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Middle School Teachers Chatboard

Question for English/Language Arts Teachers

by Mrs. H

Oct 16, 2013

Hi,

I was wondering what strategies are used to grade several essays. I have 136 students, and I'm trying to figure out the most efficient way to grade their essays without depriving myself of a social life. Thanks for your help!

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Vet Teacher On 10/16/13, Mrs. H wrote: > Hi, > > I was wondering what strategies are used to grade several > essays. I have 136 students, and I'm trying to figure out > the most efficient way to grade their essays without > depriving myself of a social life. Thanks for your help!

I never give out a new assignment until I have the old...See MoreOn 10/16/13, Mrs. H wrote: > Hi, > > I was wondering what strategies are used to grade several > essays. I have 136 students, and I'm trying to figure out > the most efficient way to grade their essays without > depriving myself of a social life. Thanks for your help!

I never give out a new assignment until I have the old one graded and handed back and I tell them that. No parent ever complains about 'wanting more work' when I explain I want to give each essay a thoughtful and professional evaluation. I do NOT assign a weekly essay. One a month is more like it and I do allow students to rewrite it. Reading a rewritten essay goes much faster than reading and grading an entirely new one. I can teach writing very effectively and perhaps even more effectively allowing students to rewrite their essays.

I keep the essays short - long essays do not instruct writing better than short essays. I do not do peer editing - I don't think parents and taxpayers are paying for students to evaluate each other's essays - I think they're paying for me to do that.

There's no honest way that I know if to shorten essay grading time other than give fewer essays to write and keep them short and don't assign a new one until the old one is handed back. The ways that say ' only read the first and last paragraph' aren't honest to me. 'Skim over it' isn't honest to me.

I read them thoroughly, I don't use a red pen, I type up my comments because I type much faster than I handwrite, I circle mistakes in pencil on their copy. I allow them a rewrite but I want them to take in account the suggestions I typed up for them.

And I don't labor long over the grades and I grade with a pleasant generousity. If I didn't, then I'd have to be ready to go to battle with disappointed kids and parents over the grade and to go to battle, I would have needed to have a finely detailed rubric and then read the essays with a fine tooth comb based on the finely detailed rubric. That takes time that doesn't seem well invested to me. To me it's just not necessary that grading be a battleground. I don't need to have failure in my class to make the success of some students seem more real or more valid. Allowing rewrites goes a long way with building good relationships with parents and students alike.

Oct 17, 2013

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