Marking - that ol' chestnut....

Today in one of my classes I gave 28 people back 2 pieces of assessment. The second of the two had a choice so I had marked 3 different assessments. I was physically shaking as I gave them back. I felt quite sick. Many people did really well. One girl rang her Mum from class to tell her that she had gotten a good grade.
Then there were others that were very quiet, I even spotted some tears.

The emotional aspect of marking - the drive for success and perfection - is what I struggle with, with marking. I can rationalize, and self soothe myself, but I still feel this ultimate responsibility for these kids success and ultimate happiness. I have let this turn into a burden, rather than something positive. The experience (this morning p1) totally wore me out and I have failed to be very productive since.

A positive in this situation is that, in some respects, I AM responsible for their success. Its important that this drives me. I absolutely want to be the one that empowers these kids to succeed. I love the feeling of exposing kids to new aspects of the subject that they have not considered before. I guess what I am musing on this afternoon is wondering if the flip side of that is that I need to feel the responsibility if they don't.

A scenario: Student does not achieve standard. I look back and see that student missed both formative deadlines that I set. Student tries to pull something together and then is frustrated and upset when it does not achieve. Student then reveals that he did not know what to do so was deferring the task.

Now I would like to think that my teachers perception would be able to read that situation and pick up on the signs - but sometimes there are 28 others who do meet deadlines and do the work and also ask for my attention. Another part of my teaching is holding students accountable and ensuring they are growing into a responsible citizen.

As I said earlier - I can rationalise myself out of this and accept that I do my best at all times. However, I just wanted to paint a picture of the turmoil of thoughts that often are going around when I am assessing student work, and hence feeling a little tired today.

One thing I would like to start incorporating into my planning is more peer and self reflection. Being a marker helps me to understand the aspects I need to teach. Self marking would support the student in understanding where their work is at and knowing how to get their aspired outcome. I feel like this will come with more practice.

If any other teachers are out there....have you got systems in place where students are really aware of assessment criteria - so that they know where they're at when they submit their assessment?