Buzz and I finished our grading today. We meant to finish it yesterday while I was visiting Westfield, but we got sidetracked by a variety of technical problems instead. I sent out grades to the students so they could contact us in case there's a problem, so we can correct it before the grades are entered in the database. I remember when I was a little kid, I had fantasies about being the teacher and being able to grade people. But, as an adult, I really don't like assigning grades. I do try to create a system where it's extremely clear what you have to do in order to earn all of the points. I want it to be absolutely clear that everyone can get an "A" and that the goal is for students to participate, to engage in particular activities, and to work together. I'm not concerned that students get to any particular place in the class: what I want is for them to get "somewhere" -- and I think that if they do what I ask, they will. Although I don't much enjoy grading, I do feel some satisfaction that the systems I create seem to evaluate people consistently: I rarely have people that get A's for some components and D's for another. I often find that the grading is usually fairly accurate as well, although I do have exceptions: the student who does fairly well, but simply doesn't complete chunks of work or the extremely studious student who carefully fulfills the literal requirements, while carefully avoiding the spirit of the assignments.