I am still currently in South Korea, hanging out with my granddaughter and teaching some ESL. It is now confirmed that in August I will be working at Colegio Nueva Granada, in Bogota, Colombia. I will be teaching grade 7 (middle school is my favourite age group) English and science. Science is my passion but English will be my uber challenge.

I have been reading Joe Bowers blog a lot these days and I am hoping I can follow his lead. Marking is not only my least favourite thing to do as a teacher, but it is the one I mentally slave over most. It takes up huge chunks of my cognitive time, worrying about whether I have been fair, helpful, professional and motivating. I literally dread giving back project grades. My stomach gets in a knot and I go into avoidance tactics, including letting my grading pile up till the last possible moment which is totally counterproductive. I give long speeches before returning work to try to undo any harm I might accidentally cause by what I have said about their work.

I have no idea where or how to start this process. It means a rethinking of almost everything I do and everything I assign for the students to do. Good thing I have a bit of time on my hands to think about this before August.  Any suggestions? comments? ideas?