10 down, 115 more to go...ah! How do you get through essay grading?? I have peer conferences, teacher conferences, editing workshops - and yet still, I am correcting and re-correcting when I am grading - any pointers out there to help me keep my sanity???
One thing I do is to grade one part of their essay at a time. For example, if they are writing a persuasive essay, I will have them write the introduction, and hand it in. When I pass them back, they will then write the body, and then turn it in. You get the picture. You are not reading as much at one time, plus the student can correct their mistakes before they move on. Another thing I do when grading essays is to only grade what I have taught. For example, if I have not taught comma usage or "colorful" words then I don't grade it. Students are given a rubric, so they know exactly what I am looking for. I use the essays to guide my future lessons. I do have student do peer editing. The more I teach my students how to edit, the more I expect of their editing work.
that you graded ten essays in less than thirty minutes.
Even so, 120 is a lot to have staring you in the face. Have you thought about staggered due dates? Since you clearly are a fast grader, maybe have one class come in on Monday, another class on Tuesday, etc. Switch up which class has theirs come in first and last so no one has an unfair advantage or more time to prepare a final copy.
I am grading some essays students did based on a biography that they read.Just like a previously commenter said I grade them on what I have taught and what we discussed in class. Using a rubric has also been very helpful to assignments that take a little time to grade.
Boy oh boy, can I relate. I, too, am facing about 120 six paragraph book reports, but am grading quizzes from yesterday first
I posted this as a peer edit sheet once before. It had the specific content requirements for each paragraph listed (following the prewriting outline they had to follow). For my own evaluation, this is my plan. First, light a fire and make hot chocolate, then... ....
I copied the peer edit, changed the title to Teacher Assessment. Since my focus is Organization, I only score the Intro, 1 Body paragraph (I'm doing theme, but eyeball plot to see if it's too long) and the Conclusion. So I get to skip 3 of the 6 (big whoop). Obviously, if one is missing, I do mark zero.
I use the same symbols from the peer edit (* checkmark 0) as I go along, which kind of translates into a 5 3 1 rubric score of sorts and also the number of points they get. I spend way too much time on descriptive rubrics, trying to decide, so this seems faster to me.
I circle the General Comments instead of writing the same thing over and over on multiple papers. I do use proofreader's marks here and there for spelling, etc., as I go along.
Maybe you could adapt something along these lines for each paragraph of your essay, whatever your expectations are, and use a similar check off system.
Bottom line, it still takes me FOREVER. I obviously take PT breaks all too frequently.
I use all of the strategies mentioned above, but sometimes simply bite the bullet. I did try staggering this time, but every evening I had something to do to be ready for the next day, so I ended up still having all of them in a pile for this weekend and probably will finish over TG.
I love reading kids' writing, of course, but I'm sure in Dante's Inferno there should be a circle for grading. It was nice to log on PT and see someone else has the same issue.
Last edited by MiddlingAZ; 11-21-2009 at 02:34 PM..
I feel your pain, too! I have 96 thankful essays to grade, hopefully before Tuesday so the kids can have their grade before break. I love reading their writing, but I hate grading it.
MiddlingAZ, love the rubric you use for your novel essay. I've been thinking of doing something like that so I might borrow it!
i have helped my district score our 6th grade essays (used for adv. placement in spring) for over a decade. i can score one essay in less than 3 minutes.
i use the same "rubric" that the district uses for this district-wide DWA (Direct Writing Assessment) in my classroom. i teach it to my students and we practice scoring old DWA's and then ours.
it's a holistic (wholistic?) score. ideas and organization are the most important--so should have solid thoughts and be organized like a paragraph. style/voice are the next important--so be engaging and sound interesting; mechanics are last in importance.
(i'm shortening this by A LOT)
NS is for No Score because it's not an essay, too brief to score, didn't answer prompt, illegible...
1 is Basic--has answered prompt, has some ideas, immature vocabulary, mechanics mistakes, lots of shifts in focus
2 is Developing--attempts at becoming an essay but intro or concl are weak or missing, mechanics errors...
3 is Satisfactory (good enough for grade level standards)--has basic intro and concl, vocab is still not always interesting, possible attempts at figurative language, tells more than shows
4 is Proficient--intro and concl are effective, smooth transitions, shows more than tells, few mistakes
5 is Advanced--intro and concl show thinking out side the box, variety in sentence starts and types and lengths, figurative language and sound devices, very few errors (but not necessarily perfect)
so i score my student essays based on this "rubric"---since the DWA's are scored twice and a 1/2 score is possible, i will give a half-score like 3.5 if better than a 3 but not quite a 4. i only write a few comments on the essays--to point out major errors.
right now, my class is just working on organization of essays, so i'll be looking for intro, concl, indenting, topic sentences. in a few weeks, i'll be more focused on alliteration, similes, etc.
perhaps you can find a way to simplify your scoring. (oh, i also have a percentage that i have attached to each score...at home, so not exactly certain, but i think a 3 is 90%---3.5 95% 4 100% and up and down from there.....)
*being forced to read several hundred essays over the course of 2 days--with a method--has really made it easier and less overwhelming to face a class of essays!
Have you tried this site to generate rubrics? There are many premade, and you can edit them to your specifications. I don't know what I'd do without it!
There are times when you want to grade a whole essay for all its traits (ideas, organization, voice, conventions, etc.), but when I taught English I invested in a custom ink pad stamp, "Graded for:_________________", and then wrote in the blank what skill/standard I was grading. For example, I might have written "complete sentences." However, that didn't mean I would accept garbage writing just because there were no fragments. Grading papers was quick, and students did not get back papers flooded with red ink. I did not ignore other issues with students' work as I graded, and if a paper was incomplete to the extent that a student had not met the overall requirements for the assignment, I marked it as such and returned it to the student to be completed before I would assign a grade. I also kept a student list for each assignment and made notes next to names as needed to indicate skill deficiencies that needed to be addressed, and of course, papers that were returned as incomplete. By quickly highlighting these notes in different colors according to skill deficiencies, I was able to create "reteaching" groups. I found this flexible grouping strategy to be invaluable in providing students with the extra help they needed without boring students who did not need additional assistance.
Last edited by TeachVegas; 11-24-2009 at 10:00 PM..
Reason: Clarification
11-20-2009, 12:15 PM
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