Here are a couple of tricks I use to cut down on the number of
entries I actually make in the gradebook:

1) Collect similar types of short assignments together as a single
package at the end of a unit of study. Give a small amount of
completion points for having each assignment in the packet. Even
better: if you have a teacher's assistant, have him or her check each
packet for completeness.

2) For certain types of categories/assignments, create a single entry
for it in the gradebook, and immediately start everyone with 50 or
100 points for that assignment. Throughout the grading period, deduct
points from the total only when something is missing/is not complete.
This works well for me once a week when I walk around and check
outside reading books. They start each quarter with 50 points. For
each occasion on which a student doesn't have his or her book, I
simply deduct five points. For everyone who has his or her book in
class, I do nothing--the 50 points remain as they are. This strategy
has been a great time saver for me. I also use it for their
participation/conduct score.

On 11/02/09, Wondering wrote:
> On 11/01/09, curiositycat wrote:
>> I definitely see keeping formative assessments out of the
>> gradebook, but what has the rationale for not recording the
>> other items? Like you pointed out, it's just not
>> developmentally appropriate for many students to be
>> intrinsically motivated. Doing the work just for the sake of
>> personal improvement is simply not something that applies to
>> the majority of students. What was the topic of the workshop,
>> and who was the presenter?
>>
>
> I agree. It is nice to be reminded that this is true everywhere
> and not just at our school. The topic of the workshop was
> standards-based grading and the presenter was simply a working
> teacher, not someone famous in the field. The rationale is that
> you should only focus on whether or not the student has met the
> standard, not their behavior, or extra credit, or what have you.
> I can see that, but the problem remains. The presenter bases 90%
> of his grades on tests, and has a system for allowing retakes to
> pass. One thing I do is to simply give credit (say, 2 pts) for
> assignments that are practice and that we grade in class. Still,
> some students catch on and do sloppy work. Sometimes I pass it
> back and tell them to try again. It is still a lot to keep track
> of. Sometimes we might do three different assignments in a class
> and that is a lot to record.

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