Grading

I, as I am certain that many who teach do, hate grading. It is the worst part of the job. However, it can provide an unending source of amusement and mirth and Scott has walked in on my doubled over laughing at some sentence or misspelling.

My favorite:

As one of the requirements for the art module in my Humanities course students write a brief essay on Van Gogh's Shoes. As we are wont to do, a particular student trusted her spelling and grammar checker rather than carefully read over her work before submitting it for grading. As a result, I had a whole essay on what should have been peasants' shoes but was an essay on pheasants.

This little gaffe had me doubled over with laughter, tears rolling down my cheeks, and gasping for breath as I read it for its literal content. It was, to say the least, amazing.

And then you are faced with how to deal with something like this. I think my comments were something along the lines of:

Please be sure that you are re-reading your work before submitting it. Spelling errors can interfere with the meaning of your paper; for example, you continually write about pheasants (a large long-tailed game bird native to Asia, the male of which typically has very showy) rather than about peasants (a poor farmer of low social status who owns or rents a small piece of land for cultivation (chiefly in historical use or with reference to subsistence farming in poorer countries). See how this drastically changes the meaning of your paper?

Other favorite typos/misspellings:

Pubic spaces (public spaces)

they're ...cats, meat, etc (their)

This little gem was passed along my way this morning and made me giggle:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

In all, sometimes grading can provide that laugh that I so desperately need to get through the beginning composition compositions.