Three Ways to Cut Down On Grading

Grading is one of the most time consuming parts of teaching. The average high school teacher probably collects about 450 assignments per week! (90 students X 1 assignment per day)

If you cut down on the amount of student work that you grade, then you will have more time to do such things as create engaging lesson plans, or you may actually get to spend your weekend spending time with the ones you love.

Here are five ways to cut down on grading:

1.Completion Grades-For homework assignments that aren’t weighted as heavily, it is perfectly okay to give completion grades. Sure there are some teachers who will tell you that this is a sin, but they are the same teachers who always appear as if they are on the verge of a nervous break down. Keep the following in mind for completion grades:
A.These assignments should be routine assignments. At the beginning of the semester, you should grade these thoroughly. As the semester continues, students will have gotten into the habit of completing these assignments thoroughly. For instance, I assign vocabulary word maps every week. At the beginning of the year, I grade them more thoroughly. After I know students know how to do them properly, I am able to give completion grades.
B.You don’t have give a completion grade for every homework or routine assignment. For example, let’s take the previously discussed word maps. Some weeks I may choose to give completion grades, and some weeks I may grade them thoroughly. The students don’t know beforehand how I will grade them; this keeps them on their toes.
2.Make tests and quizzes account for approximately 80% of the student’s grade. This way, routine assignments only count 20 %.
3.Notebook Quiz- To prevent having to grade my daily warm-ups, journals, worksheets, etc., I tell students to keep all assignments in their notebooks. At the end of the week, I give the students a notebook quiz, in which they are able to use their notebooks.

Create a FREE Online Quiz Using Survey Monkey

You can create an online quiz for using Survey Monkey. It is intended to be used for surveys, but it also works well as a quiz. The great thing about it, is that you can see the results of the quiz right after the students take it. You will able to see what percentage of the class chose each answer.

Here's an example of a quiz that I created: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PT33QRR
Here's the link to Survey Monkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com

Free Book: Short Stories for Reading Comphension

Just email me at frugalgirl09@gmail.com, and let me know that you would like a free book. If you are selected, I'll contact you for mailing information.

This book is also available on amazon.com.

Check out the following blogs for FREE stories from the book:

Greg the Grizzly Bear (It's about a bear who befriends a human. Multiple Choice Questions and Activities are included.)

The Family Vacation--It's about a family that decides to take a staycation rather than a vacation. Multiple Choice Questions and Activities are included.

Free Short Story and Poster: Greg The Grizzly Bear

Here's a short story with questions and an activity. It's about a bear who befriends a human. Click Here to Download

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6--Merry CHRISTMAS

More Vocabulary: Quizlet

I've just start using this site with my school. It's pretty cool. Students can create flash cards, play games, and take quizzes.

www.quizlet.com

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is the the foundation for reading comprehension. It is an integral part of my classroom.

I'd like to share some activies with you that I have found successful.

1. Vocabulary List- I give my students a weekly vocabulary list. We DO NOT, I repeat We DO NOT have vocabulary quiz every week. I don't want my students to memorize a list of words and forget them.

I incorporate the vocabulary words into my lessons (see below) on a daily basis. Also, I constantly "recycle" words on my vocabulary lists, so that they are constantly interacting with the words. I also use the words when I am talking with my students. I might say, "You guys look lethargic today."

I give students a test every grading period on words about 20 of the words that I know that we have gone over many times to access there knowledge.

2. Wordmaps- Students complete a wordmap for each word. Each wordmap includes the following:

A. The definition in your own words

B. A sentence of your own

C. A picture

Wordmaps can be either done with paper and pencil/pen or they can be done using software like PowerPoint, Keynote, or MS Word.

Note: For "paper and pencil" word maps, students can usually fit all 15 on one piece of paper. The wordmaps do not have to be large.

3. Vocabulary Stories

4. Bell Ringer- I use the words from the week's vocabulary list in my bell ringer.

5. Free Rice- This is a great site for practicing vocabulary.

These activities were taken from my website, http://www.teacherscoffeehouse.com/