Friday, February 29, 2008

The Passive-Aggressive Grader

So far this term, I have kept my passive-aggressive grader on a leash.  A very short leash.  Soon, I may even try to put my PAG to sleep.  The only problem is that I know a new PAG will be reborn.  I am quite sure that as long as I teach, a passive-aggressive grader will be lurking in the shadows of my teaching identity.  Rather than try and eliminate PAG, and convince myself I am an icon of pure benevolence and compassion to my students, I must work to always be aware and not let the passive-aggressive grader loose.

Just in case you have never met the passive-aggressive grader, let me introduce you to him.  PAG is the one who cuts a few points here and trims a few points there on a smart alec student’s essay.  PAG is the one who sniffs and hunts down comma splices with three or four readings because PAG heard that student talking trash about PAG’s human form in the cafeteria.  PAG is the one who seeks to expose every possible flaw in the hippie kid’s and born-again Christian’s essays because they are vocal about their beliefs.  PAG is the ghost identity in every instructor that gives just enough substance to students’ claims, “They gave me a cruddy grade cause they don’t like me” so that those claims persist.

I am quite sure that my house is not the only house he visits.  Unfortunately, many students think that PAG does all our grading or that PAG is the only instructor who exists.  This illusion leads some students to believe that there is no rhyme or reason to our grading.  One of the best ways I have found to keep PAG on a leash is to make the grading criteria, rubrics, and expectations for my class as transparent as possible.  This way PAG has fewer places to hide—fewer shadows from which to jump after a caffeine-riddled day.  I am accountable for my scoring.  If the scoring and rubrics are transparent, then there is far less room for students to claim that PAG isn’t the one who tells us we know better than our students; PAG is the one who urges us to feel superior because we have more experience.  PAG is not the one who spots the errors; PAG is the one who uses errors to compensate for other issues.  PAG is the one who insists we are helping the student “see the light” by learning through hard work, but deep down PAG assures us that the punishment is fun.  PAG is the secret sipping temptation when there’s too many papers, too much caffeine, and a full-up email box filled with questions, complaints, and complications.  PAG is the steam blown off from a relationship’s bad day.  PAG is the closeted aggressor in the non-violent, peace lover’s world.

I have not met too many instructors who are willing to admit their subjectivity and humanity—no matter how skilled, experienced, and hard-working it may be—can occasionally slip into vindictive, bitter, angry, or retaliatory mode.  Come on, we’re human, admit it.  Once we acknowledge PAG the imp exists, we can work to keep it on a chain.  Only by observing ourselves and detecting the conditions that let PAG loose, can we control the damage.  Sure, this requires work.  It is honest work.  It is work that complements what we are trying to do—educate—instead of what PAG does: destroy.

Keeping PAG at bay is not easy, but it is essential to being a good instructor.

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