Turning Point (Grading Papers)

grade book

For the first few years that I was a teacher and tutor, I gave every student the benefit of a doubt. I accepted their weak work and their excuses, feeling that nothing could be done about it, that I didn't have the right to complain, and most of all, I was afraid to be mean because I wanted my students to like me.

One day a good student turned in a mediocre paper and I didn't know what to think. I wanted to give that 'A' but this time I couldn't. I told her "You can do better" and I handed her back the paper ungraded. I felt like an ogre, I hated being mean, and I spoke in my gentlest voice, ending my sentence with the sound of a question.

One time I had a student who kept turning in mediocre work but kept demanding a better grade. He was a little bit of a bully. His work was obviously slap-dashed, thrown together at the last minute. I just barely managed not to give in. But I felt guilty and pressured and secretly wondered if I was in the wrong. I always reacted in a friendly, accommodating, "well maybe next time" way and pretended his work was just about there.

On one of those days when he came to complain about his grade, my impulse was to act friendly the way I always did. But something inside suddenly took over, something new that I had never felt in teaching before. To my surprise my mouth opened and here's what came out of it:

"You have no right to ask for a better mark. You never give me your best effort. You don't even try. You will not get a better grade until you straighten up. I work very hard for you, do you work hard for me? When you hand in work like that, you're wasting your time and you're wasting my time."

Whew, where did that come from. It was my turning point. In that moment I suddenly became a different teacher.

He cowered, but I realized I had every right to say that. Instead of feeling like I had to give in to them, I realized they had to give in to me. I realized I had the right to be demanding. That kindness accomplished nothing. I'd been afraid to make the students dislike me, but I suddenly realized that I didn't care if they liked me or not, just so long as they gave me their best work. And in the long run, that might make them like me better anyway, as a bonus.

The next week, the student sheepishly turned in a much better paper and got a better grade.