Marking

End of term arrives and the enslaught of marking begins. The first week she adds up the time spent working (marking is a large part but not the only deadlines at this time) and it comes to 70 hours….since it doesn't help, she decides not to keep track after this. 
As a whole Eca enjoys seeing what the students have learnt through the term. Marking each essay, presentation or exam script is a roller coaster of YES!! - to noooooooo. Great they got that message to how did I not get that through to them? For essays it's exhausting always looking for good points to put on the feedback sheet and finding the main thing the student could work on in future. When the mark sheet goes in it's clear which students came to class and which ones didn’t. 

Throughout this process Eca finds herself constantly questioning did she do enough for the students? Should she have taught something differently? How does she increase the online engagement? Should she even worry about that? But she can't help it because she knows many students are commuters and her classes are taught on one campus and many students are based on another campus…
Eca is exhausted. The time it takes to do any one marking task takes longer and longer. The anxiety increases and she wonders whether she will get through this. Maybe she should take stress leave - but that would add to her colleagues' workload and she can't face knowing she made things harder for other people…
Under the high workload pressure, small moments of support from colleagues is overwhelmingly appreciated. The offer of help adding up exam scripts and entering them saves Eca a full day. Support with moderation from another colleague saves her another day. Gestures like this mean more to Eca than the time saved as she has felt very alone and unsupported and these offers of kindness touch her deeply.
Her mental health has taken a battering but the end is in sight…which task will she tackle next?