High school Grades entered at last minute that impact 25-50% or more of grade for quarter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are busy. They don't have time to grade assignments.

If you don't have enough time and have to choose to do do something, so be it. But choose to not do something else. Something that doesn't so adversely affect the very students you are ostensibly there to help.

I’m a teacher and a different poster. I don’t agree with a lot of what I read on this thread. If teachers haven’t updated in a month, that’s bad. If teachers are putting tons of grades in last minute, that’s bad. If there’s only 1-2 assignments, that’s bad.

But…

It’s hard to prioritize grading. If I’m not planned, I literally can’t teach. I’d end up sitting in the front of the room unprepared, simply staring at my students. Planning takes precedence over grading 100% of the time. It has to.

I have to respond to parents and students within 48 hours. I get a ton of emails. If I don’t respond, the emails compound and parents get angrier. Email takes precedence over grading.

I wish it wasn’t like this, but it is. We don’t get a lot of unstructured time at work. Most of our work actually gets done at home. I also wish that wasn’t the case.

Welcome to the working world, where you have to prioritize. And do work at home, just like most of us. But, if you're not giving the feedback and grades in a timely manner, it doesn't matter what you're teaching in class. The two go hand in hand.

Welcome to the real world where teachers are leaving the profession in droves - no one is going to force them to work 60-hour weeks anymore.

I absolutely agree. I’m one of the 60+ hour a week teachers. I get graded work back quickly, but I give up almost every night and weekend to do that. Why is that okay?

I hate when people say “other professions have to work outside hours.” No kidding. Yet somehow we respect those other professions while we belittle teachers.

Clearly teachers are done being exploited in this manner. My department is losing 4 more at the end of the year, and the workhorses among us (like me) are slowing down.

I left the classroom at the end of the 2022 school year (after 15 years) and don’t miss all the BS at all.

YUP! The disrespect is unreal.

Oh yea. How dare parents and students expect timely grades and feedback. GTFOH.

We don't miss you either.

LOL oh look the angry troll is back

[Anonymous]

Teachers in the US have more face to face time with students than teachers anywhere else. There isn't anywhere near enough time to get it all done so teachers prioritize. They have to be prepared to teach the next day so grading happens some other time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was a problem five years when we had HS students in FCPS. I see nothing has changed.

Things have gotten much, much worse for teachers.

The workload has piled to such astronomical heights at this point that even the most experienced teachers with the biggest bag of tricks can’t keep up.

Several teachers have sincerely tried to explain the workload. These aren’t complaints. They are illustrations that explain why grading is challenging and why so many teachers are leaving the profession.

But DCUM continues to be DCUM. Any time a thread is about teachers, posters with no experience with teaching complain about how teachers should get it done. If teachers have it so easy, why aren’t there major lines of people fighting for each opening?

It seems to me, given the teacher shortages, that what help can be more easily provided, would be administrative. Why do teachers have to do all the grading and entering in gradebooks? Maybe have a shared resource for each subject that can help with grading, and entering stuff? Wouldn't that free the teachers up to spend more time on their lesson plans and meetings where they have to be involved?

+100
Honestly having specific things to advocate for - like shifting grading & grade entering & copying to admin support staff roles & pushing for $ for that - would be concretely useful. I agree that it seems teaching has become impossible lately but the specifics on how to return it to possible are less clear.

I'm wondering if this can even be done by volunteers, although that can be a bit fraught. Maybe parent volunteers can do it for teachers that don't teach their own kids or HS kids can do it as their service hours, especially for middle/elementary grades.

It wouldn’t work for classes where the primary grades are essay based (AP and IB courses, for example). The teacher needs to physically see the students’ work and track progress.

There’s one solution: teachers need to teach fewer classes, freeing them up to do work at work. Imagine the difference between 150 students with 45 minutes to grade a day versus 120 students with 90 minutes to grade a day.

I don't disagree with what you said, but that means we need more teachers, which we don't really have.

I'll admit that my solution is imperfect, but maybe it can be used to help some teachers, which could help staunch the bleeding. Maybe those with more help can help those with less? As a TA in college, I was largely responsible for grading, including essay responses. I don't think it matters much who is doing the grading (obviously they have to know the content), as long as it's the same person doing it, because the grades would be consistent.

[Anonymous]

I have been browsing this forum from the time my kid was in 4th grade and every.single.year I’ve been reading about this issue. Kid is starting HS this year, so this worries me. I have seen this with MS grades also (I know MS grades don’t matter but still, seeing A in the morning and then boom seeing B- in the evening when all quarter grades are entered is crazy and upsetting for the kid also)

[Anonymous]

You should not be checking grades twice a day, that’s nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should not be checking grades twice a day, that’s nuts.

