I always promise myself I won’t do it.
I promise myself I won’t get behind on grading.
I promise myself I won’t collect more work than I can reasonably grade.
But when you see 37 different students for math alone, and you wait even a day or two to grade their papers, this is how you end up:
…consider this a cautionary tale…
How about you teachers out there? Do you also measure your work to grade in inches, or hours worth of work? What’s the tallest stack you’ve ever had to face?
Soapbox: The Way I see Things 
I don’t measure in inches. I measure in stacks of five (for research papers) and stacks of ten (for tests and in-class essays). It’s depressing either way.
oh my! I say the same to myself every quarter. I even vow to begin my report card comments four weeks before due date. I end up measuring my grading tasks against mundane chores such as tidying my store cupboard, sorting old folders and throwing paper away for recycling. yes, I’ll even measure my stack of student work against sorting out the DVD cupboard or cleaning the refrigerator!