You simply can't grade every piece of paper that students touch.
It's too many papers and students don't need 857 grades at the end of each marking period.
Besides that, your friends and family will miss you if you try to grade ALL THE PAPERS.
Here are 5 tips for staying on top of grading (and having a life!):
1. Don't be afraid to throw papers out.
I used to tell my high school students that the Trash Monster was very hungry and I had to feed it their work in order to save myself.If you collect student work, but have no intention to grade it, just throw it out.
They'll forget about it.
If they don't forget about it and they ask you where that precious classwork went that they did last Tuesday - tell them you had to feed the Trash Monster.
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2. Plan so that your big grading days are staggered whenever possible.
If 60 of your Spanish 1 kids are turning in a big project on Tuesday, then don't plan on your Spanish 2 students turning anything big in until at least Thursday.Don't inundate yourself with work to grade if you can avoid it.
If you can stagger when different periods start the same project, which therefore staggers the due date - even better!
3. Plan what is worth grading and what isn't. Be forgetful about what isn't.
Plan to collect a certain number of classwork assignments, homeworks, quizzes (and whatever other categories you have in your gradebook) on a weekly basis.Prioritize ahead of time what those assignments will be.
What assignments best demonstrate students' understanding?
Or (let's be real) what assignments will take the least amount of time for you to grade?
Be forgetful about everything else.
If you know you're going to grade Monday's and Wednesday's classwork assignments and you only need 2 classworks a week in your gradebook, then you either don't need to collect Thursday's classwork (or Tuesday's or Friday's) because you "forgot", or you can throw it out as soon as students leave your classroom.
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4. Give kids a check plus, check, or check minus.
This maintains the illusion of grading their work, but those grades never get entered into the gradebook.It costs you almost no time to make check marks on papers so kids think their Spanish Menu is a valuable piece of work, but you can go to happy hour instead of staying late after the last bell rings.
You can even give kids check marks on their work in the middle of class.
They won't even realize these "grades" aren't going into the gradebook. 😈
5. Set a designated grading time for a specific amount of time and stick to it.
Pick a day (your planning period every day? Sundays at 2pm?).Pick a specific amount of time (45 minutes 4 days/week? 2 hours once/week?).
Sit down and grade like your life depends on it.
Get 👏 It 👏 Done 👏
Be strict with yourself. Stick to your schedule.
Don't check your email during Grading Time. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb.
Grading time is for grading only!
I wrote my Master's thesis while teaching full time and my thesis took up every waking second that I wasn't at school. I was out the door by 3pm whether or not the papers were graded because I had a freaking thesis to write. #priorities
That situation forced me to focus exclusively on grading during my planning period, rather than wander down the hall to chat with my teacher friends who were also "off" that period.
I never ever took work home and my students still had grades in a timely manner.
How do you keep on top of grading? Please share any tips in the comments below!
I walk around and check off homework at the beginning of class each day.
ReplyDelete+3 = COMPLETELY done to the best of ability AND according to directions
+2 = at least easily, visibly, half done OR missed a key part of the directions
+1 = not enough done for a +2 on the due date (or nothing done at all), but was completed thoroughly at the beginning of class the next day*
*In order to have this late credit option, students must put the incomplete work AWAY while we correct it in class, do it on their own later, AND remember to show it to me. I don't ask for it.***
This is SO much easier than the 10 pt. system I used for years, when students would argue over which fraction they had completed.... There are only 3 whole numbers in this system, it's clearly defined, and printed in the course expectations.
Another Spanish teacher and I dreamed up this 3-2-1 system, and it has worked very well for about 5 years now, in all levels of Spanish, from middle school to College Spanish (dual credit).
***For special needs students, we extend the late deadline, give reminders, reduce the amount, etc., according to their accommodations
I don't assign homework and any formative assessment can be checked right in class or shortly afterward. I have a once a week optional/extra credit assignment that students can do if they want more practice. Very few turn it in, but if it is complete, follows directions and shows they did their best, they get a 100. If not, I just don't count it. I have an exit ticket most days consisting of no more than 5 questions (T/F, one word answers, etc.) that only take 5 minutes to grade.
ReplyDeleteI don't assign homework and any formative assessment can be checked right in class or shortly afterward. I have a once a week optional/extra credit assignment that students can do if they want more practice. Very few turn it in, but if it is complete, follows directions and shows they did their best, they get a 100. If not, I just don't count it. I have an exit ticket most days consisting of no more than 5 questions (T/F, one word answers, etc.) that only take 5 minutes to grade.
ReplyDelete