Grading. The thing I hate the most as a teacher. But it’s always there. Haunting me. As a teacher that has had 3 English preps this year, I had to get more creative with my grading, especially when it came down to end of the quarter time crunch and all the writing we did in AP Literature. Here are 8 ways that I have found to keep up with grading, especially in an English and social studies classroom!
1. Grade during Work Time
I always try to schedule a work day, at least every couple weeks for each class to provide myself with some time to just sit down and bust out grading. Maybe my freshmen are watching a movie, AP is having a writing day, or it’s a roll over work day for the assignment or project from the day before. Whatever it is, it is a day that I can get up, walk around a few times to ensure everyone is on task, and then jump back into grading when I get back to my desk. Or my favorite thing to do is to set up at a student desk next to the students that tend to get off task easily and grade there! Proximity is a dear friend of mine at the high school level 😉
2. Don’t Grade Everything
Another way to keep up with grading is to pick and choose what you’re grading. You don’t have to grade every assignment or activity that you assign and do! One thing that I try to keep in mind is what are the standards that I am working on. If I’ve been hitting a standard hard or it is just practice, don’t grade it!
3. Completion Grades
Going along with don’t grade everything, I also do completion grades where applicable. If I reflect on the assignment and find that students struggled or base my grade on observation, I often will just put it in as a completion grade!
4. Use Rubrics
Rubrics are a great way to help organize your thoughts when grading, especially when grading summative assessments. When you’re assessing multiple standards, a rubric makes it quick and easy. At which level did they meet all the requirements? Then that’s where they are!
5. Scheduling Time During the Week
Scheduling out your week is another great way to keep up with grading. When it comes to my prep period, I have a weekly schedule where Mondays and Tuesdays are spent creating my assignments and slides for the next week. Then the rest of the week (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) is for grading.
6. Digital Assignments When Possible
After online teaching, I have transitioned to a lot more digital assignments. A great positive of digital assignments is that online quizzes or Google forms can automatically grade questions for you, which limits what you need to grade – woo!
7. Grade Late Work on The Same Day Every Week
Similar to tip number 5 – scheduling your week out – I also make Thursdays specifically for grading all the late work from the previous week. This is also helpful when students ask “when will you grade my late work?” On Thursday, like I always do.
I selected Thursdays because on Thursday afternoons, I have our grading system email home up-to-date progress reports. This way, if I get an email from a guardian asking if I haven’t graded the work that they submitted, I can say that I have graded all late work that I have received.
8. Use Peer Reviewing
Another way to keep up with grading is to use peer review by students, especially with writing. Not only will this give you an idea of what are the strengths and places of growth within the assignment, but students also get to work on their skills as well! By grading other students’ work, they can reflect on their own writing and what points they may be missing as well. I ALWAYS have peer reviews after a rough draft of an essay is turned in and students always benefit through recognizing what they are missing.
3 Comments
This is such a helpful guide on how to keep up with grading. As a graduate school professor, I use rubrics which have been super helpful since it also guides the students on what they need to do to get a high grade. I also love peer review.
Good tips for grading
As a teacher trainer, I always recommend not to grade everything! Otherwise, it will take forever.