Sep 19, 2010

Year 4 of I Hate Grading

My previous post makes my teaching life look like rainbows and butterflies. (Double rainbows, at that). Let me clear that up. In 3 years of teaching I've realized the following:

1. Teaching is a marathon. And this marathon usually starts off nice and easy. What I have now could easily be the honeymoon period prefacing some glorious shipwreck. I take the good of these first three weeks with a grain of salt.

2. I, personally, have started off every school year feeling good about the job. I realize (more now than ever) that my personal challenge is to sustain the enthusiasm for what I do. Previously, I said I wanted the year to be more "about the kids," but I realize this is impossible if I don't take care of myself first. I am 3 weeks deep but there are 33 still before me. Pace yourself, Mr. G.

--

4 years in, I feel I've become a more efficient and effective planner, speaker, presenter, builder of class communities, at matching their wit with better wit, trainer of procedures, designer of curriculum, manager of behavior, etc, etc. One thing that seems to NEVER improve, though, is how quickly I grade. This tedious task has been a constant battle. Granted, I am much improved from my first year where Sundays of 6 straight hours of grading quizzes were not uncommon. Since then, though, I haven't much improved at efficiency since year 2 or so.

I realize one option is to outsource the work to TA's or to the students themselves, but grading quizzes is my number one tool in examining student work, noticing common trends and misconceptions, and gauging each students' current performance. Anyone have any tips on how to fix this dilemma? I [still] hate grading.

5 comments:

Jason P / InnerEd said...

Outsource the work but still look at the quizzes and check for pattterns/ways to help. This is how I learned to survive in my 3rd year. Don't always use the kids, but every now and then is ok. Remember that the speed of feedback is also important. Checking after taking a quiz can let the kid know where they stand, and you can go over major problems the next day after you read the quizzes.

Rebecca D said...

Depending on the kind of quizzes you're giving, you could have students grade their own. I dthis with the parts that have a single correct answer. All they're allowed to have on their desks is a marker and the quiz. I always remind them the only marks they should make are x's through the missed ones. The students get instant feedback if you can do it right after they take it, & you can still see what they have trouble with when you record the grade.
If you have enough computer access, they can do quizzes online. Google Docs has a forms option that will even give graphs of the answers. I've also used quia in the past, or ?quizstar? Not sure of the name

Eyawn said...

Seeing success in outsourcing makes me give it a second look. I do want more details though. Are the students using pre-approved grading pens? Are the students doing "trade & grade" or are they allowed to grade their own assessment? Lastly, how much in-class time do you allow for in-class grading and is the time investment worth it as much for the students as it will be for myself?

Thanks!

Rebecca D. said...

The first time I have a class grade their own, it usually takes longer. After they're used to the process- maybe 10 minutes. I give out markers & they're not allowed to have anything else on their desk-like pencils- to prevent changing answers. It helps when I put the answers up on the overhead as well as read them, otherwise I have to repeat myself a lot.
I think it's valuable for students as well. If they have to wait on me to get them graded, recorded, & returned- sometimes so much time has passed they don't remember taking the test! This way, they know how they did immediately, & I can glance through them that same class period and go over the most missed items while it's still fresh in their minds.

Rebecca D. said...

The first time I have a class grade their own, it usually takes longer. After they're used to the process- maybe 10 minutes. I give out markers & they're not allowed to have anything else on their desk-like pencils- to prevent changing answers. It helps when I put the answers up on the overhead as well as read them, otherwise I have to repeat myself a lot.
I think it's valuable for students as well. If they have to wait on me to get them graded, recorded, & returned- sometimes so much time has passed they don't remember taking the test! This way, they know how they did immediately, & I can glance through them that same class period and go over the most missed items while it's still fresh in their minds.