How to lighten the load

amother

Teal

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 10:26 am

I've been teaching a specific subject many years in HS, and I absolutely love my job! I enjoy the teaching, and I am well-informed in my subject matter. I am also an all-in teacher, meaning I don't take shortcuts like I see other teachers do. I don't know how. Whatever I do, it's a job done well.

To that end, I've been giving weekly quizzes for years, and I find it crucial to my curriculum. However, k"ah, my family has grown, so have my responsibilities, and the marking is really getting to me. I don't have the time or sufficient patience for both my family and the marking.

I'm trying to figure out an appropriate way of lightening my marking load. Cutting out the quizzes is not an option because of how beneficial they are for both me and the girls. I don't want to hire someone else to do the marking. Any other suggestions?

Iymnok

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 10:35 am

I had a teacher who assed out green pens for us to mark our (or our neighbors)tests. He had strict rules about marking and we learned from our mistakes.

purple 1

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 10:37 am

I had a teacher once that we knew that it was either a written quiz or an oral quiz - and she would mark down who she asked so everyone got a chance fairly... this probably lightened her grading work but still encouraged us all to review each day

amother

Teal

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 10:47 am

cnc wrote:

What format are quizzes? Can you make them multiple choice and use a scantron?

The quizzes require writing. Though I should look into that at least for the tests.

amother

Teal

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 10:48 am

Iymnok wrote:

I had a teacher who assed out green pens for us to mark our (or our neighbors)tests. He had strict rules about marking and we learned from our mistakes.

I was thinking something along these lines. Can you tell me more about those strict rules? How did he ensure you marked "correctly"? Did he then collect the papers to record the scores?

amother

Teal

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 10:50 am

purple 1 wrote:

I review at the start of every lesson, but the quizzes are necessary because of the subject matter. The girls need to see the question, not only hear it. If I'd be able to quiz orally, I'd definitely mark it down or else (and even with this) it can easily become a joke.

amother

White

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 10:55 am

amother wrote:

I was thinking something along these lines. Can you tell me more about those strict rules? How did he ensure you marked "correctly"? Did he then collect the papers to record the scores?

Please don't do that. You should like a good teacher and, IMNSHO, any teacher who does this isn't.

Why should other students know my kids' grades? Do you really think that doesn't result in teasing/bullying?

amother

Teal

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 11:04 am

amother wrote:

I'm sorry I didn't clarify. If I do this, each girl is most certainly marking her own paper. No switching. That would be horrible for some girls.

BetsyTacy

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 11:15 am

Uch. You sound like a great teacher but other than a spelling test where the answer is clearly right or wrong self marking is also unfair. It puts pressure on the kid to think about how the answer is exactly written vs. what she meant to write vs. what she thought she meant to write. It takes away the shame of switching papers but it is in some ways worse, especially for an anxious child. Despite green pens, I can imagine a great temptation to cheat. If the teacher was really checking each answer is correctly marked, then what would be the point?

As a parent, it makes me feel that teacher is really lazy. I'm glad that quizzes are so great--better to make a quiz after a week and a half than to use this idea.

amother

Teal

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 11:25 am

BetsyTacy wrote:

I hear that.

I was also concerned about how the time spent self-marking can easily turn into a discipline issue.

amother

Scarlet

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 2:28 pm

I'm a teacher too. This is my struggle. I can relate to what you are saying but I feel like there is no solution. It is great to give a quiz every week because it helps to hold the students responsible. Less work for you means the teaching and results wont be as good. I'm personally trying to think of something else to do because although I love teaching, it requires a tremendous amount of work outside the classroom which is almost impossible when raising a large family.

Hatzlacha

simba

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 2:37 pm

Can you move to oral quizzes? And work your way up and down the list to ensure that all girls are reviewing? I had a high school teacher that did this and I remember it being effective. We all reviewed the material.

amother

Aqua

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 3:02 pm

When teaching history I gave a daily 5 q question quiz, one word answers, we went over it immediately and they graded themselves.

Quizzes returned a week late have lost their impact, studies done show kids want to know grades right away

Frequent Quizzes that require long answers should imo be seriously rethought.

cbg

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 4:35 pm

Quizzes, I thought, are suppose to be short, 5 questions, 1 word answers, or multiple choice, fill in the blank.
Essays, even if they are short, are for the big chapter test.

Can you tell us which subject you teach? Perhaps we can come up with a better solution.
Do you give them HW? How do you check HW?

amother

Teal

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 4:42 pm

simba wrote:

First, my subject doesn't lend itself to oral quizzing as I mentioned in an above post.
Second, I am wary of possibly embarrassing girls who have a harder time academically.

amother

Teal

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 4:44 pm

amother wrote:

Thanks for your commiseration. It helps to know that I'm not crazy for not wanting to take the easy way out by discontinuing the quizzes. As you say, the repercussions might not even make it worthwhile.

So is this how it all ends? Good teachers leave the field because they can't do the best job possible, while the superficial teachers stay on because they have less work?

amother

Teal

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 4:47 pm

amother wrote:

History is that kind of subject. Then there's math and most language subjects which require some more work than a simple one word answer.

I return the quizzes literally the next day because I agree with the importance of immediate grades. That doesn't do much to lighten my load. Wink

amother

Teal

Mon, Sep 18 2017, 4:50 pm

cbg wrote:

No essays on quizzes. Think of a sentence-long response.

I don't want to share which subject I teach. It might out me.

I don't give homework. Homework is to study for the quiz.