How to Check Student Work Without Grading Everything

You know those days when your students have been working on an assignment, you want to make sure they actually DID the work, but the thought of collecting another 150 papers makes you want to cry a little? 😂
Because you already have quizzes to grade. And projects. And whatever else is sitting in that pile on your desk.

But you also don't want students thinking that just because an assignment isn't going in the gradebook, they don't have to do it.

So here's a little trick I use every once in a while to check student work, give them some quick feedback and avoid creating another grading task for myself.

I walk around the room and "grade" their papers without actually putting a grade in the gradebook.

And it takes about two minutes.

How I Check Student Work Without Collecting It

Toward the end of class, usually during the last couple of minutes, I'll walk around the room while students still have their assignments out.

Depending on what we did that day, I might check one of two things:

1. Did they complete the assignment?
Sometimes that's literally all I'm looking for. Did they do the work? Did they attempt the questions? Great.

2. Did they understand the important part of the lesson?

Other times, I'll pick one specific question to look at.

Maybe we did a worksheet practicing preterite verbs, and I know question #7 is a pretty good indicator of whether students understood what we practiced.

I'm not checking all 15 answers. I'm looking at #7 to see whether they're basically getting it.

Then I physically write a little mark on their paper:

✓ = Looks good!
✓+ = Great job!
✓− = Needs some work. (I almost never use this one. 😂)

And then I move on to the next student.

That's it.

No collecting papers. No taking anything home. No entering 150 grades later that afternoon.

Do These Checks Actually Count as Grades?

Nope! 😂

I don't enter these checks into my gradebook.

They're just a quick way to acknowledge that students did the assignment and give them a little feedback on their work.

Students can see that I looked at what they did, and I can get a general idea of how the class is doing.

If I'm checking question #7 and almost everyone has the wrong answer, that's useful information. Maybe we need to review that concept tomorrow before moving on.

If almost everyone has it right? Great! We can probably keep going.

And I got that information without sitting down to grade every single question on every single paper.

Now, if a student asks whether the check is going in the gradebook, I'm not going to pretend it is. The point isn't to trick students. It's to make checking their work a normal part of class without turning every assignment into another recorded grade.

You Can Do This With Exit Tickets, Too

This also works really well with exit tickets.

Let's say students complete a quick exit ticket with four or five questions at the end of class.

Instead of collecting every single one and adding another stack of papers to your grading pile, you can walk around, check their answers and write a quick ✓ or ✓+.

You get a general idea of whether students understood the lesson, and students get immediate feedback before they leave.

And if you notice that half the class missed the same question, you already know what you might need to review tomorrow.

You don't need to enter a grade in the gradebook to get useful information from student work.

Should You Do This for Every Assignment?

Absolutely not. 😂

I still grade assignments for completion. I still grade assignments for accuracy. I still give quizzes, projects and assessments that actually go into the gradebook.

And sometimes I really DO want to look closely at every student's answers because I need to know exactly what they understand and where they're struggling.

This little trick isn't a replacement for any of that.

It's just something I use occasionally when I want to check that students did the work without creating a whole bunch of additional grading for myself.

Because if you teach 150 students, even a simple assignment can turn into a pretty significant amount of grading when you multiply it by five classes.

And not every assignment needs that level of attention.

One Less Thing to Grade Tonight

The next time your students finish an assignment and you're debating whether you need to collect it, ask yourself:

Do I actually need a grade from this assignment, or do I just need to see whether students did it and basically understood it?

If it's the second one, you might not need to collect anything.

Spend the last two minutes of class walking around, checking their work and writing a few checkmarks.

Students get feedback. You get a quick look at how they're doing.

And you don't have another 150 grades to enter.

Sometimes a checkmark is enough. 🙌