Every teacher has done it. You start grading Tempest essays with a sharp eye and detailed comments, and by the eightieth paper you are skimming and rounding up. The students at the bottom of the pile end up with a different experience than those at the top.

Studies of grading have repeatedly found that scores can shift over long sessions. Fatigue lowers attention, and standards slide in one direction or the other. The order in which papers are read can also influence scores.

None of this means teachers are bad at grading. It means grading is hard, especially when the work is interpretive. Simple habits can reduce the problem considerably.

Here are practical ways to keep your standard steady across a large stack. None require special equipment. Most take only a few extra minutes.

Habits that limit drift

Structure your session so that fatigue matters less. Grade in shorter blocks, shuffle the stack so the same students are not always at the end, and return to anchor papers periodically. These small moves protect the last student in the pile.

• Grade in blocks of ten to fifteen essays, then take a break.
• Reread your first scored essay after every batch to check your standard.
• Shuffle the order of papers between sessions.
• Score one criterion at a time across several papers when possible.
• Avoid grading when you are exhausted and save it for a fresh moment.

Use anchor papers as a reference

Choose two or three essays early on that clearly represent different levels, and keep them nearby. When you are unsure how to score a paper, compare it to an anchor. This is the simplest way to keep your standards from sliding.

Anchor papers also help you explain scores to students. You can show what a level three looks like without naming anyone. It removes mystery from the process.

Check your own patterns

After you finish, look at the distribution of scores by the order you graded them. If the later papers cluster higher or lower, drift is likely. A quick spot check of a few essays from each end can confirm it.

Regrade a few papers from the beginning and the end blind, without looking at your first score. Differences show you how much your standard moved. It is a humbling but useful exercise.

Adding a steady second reader

A rubric-based tool like GraideMind does not tire, so it applies the same criteria to the first essay and the two-hundredth. Teachers can compare the tool's scores with their own to catch places where fatigue nudged a grade. The teacher remains the final decision maker.

That comparison works like a second reader who does not get bored. For a unit as writing-heavy as The Tempest, that steadiness makes grading fairer for every student.