Grades are one of the things that affect students the most when they are in the learning process. It is up to the teacher to ensure that the grading process is done in the best way possible.
Time
- Do grading at the end of a class day. When you have finished your tasks, take some time to start checking and grading, you’ll be happy you started and didn’t leave it for the next day.
- Don’t leave it till the end of the term or semester, and don’t do all the grading at once. This will only ensure you make mistakes, give undeserved grades to students, and hamper the whole process.
Prioritise
- Homework, tests and quizzes should be checked according to the priority of when they are to be returned, for example, there’s no need to grade a quiz which is to be returned next Tuesday, when a small homework is to be returned tomorrow.
- To optimise your time as a teacher, cross check with the calendar to see when the closest priority grades are to be submitted, and grade accordingly.
Asking for Help
- It is completely acceptable to ask another teacher to help you grade, if no teacher is nearby, asking the supervisor to pair you with another teacher is also a good idea.
If you are grading students who you didn’t teach or were not under your authority, ask the teacher who was, to give you some feedback on how the class was, what grades the teacher expects most students to get; asking these questions may give you important insights about the class, and help you grade in a better way.
Giving Feedback
- Small comments about how an answer can be written in a better way are of immense value to a student. It doesn’t have to be a big sentence, even a small clause will do.
- Don’t give questions marks on wrong answers, it is demoralising for a student to see; and if the institution permits it, mark with a pen which is not red.
- Ask students to follow up with you, tell them what they can improve on, not what they are doing wrong. If you adopt a positive attitude, so will they. This will make the grading process such that they don’t see the mistakes but opportunities to improve.
Progress Reports
- Copy the final grades which have been given to a student on a progress report, along with small comments on where the student needs improving and what they excel at.
- Keep this report handy, as it will be much easier to discuss with parents during a parent-teacher meeting.
- Also make it available to the students so that they see their progress in front of them. If students can visualise where they need to work on, like a bar in a video game, they will be more involved in their own progress.
Giving it your best, and owning up to any mistakes which are made, will put you and your students at ease. Remember, the students are grading you in their own way as well.