Few short stories reward careful reading the way John Cheever's "The Swimmer" does, which is exactly why essays about it can be so hard to grade fairly. Students who see only a quirky story about a man crossing his neighborhood by pool often write confident summaries, while the strongest writers notice how the weather, the guests, and the silence around Neddy Merrill quietly rewrite the day. A teacher who knows what separates those two kinds of essays can grade faster and give feedback that actually moves writing forward.

The first step is deciding what the assignment is really asking students to do before the first paper is opened. If the prompt asks how Cheever uses setting to reveal Neddy's denial, then a paper that lists every pool he visits has answered a different question, no matter how accurate the retelling is. Writing that target in one sentence at the top of your grading sheet keeps you anchored when the twentieth essay starts to blur into the nineteenth.

It also helps to read three or four papers quickly before scoring any of them, simply to see where the class landed. In a typical set on this story, you will find a cluster of students who summarize, a cluster who identify the theme but never prove it, and a few who connect specific details to a larger argument. Knowing that distribution lets you set realistic score bands and avoid grading the first papers too harshly or too generously.

Start With a Clear Picture of What Strong Looks Like

A strong essay on this story makes a claim about what Cheever is doing, not just what happens. For example, a student might argue that the shift from a sunny Sunday to chilly autumn signals Neddy's refusal to face loss, and then support that claim with the change in the guests' reactions and the dry pool at the Welchers' house. Having a model paragraph like this on hand, even one you write yourself, gives you a concrete reference point for every score you assign.

• A thesis that explains what the story suggests about Neddy, not just what he does
• Specific moments from the text, such as a dry pool or a cold reception, used as evidence
• Explanation that connects each detail back to the thesis instead of leaving it alone
• Awareness of how the story's timeline and seasons shift over a single afternoon
• Clear paragraphs and sentence control that let the argument be easy to follow

Separate Summary From Analysis in Your Scoring

The most common problem in essays on this story is that students narrate the journey from pool to pool and treat the retelling as the argument. A useful habit is to mark each sentence in a sample paragraph as either what happens or what it means, and then count how many fall in each group. When a paper is eighty percent what happens, the score should reflect that, and the comment should show the student a single sentence that could be turned into interpretation.

This distinction is easier to teach when students can see it in their own writing rather than in an abstract definition. Try returning a paper with two sentences highlighted, one that summarizes and one that analyzes, and ask the writer to explain the difference in a short note. Students tend to grasp the idea faster when the example comes from their own paragraph, and you spend less time writing long margin comments.

Judge How Evidence Is Actually Used

Many students drop a quotation or a detail into a paragraph and assume the evidence speaks for itself. Strong analysis of this story requires the writer to slow down and explain why a particular moment matters, such as why the Bunkers' party feels different from the opening gathering, or why Neddy's growing discomfort in the cold matters to his self-image. When you grade evidence, look for the sentence after the quotation, because that is where thinking either happens or does not.

Pay attention to whether the evidence is spread across the whole story or clustered at the beginning. Since the narrative unfolds as a sequence of encounters, a student who only cites the first two pools is probably not engaging with the story's turn toward loss. A simple comment such as asking where the evidence from the final scenes appears can prompt a meaningful revision without rewriting the paper for the student.

Keep Rubric Language Short and Consistent

Rubrics with long descriptive paragraphs for every level tend to slow graders down and confuse students, especially when two criteria overlap. A better option for this assignment is four or five criteria, such as thesis, evidence, analysis, organization, and conventions, each with brief and observable descriptors. When the wording stays consistent from one essay to the next, students begin to read the rubric as a map rather than a verdict.

Consistency matters even more when several teachers are scoring the same assignment across sections. Agreeing in advance on what a score of three looks like for evidence, with one anonymous sample paper, prevents the quiet drift that happens late in a grading session. Even a ten minute calibration conversation can shrink the gap between graders and make student grades feel more defensible.

Make Feedback Usable, Not Just Accurate

A comment like "needs more analysis" is accurate but nearly useless, because the student does not know what to change. A more useful version points to a specific line and suggests a move, such as asking what the cold wind in that scene reveals about how Neddy sees himself. Feedback of this kind takes a few extra seconds to write but saves a round of confusion in revision.

Tools that help generate first-pass comments against a rubric can speed up this process, as long as the teacher reviews and adjusts what is produced. The goal is to spend your own attention on the judgment calls, such as whether an unusual interpretation is well supported, rather than retyping the same note about weak topic sentences. When the routine comments are handled efficiently, a full set of essays on this story becomes manageable instead of overwhelming.