One.. Last.. Assignment. (Updated)

REL 120 is over as of Thursday last.  All my students left with that "phew" look on their face: palpable relief.  I wanted to feel the same, albeit more like the "good tired" feeling you have after leaving all you've got on the court following a close game in which you played well, win or lose.  You're glad to sit down - before you fall down - and relieved not to have to dig deep for more right now.  I'm learning that, for the teacher, said end-of-term relief is deferred until your grades are posted.  And that, dear reader, is what stands in front of me now: grading 14 essays.  The objective tests are done, the team presentation is done, but the essays are not.  Yet.

I have this lovely grading rubric to use, though, which should give me some much-needed objectivity as I wade through the students' emotional ramblings around this very personal topic: "Explain your preferred ways of knowing (your epistemology), and your essential worldview (your presuppositions).  How do these, then, influence your analysis of the world religions we've studied, as well as your own choice of religious practice (if any)?"

My first pass through the papers produced 3 full credit ones, with no dings for word length or formatting, and with solid evidence of grasping the concepts in the assigned readings and applying them personally.  That leaves 11 with flaws, which I have to evaluate and deduct for in the scoring.  I can see that there is at least one where this is going to be really difficult, because the person is in the throes of a personal and existential crisis and does not seem to be thinking clearly.  Arrgh.

I have a feeling that even after multiple readings it's going to come down to the wire.   I have a week left.

*****

Update 5/9/13:  Done!  Painful, to be sure, especially with cajoling two recalcitrant students to get their late papers in before the deadline, and dealing with a particularly prickly student's complaints about her essay score (wanting a detailed explanation of the areas of downgrade).  Still, I'm pleased with the results: 3 As; 7 Bs; 4 Cs, no failures.  Turns out that having three different kinds of assignments (test, essay, presentation) helped students with weak performance on one kind raise their scores through another kind and come out okay.  Instructor victory!