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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Worst part of the new grading policy is you are seeing more and more teachers no longer assigning papers.  Knowing we have only 10 days to grade for 150 kids, most English teachers I know are just chunking them into smaller, easier to read and grade assignments.  Instead of kids having to write a 5 paragraph paper in 3 weeks, we are asking them to write 5 individual paragraphs with each being completed over a week.  Also helps reach the AT requirements.[/quote]

I'm sympathetic to this, but I'm also kind of wondering.  I went to a public HS in the 80s.  My classes had probably 25-30 kids in them.  We had essays assigned several times per semester (typically multiple pages were expected) and the teachers read them and provided substantive feedback within a week or so.  And back then they had to read handwriting, typically not typed papers.  What is it that's making it so hard for the current teachers to do that?  Did the 80s teachers work more nights?  Or do the current teachers have too much admin burden and -- if that's it -- is there a way to address that?  If you're a HS english teacher, would it work to have a day or two a week where you assign the kids to talk amongst themselves about the reading, or something like that, while you grade essays?  I think we also had classes where we traded essays and each marked up each other's essays with comments and constructive feedback.  That could sometimes be really helpful itself.  
[/quote]

So many things:
1. I’ve worked in schools where we aren’t allowed to have students view each others’ work, so there goes the chance for peer reviews. 
2. When I began my career, planning periods were for grading and planning. Now they are for meetings and covering other teachers’ classes. 
3. I used to be able to grade a random paper or two during the school day while students worked independently. Today’s students require constant supervision. I don’t sit during the school day. I walk and supervise.
4. The curriculum used to be more logical and more skills-based. I could do targeted focus on writing and help students do it well. Now the list of topics I’m responsible for has grown exponentially, taking time away from teaching the basics well. 
5. The list of administrative tasks has grown tremendously.

So essentially, I have way more to do with considerably less time.

I’d love to go back to the early 2000s. Education made more sense then. [/quote]

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