Marking, Marking Marking :(

amother

Mon, Jan 20 2014, 3:43 pm

To all you high school writing teachers out there,

How do you manage all the marking?!?

I am doing this for over 10 years and am so tired of the endless piles of papers. I love the teaching, but the marking is making me resent my job! I used to love doing it, but with the many obligations life brings along, it's just becoming impossible.

Any commiseration, as well as any tips, are greatly appreciated!

Fox

Mon, Jan 20 2014, 4:07 pm

Start by determining precisely what, and why, you're marking all these papers.

You don't say what subject you teach, so I'll have to answer from my own experience, which includes composition and various computer courses.

* Not every assignment needs to be graded. Some can be scanned and simply noted for "participation." Others can be graded on certain elements only, such as the use of a particular rule, formula, or strategy.

* Use the research in your field to guide your grading. For example, research in teaching writing has determined that students absorb only three corrections per assignment. Therefore, I used to stop grading when I reached three "issues" in a student paper. Those three items became the improvement goals for the next assignment for that student.

* Don't give assignments just to prove you're a rigorous teacher. If an assignment doesn't have a specific purpose, ditch it. Your students will have greater respect for you when you do give them an assignment.

* Assignments for the purpose of practicing skills don't need to be graded or they can be graded by the students themselves and simply recorded by you.

* Give more short quizzes and fewer lengthy tests. The actual amount of grading may be about the same, but the psychological effect of a huge pile of tests or essays is discouraging.

* Vary the kinds of evaluation. This is sound educationally as well as good for your time management. Essays, of course, take the longest to grade. Fill-in-the-blank and short-answer tests come close behind. Multiple-choice tests and quizzes are much quicker, and oral presentations and other multi-media assignments take very little time to assess. Obviously, different subjects lend themselves to different types of evaluation, but evaluation should never be limited to one type.

* Plan the term in advance to take advantage of days off, weekends, or other predictable time constraints. Collecting essays before a long weekend, for example, gives you an extra day of breathing room.

Hatzlacha!

amother

Mon, Jan 20 2014, 4:29 pm

op here, thanks for the responses...

Just to clarify, I am a Language Arts teacher, and I teach Literature, vocab, grammar and writing. I can deal with the other subjects. Its the writing that s a killer. Essays, reports etc which are required to be given consistently on a weekly basis. True I break up assignments, throw in shorter ones etc but I am required to give the amount I do. So the amount of work is not negotiable.

acccdac

Mon, Jan 20 2014, 5:45 pm

I am a math/science teacher.

the ideas I'm typing up come from "time management for teachers" by scott purdy

He says some may or may not work for you:
1) expository writing - let them proof and correct each other's papers, give them a form to use (punctuation 10, spelling 10, usage 10, etc), they get a chance to use the feedback to fix their papers and then hand in.

2) 3 mistake rule - read only until you find 3-5 mistakes (includes punctuation, spelling, etc). at times it will take student 6 times to correct, but they will start having others proof their papers before handing it in to you. Downside is constantly handing back and collecting papers

3)use good work to show to entire class, let them see what you expect

4) have students write their responses on the board, correcting without having to collect

5) only have students write on one side of paper so you dont have to flip back and forth

6) stress neatness

7) selective grading, by reading part of it can tell if they got the assignment

8) hire someone - let the grader flag anyone who you MUST look at their work

9) offer extra credit for assignments handed in early so you can start are some instead of 30 or 60 or 120 all at once.

10) time yourself so you know exactly how long you spend grading, then when it comes to planning know that you need that time

11) record your comments instead of writing them, like a Bluetooth thing so it gets typed for you instead of spending the time writing. then print it out, and staple the typed comments on the paper.

12) grade 2, meaning before going to make a coffee sit down and grade 2. Before folding your laundry grade 2, etc.

amother

Mon, Jan 20 2014, 6:04 pm

amother wrote:

I quite.

Probably not what you wanted to hear.

Fox

Mon, Jan 20 2014, 6:56 pm

amother wrote:

Essays, reports etc which are required to be given consistently on a weekly basis. True I break up assignments, throw in shorter ones etc but I am required to give the amount I do. So the amount of work is not negotiable.

From your description, this is probably too much. A complete essay or report every week is unlikely to be truly benefiting the students, and it's certainly not benefiting you!

Where is this requirement coming from and on what is it based?