For grading essay assignments, and possibly also essay-style exams: It is important to get a feel for the collective level of writing before grading essays ind

For grading essay assignments, and possibly also essay-style exams: It is important to get a feel for the collective level of writing before grading essays individually, and it is important to avoid over-grading or under-grading essays at the beginning or end of a stream of papers. Therefore I did a three-stage grading process, with three colors of pens: The first pass, with a red pen, is marking up single-point problems like misspellings and glaring usage errors. Also of course the general level of writing begins to seep in. This pass of course includes all papers, and it can pass fairly quickly. The second pass, with a green pen, mostly just marks in the margin where a (good) point is made or a conclusion is reached. This is to prepare for the next pass. Again, all papers are done in this pass. The third pass, in blue pen, is where the quality of the writing is assessed and critiqued. Maybe some short notes in the margins, maybe just comments at the end of the essay. When students get their papers back, there are some chuckles (or whatevs) when students see all the pretty colors. But after I explain the method and its rationale, the method is clear and understood (and also appreciated?).