Efficient grading is an important teaching skill to learn and utilize. As teachers, we can become consumed by the amount of marking/grading we take home each night. It is important that we start to work smarter and stop working 24/7 on school-related tasks.
When I first started teaching, I used to lug home a giant marking bag every night. It stayed by the front door most nightly adding to my teacher’s guilt. As I gained more experience in teaching, I tried to stop this guilt-inducing practice and develop a work smarter not harder approach to grading.
The 8 tips below will give you some excellent ideas to help middle and high school teachers to regain their evenings.
- Have clear and consistent grading policies. Read more in this blog post: Grading Policies & Tips in the English Language Arts Classroom
- Use codes in your grade book/mark book. Read more in this blog post: Teacher Life Hack: Gradebook Codes
- Use success criteria to define what your students need to do to well on an assignment. Read more in this blog post: 5 Reasons to Use Success Criteria in Your Classroom
- Develop a marking plan. Read more in this blog post: Managing the Marking Load
- Don’t mark everything – but if you must use this quick marking system. Read more in this blog post: Quick Assessment Tips
- Technology is a useful tool. Use it to add variety to your assignments and check for understanding. Read more in this blog post: Use Technology for Student Assessments
- Have students design their own assessments. Read more in this blog post: Student-Designed Assessments
- Get together with other teachers to mark/grade together. It is useful to have other teachers nearby if you cannot decide what mark the assignment should be given.
Looking for ready-made English Language Arts assessments to help you with your efficient grading goals? Check out all these great resources from 2 Peas and a Dog.
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