Great post! From experience, if the Gallagher principle isn’t sufficient, next level is agreeing to write-down any problems prior to discussing them the following day. Most of the time you realise that it wasn’t a big deal or you better understand what the issue was when you’re forced to write it down… this also helps for couples where one half is introverted and the other extroverted or one processes verbally and the other doesn’t…
Smart! it shall be called The Jeff Corollary. I bet that simply the act of writing it down can make your concern sound silly or can help you think of an answer yourself. Or it could really help clarify why you need to say the thing.
I love this post. The more I go, the more lenient I am in my grading. I try to randomize where I start in the alphabet. While reading your post, I thought of cognitive overload in personal finance. Thanks for the great piece.
I actually thought of you while I was writing this, since I know your content is about being a helper and guide to students.
Yeah, there is so much more to write about choice making, incentives, cognitive overload, and so forth. But I wanted to keep this one under the word count and get some sleep. ( I didn't sleep well last night because my brain was still working too much, and I have a sore throat this morning)
I was lucky(?) that my boys had an obvious consequence to playing a particular online game, literally after 9:30 (aka kinda after their bedtime on a school night).
Multiple times they would make sketchy decisions and lose a lot of "loot" to another (most likely older) player. They actually remember that happening, back in the day, and self regulate activities when they know they're tired.
My corollary to the Gallagher Principle is don't talk about really important things after 6 pm. I need time for the adrenaline to wash out and the rumination to die down. 20 or 30 minutes before bedtime is not enough.
But yeah, by 9 or 10 pm it's just not a good time to talk about important things because when you're tired you're dumb.
When I’ve had to grade papers, I’ve done a first pass on all of them, applied a post-it note with a preliminary grade, then did a second pass another day — lining up the papers to be sure every A was better than ever A-, etc. It’s staggering how unfair I’d (inadvertently) been before the second pass. To be sure, if I had to grade papers as often as you do, I would not be able to find time for (or mentally handle) this approach.
That's a very conscientious approached to grading you've taken, well done.
It seems like a win-win situation for both students and teachers is to have short assignments that aren't too fatiguing to complete or grade.
I used to assign my freshman in high school a five-page history research paper, because I wanted them to build their writing and research muscles. I absolutely hated grading those papers, and over time made them shorter and shorter, and gave the kids more training in how to write a thesis, do research, etc. After a couple years the papers were only three pages long and a lot more focused and better to read. Of course, if I would have taken some professional development in this area, I would have learned all these lessons the easy way.
I presort exam answers based on past grades. It helps me benchmark the scoring. Then I do a quick scan of the answers and sort into 5 or so piles. Then I read the piles best to worst. I don't look at names. I'm probably also out of my mind.
Great post! From experience, if the Gallagher principle isn’t sufficient, next level is agreeing to write-down any problems prior to discussing them the following day. Most of the time you realise that it wasn’t a big deal or you better understand what the issue was when you’re forced to write it down… this also helps for couples where one half is introverted and the other extroverted or one processes verbally and the other doesn’t…
Smart! it shall be called The Jeff Corollary. I bet that simply the act of writing it down can make your concern sound silly or can help you think of an answer yourself. Or it could really help clarify why you need to say the thing.
I love this post. The more I go, the more lenient I am in my grading. I try to randomize where I start in the alphabet. While reading your post, I thought of cognitive overload in personal finance. Thanks for the great piece.
I actually thought of you while I was writing this, since I know your content is about being a helper and guide to students.
Yeah, there is so much more to write about choice making, incentives, cognitive overload, and so forth. But I wanted to keep this one under the word count and get some sleep. ( I didn't sleep well last night because my brain was still working too much, and I have a sore throat this morning)
I was lucky(?) that my boys had an obvious consequence to playing a particular online game, literally after 9:30 (aka kinda after their bedtime on a school night).
Multiple times they would make sketchy decisions and lose a lot of "loot" to another (most likely older) player. They actually remember that happening, back in the day, and self regulate activities when they know they're tired.
Luckily, they lived and learned.
Wow, that is a level of video gaming self-awareness that I never would have predicted! 😅
It was possibly enhanced by me being barely/not able to hold back in saying, "I told you so."
My corollary to the Gallagher Principle is don't talk about really important things after 6 pm. I need time for the adrenaline to wash out and the rumination to die down. 20 or 30 minutes before bedtime is not enough.
But yeah, by 9 or 10 pm it's just not a good time to talk about important things because when you're tired you're dumb.
At this rate you could get away with never talking about anything important!
When I’ve had to grade papers, I’ve done a first pass on all of them, applied a post-it note with a preliminary grade, then did a second pass another day — lining up the papers to be sure every A was better than ever A-, etc. It’s staggering how unfair I’d (inadvertently) been before the second pass. To be sure, if I had to grade papers as often as you do, I would not be able to find time for (or mentally handle) this approach.
That's a very conscientious approached to grading you've taken, well done.
It seems like a win-win situation for both students and teachers is to have short assignments that aren't too fatiguing to complete or grade.
I used to assign my freshman in high school a five-page history research paper, because I wanted them to build their writing and research muscles. I absolutely hated grading those papers, and over time made them shorter and shorter, and gave the kids more training in how to write a thesis, do research, etc. After a couple years the papers were only three pages long and a lot more focused and better to read. Of course, if I would have taken some professional development in this area, I would have learned all these lessons the easy way.
I presort exam answers based on past grades. It helps me benchmark the scoring. Then I do a quick scan of the answers and sort into 5 or so piles. Then I read the piles best to worst. I don't look at names. I'm probably also out of my mind.