Honestly, it feels like I’ve been putting off grading the last of my students’ papers. Part of it’s understandable — we’ve lost half of our planning time this year, and when I do get a planning period, I usually spend it preparing for the next day’s lesson. On days when I don’t have planning, I’m usually too tired by the end of the day to look at one more comma splice.

But this weekend, it’s come to a head. Grades are due by Monday afternoon, and there’s no more dodging it. I’m guilty of the same thing I warn my students not to do — procrastinate. The irony isn’t lost on me.

Grading isn’t my favorite thing to do. It’s not that I don’t care about my students’ writing — I actually love seeing how they grow — but reading 100 versions of the same assignment can blur into one long run-on sentence of its own. So, this weekend, I decided to make a game out of it.

🎮 The Grading Gauntlet

Each batch of papers became a “level.” Ten essays per level, timed for 25 minutes. When I beat the clock, I earned a reward — a fresh cup of coffee, a short break with the dogs, or a little bourbon at the end of the day.

The final level — the “boss fight” — would be the last ten essays. If I finished those without skipping around or giving up early, I’d earn my big reward: a guilt-free evening doing absolutely nothing.

The funny thing is, once I started playing, it actually worked. The timer added just enough pressure to keep me focused, and the rewards kept me from burning out. Turns out, sometimes the only way to tackle a mountain of grading is to treat it like a game — one level at a time.

Reflection:
Maybe that’s a lesson for more than just grading. Life gives us plenty of “boss levels” — things we avoid because they’re tedious, overwhelming, or just not fun. But progress is progress, even if it comes in small, timed bursts. Sometimes all we need is a little structure, a few rewards, and the will to press “Start” again.

Copyright © 2025 Doug DeBolt.