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Reading Teachers Chatboard

Grading Essays

by NewbieTeach

Mar 28, 2011

I am a fairly new teacher, this is my third year teaching HS language arts. I have found that the thing I struggle with most is grading essays. It is just so time consuming.

I have been told that I should only be grading portions of the essays, such as the introduction and first body paragraphs, but I feel as if I am cheating the student.

Perhaps anyone can offers some suggestions or advice on how to grade essays more effectively and efficiently, or perhaps if anyone has any awesome recommendations for successful peer editing activities.

Thanks!

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Sara On 3/28/11, NewbieTeach wrote: > I am a fairly new teacher, this is my third year teaching > HS language arts. I have found that the thing I struggle > with most is grading essays. It is just so time consuming. > > I have been told that I should only be grading portions of > the essays, such as the introduction and first body >...See MoreOn 3/28/11, NewbieTeach wrote: > I am a fairly new teacher, this is my third year teaching > HS language arts. I have found that the thing I struggle > with most is grading essays. It is just so time consuming. > > I have been told that I should only be grading portions of > the essays, such as the introduction and first body > paragraphs, but I feel as if I am cheating the student.

I would agree - it's a poor practice to assign writing that will not get a professional evaluation. Not only is it cheating the student, it's dishonest as well unless you tell students that you will only be reading a part of the essay.

My first principal taught me this and I've lived and taught by it - never assign more writing until you have the previous assignment back. Tell students and parents alike that you need time to give things a thorough read and that you won't be assigning more writing until you get this writing back to them. In 25 years no parent has complained that I don't assign enough writing or homework after I explain why I do it like I do it.

Writing more is not necessarily a way to encourage students to write better.

The other tip that has helped me is that I grade on the generous side - no one complains or asks you to do a second read or demands to know how thoroughly you read the essay if you grade on the generous side. It does no harm and does good. And a lot of smaller assignments, I give a check too - maybe check pluses and check minuses but that's so much easier to do than assign a letter grade.

I find peer editing to be a poor practice - no one is paying tax dollars to have their child's paper read by Johnny or Susie. If Johnny or Susie were a good editor and teacher of writing, how come they're in high school??

Assign less writing, give shorter assignments. Less can be more when it comes to writing. Allow rewrites - it's must easier to read a paper that you've read before than read a new paper from scratch and rewriting is the essence of learning the process of writing. > > Perhaps anyone can offers some suggestions or advice on how > to grade essays more effectively and efficiently, or > perhaps if anyone has any awesome recommendations for > successful peer editing activities. > > Thanks!

Mar 28, 2011

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K Definitely use a rubric. You can find tons of stuff online to help with this.

On 3/28/11, NewbieTeach wrote: > I am a fairly new teacher, this is my third year teaching > HS language arts. I have found that the thing I struggle > with most is grading essays. It is just so time consuming. > > I have been told that I should on...See More

Apr 5, 2011

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GuamTeacher On 4/05/11, K wrote: > Definitely use a rubric. You can find tons of stuff online to > help with this. > > On 3/28/11, NewbieTeach wrote: >> I am a fairly new teacher, this is my third year teaching >> HS language arts. I have found that the thing I struggle >> with most is grading essays. It is just so time consuming....See More

Apr 17, 2011

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Mark Pennington If you use a rubric, use an analytical rubric rather than a holistic rubric. Students need specific feedback that a holistic score cannot provide. There is no substitute for the hard work of essay response. On 4/17/11, GuamTeacher wrote: > On 4/05/11, K wrote: >> Definitely use a rubric. You can find tons of stuff online to >> help w...See More

Apr 23, 2011

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