Did you ever have one of those nights… grading papers? When they all- for various reasons- (lets be frank here…) suck? Either they don't get it, which means I have some reviewing to do, or they sort of do get it but they didn't follow the directions. So you are trying to restrain yourself as you make your comments so that you don't sound like a complete and total BEEYOTCH…

And then it happens…

The Perfect Paper.

I seriously almost kissed the paper. My heart sang. The clouds parted and the sun shone down (never mind that it was 10 pm).

OK, truly, it wasn't perfect because she didn't follow directions exactly. She included extra detail! Maybe that is kissing up a little but… it worked.

Then I went back to all of the other crappy papers and tried to look at them with a little more optimism, explaining my more cryptic comments more, trying to lighten them a bit and include more positive reinforcement. See? The whole class will benefit from the successful kissing up of one stellar student.