It's all in the numbers. ..

Numbers have been on my mind a lot lately. And, as an English teacher, numbers are truly not my forte. Nonetheless, my life seems to be all about the numbers.

It is usually at this point in the school year where my life gets crazy. Papers are piling up, grades are due soon, and students are impatient. Why can't I keep up? Let's look at the numbers.

68 -- the number of students I have in my junior/senior writing class
2- the number of writing assignments they turn in per week on average
10- the average amount of time it takes me to grade ONE of the student's papers

Quick math--

1,400 -- the approximate amount of minutes it would take me to grade all of this work per week

Supposing a person is awake ten hours a day, it would take me about 2 and a half days uninterrupted a week to grade all of this.

But, I'm not done.

49-- the number of freshman in my two E9 classes
1-- the number of writing assignments they turn in on average a week
10-- the time it takes to grade one assignment

Quick math--

500- The approximate minutes it takes to grade their work as well.

These classes add another day to my grading load.

With all of this, I still need to find time to be a mom, wife, PTO president, church committee member, reunion committee member, and much more.

I am exhausted.

You might suggest that an easy solution that would please the students as well would be to assign less work. However, that doesn't work for me. I believe in making students work hard. I believe that unless they are pushed, some students never know how much they can truly achieve. I believe that work ethic offers a student much more than an A or B in class.

So, with that, the numbers don't lie. I am a workhorse from now until June.

I wouldn't have it any other way.