I only checked on the last day of the quarter to see if the grades were finally entered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should not be checking grades twice a day, that’s nuts.

Having constant access to grade books is a problem. I station myself behind students when laptops are out so I can make sure they are on appropriate sites. I can’t tell you how often students check grades within one class period. Some check every 2-4 minutes. It’s not healthy. We’ve devalued learning itself and places far too much emphasis on scores.

I receive parent emails constantly, sometimes 5 minutes after I input grades. If I’m inputting a low grade, I’m also reaching out to that student to see what additional help is needed. That’s how I operate. Often I don’t even get that chance because the parent takes over, creating more work for me as I now have to solve the problem on two fronts.

[Anonymous]

TODAY IS A PERFECT DAY TO UPDATE Gradebook.

English grade hasn't been updated since December 8th
History Since December 19th
Geosystems since Jan 8h

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should not be checking grades twice a day, that’s nuts.

I try checking it a few times a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TODAY IS A PERFECT DAY TO UPDATE Gradebook.

English grade hasn't been updated since December 8th
History Since December 19th
Geosystems since Jan 8h

Geosystems not being updated since the 8th when there were only 2 days of school this week is completely fine. The other two, I agree, they should be entering grades more frequently than that.

-teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TODAY IS A PERFECT DAY TO UPDATE Gradebook.

English grade hasn't been updated since December 8th
History Since December 19th
Geosystems since Jan 8h

January 8 was 11 days ago, and of those 11 days, 5 were either weekends, holidays, or snow days. If that was an A Day, that class has only met on:

January 10
January 12
January 17 (late start day)

Therefore, that is not even close to a problem. There isn't a graded assignment every day.

[Anonymous]

If teachers feel the final grade for the year is accurate, do teachers even give a crap regarding the grades along the way. Parents do. Not sure teachers do. I think they only care how things look at the end. Teachers are, generally, going to fit class grades into an accepted overall grade distribution.

[Anonymous]

History has bene updated!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are busy. They don't have time to grade assignments.

If you don't have enough time and have to choose to do do something, so be it. But choose to not do something else. Something that doesn't so adversely affect the very students you are ostensibly there to help.

I’m a teacher and a different poster. I don’t agree with a lot of what I read on this thread. If teachers haven’t updated in a month, that’s bad. If teachers are putting tons of grades in last minute, that’s bad. If there’s only 1-2 assignments, that’s bad.

But…

It’s hard to prioritize grading. If I’m not planned, I literally can’t teach. I’d end up sitting in the front of the room unprepared, simply staring at my students. Planning takes precedence over grading 100% of the time. It has to.

I have to respond to parents and students within 48 hours. I get a ton of emails. If I don’t respond, the emails compound and parents get angrier. Email takes precedence over grading.

I wish it wasn’t like this, but it is. We don’t get a lot of unstructured time at work. Most of our work actually gets done at home. I also wish that wasn’t the case.

Welcome to the working world, where you have to prioritize. And do work at home, just like most of us. But, if you're not giving the feedback and grades in a timely manner, it doesn't matter what you're teaching in class. The two go hand in hand.

Welcome to the real world where teachers are leaving the profession in droves - no one is going to force them to work 60-hour weeks anymore.

I absolutely agree. I’m one of the 60+ hour a week teachers. I get graded work back quickly, but I give up almost every night and weekend to do that. Why is that okay?

I hate when people say “other professions have to work outside hours.” No kidding. Yet somehow we respect those other professions while we belittle teachers.

Clearly teachers are done being exploited in this manner. My department is losing 4 more at the end of the year, and the workhorses among us (like me) are slowing down.

I left the classroom at the end of the 2022 school year (after 15 years) and don’t miss all the BS at all.

YUP! The disrespect is unreal.

Oh yea. How dare parents and students expect timely grades and feedback. GTFOH.

We don't miss you either.

LOL oh look the angry troll is back

You shouldn't be teaching with dumba$$ comments, and an attitude like yours. Thank god you left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TODAY IS A PERFECT DAY TO UPDATE Gradebook.

English grade hasn't been updated since December 8th
History Since December 19th
Geosystems since Jan 8h

January 8 was 11 days ago, and of those 11 days, 5 were either weekends, holidays, or snow days. If that was an A Day, that class has only met on:

January 10
January 12
January 17 (late start day)

Therefore, that is not even close to a problem. There isn't a graded assignment every day.

My kid has grades not updated since the first week of the quarter. Is that a "problem"?