Anonymous
Post 11/28/2013 22:26     Subject: Re:how long to enter grades?
Anonymous wrote:
I am required to give and grade homework, classwork and an assessment every school day for 147 students. I teach Social Studies so it isn't like I can have the students grade their own homework and then just turn it in for me to glance over. I have to enter a grade for each and every assignment and while I make good use of my 30 minute lunch break and 50 minute planning period, there is no way possible for me to plan and grade in this limited time period. I have kids and they have to be picked up by 6pm from their after-school program so I leave school around 5pm. Students leave at 3pm so I grade and plan for 2 hrs a day plus the one hour I get to school before school starts. So I work an extra 3 hrs per day and I average 3-4 hrs on the weekends with grading quizzes, tests and projects. Some teachers do not get to decide how much grading they have. We are required to give and grade all of this (and our admin does check on us too!).




That does seem excessive. Just curious, what system are you in?


In Maryland but not Mont. County. I do have my DD help me grade sometimes. She used to love it but not so much anymore. I wish there was another way but our admin is quite strict. For some kids, all of these grades are a good thing. My DD might take one or two tests per quarter and sometimes they have as few as 10 questions on them. So, if she misses 2-3 questions, her grade is really affected. With so many grades, my students have ample opportunity to do well. My school is a low performing school so our admin really wants us and our students to be "accountable." This is code for "burnout" with many of my colleagues. We have 1-2 working student computers per classroom and around 30 students per class. Our computer lab is pretty sad. Maybe half of the 40 computer function so who knows what will happen by the time next year and the new assessments roll around.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2013 21:06     Subject: Re:how long to enter grades?
PP... if I were stuck in your school and situation (which I find totally unreasonable) I would definitely find a system where either some of the assessments were done online and graded by computer (if you have access to enough computers) for example something like this:

http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/signup/education/

Or I'd hire a neighborhood teen who isn't at your school to score quizzes for you (you enter the grades of course).

...or at the very least, set up a system where you can keep kids' names anonymous, and have classmates grade each other's quizzes or classwork, using simple multiple choice. Kids can grade a 5 question quiz quickly enough -- streamline it and get it done within 5 minutes or so.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2013 20:57     Subject: Re:how long to enter grades?
Anonymous wrote:I am required to give and grade homework, classwork and an assessment every school day for 147 students. I teach Social Studies so it isn't like I can have the students grade their own homework and then just turn it in for me to glance over. I have to enter a grade for each and every assignment and while I make good use of my 30 minute lunch break and 50 minute planning period, there is no way possible for me to plan and grade in this limited time period. I have kids and they have to be picked up by 6pm from their after-school program so I leave school around 5pm. Students leave at 3pm so I grade and plan for 2 hrs a day plus the one hour I get to school before school starts. So I work an extra 3 hrs per day and I average 3-4 hrs on the weekends with grading quizzes, tests and projects. Some teachers do not get to decide how much grading they have. We are required to give and grade all of this (and our admin does check on us too!).


You are required to give 3 grades per day per student? A HW grade, classwork grade AND an assessment grade??

Can the HW grade just be a check or a minus? I.e. spot check -- done or not? Holey moley that's a lot of grading.