Middle School parents: does your kid’s school work get read and graded?

[Anonymous]

Or just stamped? We’re new to middle school and my son (albeit nerdy) works hard on his school work but only tests or an occasional report seem to be graded. nightly HW or in-class work/writing assignments get stamped (and I don’t think the teacher even reads them). Normal? He’s been disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I should have specified public school.

[Anonymous]

Thats normal in our public elementary school. It depends on the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Or just stamped? We’re new to middle school and my son (albeit nerdy) works hard on his school work but only tests or an occasional report seem to be graded. nightly HW or in-class work/writing assignments get stamped (and I don’t think the teacher even reads them). Normal? He’s been disappointed.

Is this APS?

[Anonymous]

Depends on the goal of the assignment. Teachers often want to give wiggle room for formative assignments when students are new to concepts. The idea is to learn something through the assignment, not to be perfect out of the gate. Also, with 120-150 students and class work and homework every day, teachers have to be picky about what they grade or they’d be under a mountain of paperwork.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the goal of the assignment. Teachers often want to give wiggle room for formative assignments when students are new to concepts. The idea is to learn something through the assignment, not to be perfect out of the gate. Also, with 120-150 students and class work and homework every day, teachers have to be picky about what they grade or they’d be under a mountain of paperwork.

Thank you for responding. I understand they have too many students and not enough time to read/grade assignments, but teachers used to. At least when I was growing up. Anyway, I just wanted to see what the “norm” was. Philosophically, I feel it’s wrong to assign work, ask students to do their best, and then not even read or make a comment on it.

The consequences of this are important. I don't see many students trying very hard because they know their efforts won’t be seen or rewarded. It strikes me as unfair to all students.

[Anonymous]

Basis DC middle school: Some assignments are for "completion"; I think generally students correct themselves as they review them as a class. Everything else gets read and graded.

[Anonymous]

At our school, homework is considered studying and practice. Most of it is checked done/not done, unless it is more of an assessment kind of assignment. The kids are expected to work with each other out of class to make sure the answers are correct. Sometimes it is gone over in class and corrections have to be redone and turned it. It really depends on the assignment, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the goal of the assignment. Teachers often want to give wiggle room for formative assignments when students are new to concepts. The idea is to learn something through the assignment, not to be perfect out of the gate. Also, with 120-150 students and class work and homework every day, teachers have to be picky about what they grade or they’d be under a mountain of paperwork.

Thank you for responding. I understand they have too many students and not enough time to read/grade assignments, but teachers used to. At least when I was growing up. Anyway, I just wanted to see what the “norm” was. Philosophically, I feel it’s wrong to assign work, ask students to do their best, and then not even read or make a comment on it.

The consequences of this are important. I don't see many students trying very hard because they know their efforts won’t be seen or rewarded. It strikes me as unfair to all students.

Well, that really depends on why it was assigned, right? Is it for "credit/grade" or is it to further the learning and prepare for the test? If the latter, then your diligent child gets the reward he seeks on the test, while the kids phoning it in get no benefit from the work, neither from learning nor on the test.

[Anonymous]

Too many students? No more than when I was in school.

[Anonymous]

I agree that teachers shouldn't assign writing homework if they're not going to read it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the goal of the assignment. Teachers often want to give wiggle room for formative assignments when students are new to concepts. The idea is to learn something through the assignment, not to be perfect out of the gate. Also, with 120-150 students and class work and homework every day, teachers have to be picky about what they grade or they’d be under a mountain of paperwork.

+1. I'm a teacher and there is zero time during the school day to grade. If an assignment is just a building block I glance over it, pick out one or two parts I know I'll check on every one and give basically everyone a couple completion points. Teachers have to pick where they use their time and energy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the goal of the assignment. Teachers often want to give wiggle room for formative assignments when students are new to concepts. The idea is to learn something through the assignment, not to be perfect out of the gate. Also, with 120-150 students and class work and homework every day, teachers have to be picky about what they grade or they’d be under a mountain of paperwork.

+1. I'm a teacher and there is zero time during the school day to grade. If an assignment is just a building block I glance over it, pick out one or two parts I know I'll check on every one and give basically everyone a couple completion points. Teachers have to pick where they use their time and energy.

I appreciate your honesty and I was guessing this was the problem. I wish middle school teachers cared more, but I know they’re busy. Kids in MS are still young and still need teachers to “know” them and to care about the work they’re producing. What would give you more time in the day to read/comment/mark papers? An “off” period where you can grade? A longer work day? Grading school work at home? I just don’t know what’s changed from 20-30 years ago to now.

[Anonymous]

What has changed? Teachers used to have a few meetings every once in a while. Now I have IEP, 504, SST, IDP and retention meetings during my planning. We also have data meetings and meetings to prepay for other meetings. I also have to spend my planning times to enter all of the data into an antiquated data tracking system as well as send home progress reports every two weeks for my students who are below grade level (80% of our students fit this category). I also spend my planning time attending meetings with parents who make excuses for their child’s bad behavior insisting that little Larla doesn’t like to _____ (go to school, do her homework, go to bed, do schoolwork, etc). I also have my own IDP meeting, my pre and post observation conferences as well as write my SLO (6+ hours) and find artifacts that show I am meeting all of my professional responsibilities. Yeah, so grading comes now after my kids are in bed. I’ll log onto our online grading portal and it will either freeze or not save and hours of work will be wasted. I’m pretty sure my teachers didn’t have to do any of this BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thats normal in our public elementary school. It depends on the teacher.

Did you read the title to the post? She’s not asking about elem sch.