As much as teachers love to emphasize deadlines, it can sometimes be difficult to stay on top of all of their grading. With the number of assignments they have flooding in on top of their lesson planning, teachers sometimes have a hard time staying on top of all the grades they owe back to students. If you’re wondering what to do when you’re behind in grading, read below for some helpful tips.
Grade Papers as a Class
If you’re comfortable with your students and feel that you can trust them, you could consider having them grade their tests in class. This might take away from a bit of class time, but it could also help clear up any questions the students may have after the test. To add accountability, you can circulate around the room while the students are grading their tests. Grading tests in class will give students their results immediately and will cut back on your workload.
Shorthand Your Feedback
If grading papers is a usual part of your job, you might have to develop a sort of shorthand system when providing feedback. When first beginning grading, you may feel more motivated to leave elaborate comments. However, this adds up over time and can lead to you feeling exhausted shortly into your grading. If you teach your students about what your shorthand means at the beginning of the school year, they will be able to interpret your feedback more effectively, and it will cut back on the amount you are writing.
Grade Simultaneously
When grading things like tests or worksheets, especially those with multiple pages, it would save time to line a few up next to each other and grade simultaneously. Going through one packet at a time could be severely lengthening your grading time. When you’re behind on grading, you’ll especially want to use this method to cut back on time. You’ll just have to pay close attention when adding the final scores up for each packet to make sure that you are giving accurate scores.
It can become easy to grow discouraged when you find yourself behind on grading. But by using the above methods, you can cut back on the amount of time you spend grading and return assignments to your students at an accelerated pace. By implementing these techniques even when you’re ahead on grading, you will be able to prevent yourself from becoming overloaded with work.