It’s December, and your end-of-semester grades are due soon – possibly as early as next week!
This is the time when your stack of papers to be graded seems to grow every day. For some of you, it’s a little more complicated because you’re not only finalizing second-quarter grades, but also first-semester scores. And, adding to the stress is that you’re wanting all of this done so you can enjoy break, as well! (Yes, I’m totally speaking from experience on this one!)
Here are some ideas to help you get through this hectic time and get your break started right on schedule…and with a smile.
- Have you stayed organized? Sort of organized? If you haven’t been as organized as you’d like, there are still steps you can take today to get back on track. Organize all of your papers that need to be graded two ways; for secondary students, clip them together by each class, and then group them by course. That allows you to grade a specific assignment for all of your students at one time. Ex: If you have a math quiz over multiplication of fractions, you can grade first hour’s quizzes, then move on to the next hour’s quizzes over the same material. This lets you get “in the zone” for grading that specific assignment.
- Enter your grades into the computer in a timely fashion – as you complete the specific assignments per class, instead of trying to enter grades for a mixture of assignments at once. That gets too confusing and takes too much time.
- Be sure to put graded assignments that have been entered into the gradebook in to a “To Be Returned” folder, so you can see some progress.
- Make sure your computer gradebook is up to date. If you have some upcoming assignments in the next few days, set those up ahead of time in your gradebook –so, when the time comes, you can just enter the grades.
- Look for any missing assignments or other issues in your gradebook. Use these next few days to troubleshoot. It’s always better to do that before final grades are sent home to parents and guardians. It can save you some uncomfortable telephone calls and emails.
- Always save your grades. Have a back-up version (paper printouts, saving the files in another location, etc. If you’re unsure what will help most, check with a colleague. You’re absolutely right – you probably never will need the backups; just consider it free insurance for your grades.
- Remind your students that they need to meet their deadlines for assignments because you have deadlines, as well!
- Understand that you still may have an error or two with your grades. (Yes, more personal experience!) Always be willing to listen to a complaint or concern that parents/guardians/students may have. Make yourself approachable regarding these issues; often, they just need an explanation.
- Don’t overdo assessments in too short of a time span. Do yourself and your students a favor by not overloading the last few classes of the semester with assessments, unless they’re absolutely necessary. If you give them too many in a limited time frame, you’re not going to get a true reflection of what they know. They’ll be too stressed for it to be an accurate measure of learning, especially if several other teachers are assessing at that time, as well. Plus, you’ll be overwhelmed with last-minute grading.
- Be consistent – in what you assess and how you assess it – with each student. Being fair and reasonable will go a long way in getting your students and their parents and guardians – and your administration – to support you.