Tips from Lakeside Teachers
An English teacher writes:
" . . . when I need to schedule a larger assignment
(such as an English paper), I look ahead in the calendar to be sure that
I will have the time to correct it. If there is something in my personal
life, or something going on in school that week for either the kids or
myself, I try to refrain from dispensing large assignments. If I
really have to assign something that week, I'll stagger the due dates,
making each class submit their papers on different days. Around comments
time, I try to change the nature of my assignments so that I will not have
much to grade. For example, I assign very few writing exercises
the week before comments are due --unless I am going to use peer editors
to review them. I usually use that time to go over more practical
elements of the curriculum such as grammar, mechanics, and vocabulary.
. . . To be honest though, I'd love to meet
an English teacher who has a better system than I do (are there any? --seems
like
we are all carrying our infamous Guilt Bags full
of papers around)."
An art teacher writes:
"I handle comments as follows. In the week that precedes
the due date, I have individual 15-20 minute conferences with all of my
students one on one -- in class time and during free periods. I try to
write the comments on the students I see in a given day before I go home
that day. Students use class time for conferences and to do[their own]
work. I do no teaching per se.
One thing that I have appreciated in the last
year was the blackout weeks we had before and after comments were due.
This enabled us to write comments and spend time on adviser conferences
and prepare/teach our classes without additional meeting after school."
A math teacher writes:
"Reading and returning class sets of tests: Goal: to
return the test the next class meeting period
A. Schedule the test on a day that gives you either the
weekend or the "no class day" as a buffer. For example, if Thursday
is your "day off", schedule the test on a Wednesday. You get some
extra time to accommodate last minute challenges to your planned schedule.
B. Have a grading party after school if you team-teach a course.
Grade the tests together. The discussions while grading ("What do
you think of this answer? What do you think about this approach?")
are invaluable for the teachers who team-teach a course. Time flies;
have some tea and cookies, too."
Providing regular feedback on homework
". . . Do not bury yourself in minutiae. Experience in
the math department tells us that we generate about 1000 points of homework,
tests, projects, etc., in a year. If your own child has a piano recital,
if your mother and father are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary,
it's OK not to mark your student papers that night (just check the assignment
off, to keep track of the 'slackers'…)"
Getting your comments done while handling your ongoing teaching load
"Get out your calendar; look at the big picture, especially if you
are team-teaching a course. . .
Design lessons, units, assessment time, with the comment schedule
grid in mind; it doesn't change . . . you can adapt.
-
Three weeks before comments, especially in a team-taught course,
check in with your team. Make sure you're coordinated about homework,
daily participation, etc. Make sure you're coordinated about the
grading system, and that what you've told the students at the beginning
of the year still holds. If not, make sure students are aware of
the changed paradigm.
-
Two weeks before comments, make sure your gradebook is current,
that any comments/notes are clear and understandable to you. Several
teachers type comments/notes into either WORD or EXCEL files so that they
are ready to "cut and paste" into student comments. If team-teaching,
check to see that your grade distributions are consistent with other team
members; if there are inconsistencies, make sure you recognize the pattern
(weak students all ended up in the same section; basketball team members
are "bottoming out", etc.) and address it straightforwardly in your comment.
-
One week before comments, if you're really organized, you
will have finished the rough draft of all your comments by now. If
you're just average, you will have finished at least one set.
Most people whittle away on a set or two during the week. Some people
use the "one class set each day, after school," others say "X number of
comments each day" … whatever works for you. Most normal people with
families have their comments done by Friday, so they can spend the weekend
with their families. It's nice to have the weekend to fine tune any
comments, check for spelling/style errors."
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