood surrounding the papers as something I just have to get through rather than a process that I can enjoy and use as a way to get to know the students better, ya know.  

I'm really trying to fight this attitude, though.  This second round of papers is much better than the first because, in general, I can see how students' ideas are progressing after having read their first paper.  I can see them engaging more deeply in the material and finding ways to more clearly express their analysis.  It's just hard to maintain that front while I'm finding it far more difficult than I ever dreamed it would be to not fall into a deep malaise about the mountain of work that seems to always lay ahead of me.  Time management is part of it, but there is also a skill of knowing when to stop that I have not yet developed.  I'm starting to realize that I will never get on top of the workload...and that the best thing I can do for myself is to figure out how to manage the impossibility rather than try to conquer it.  

With that said, any and all tips for managing the impossible are more than welcome.