“I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack at once.”
- Ashleigh Brilliant
This quote can be applied to grading! It’s happened to all of us. We start school Monday morning feeling all caught up – papers graded, lesson plans made, life in control. By Wednesday, we have a teacher bag full of papers to grade. The bag comes home with us in the afternoon, spends the evening in the car or on the family room floor, returns to school the next day, and repeat! The pile of papers is a constant nagging in the back of our minds, but never rises to the top of the to-do list. Finally, after two or three weeks, the papers are no longer relevant or needed, and are quietly buried in our home recycle barrel.
As we talk with teachers across the country, we continually hear teachers confess they neglect teaching writing as the grading can be overwhelming. The following are some tips for keeping the “Writing Grading Monster” under control.
· Grade writing after students have an opportunity to practice each skill. For example, students are practicing composing topic sentences. Provide students instruction, modeling, practicing and sharing while they are learning this skill. After students have had ample practice time, students will then choose the sentence they find most interesting. Students can edit and recopy that sentence and turn it in as an assessment. You are only grading one sentence per student (28 sentences), instead of 8 sentences per student (224 sentences.) You can use this assessment for both a writing and a conventions grade.
· Grade each part of the writing process. Writing is a process, not a product. Let me say that again, “writing is a process, not a product.” Each part of the writing process can be used as a valuable writing assessment. For example, you may be sorting ideas into categories in your primary classroom. As sorting is a part of organization, you can use this as a valid writing assessment. If you are teaching planning, use students’ independent plans for writing grades. Not only does this simplify grading, but you are able to discover students’ weaknesses and remedy them before they become an ingrained habit.
· Grade only what you have taught. If you are teaching planning, assess only planning. Do not feel you need to grade students on items you have not taught, and they have not mastered. As you are practicing speaking in complete sentences with your primary students, ask your students what they did at recess as they return to class after lunch. As students respond, take note on who cannot respond in a complete sentence. An assessment on speaking in complete sentences is done and graded!
· Grade on the move. Post a class list to a clipboard and keep it with you during writing instruction. Perhaps you are practicing using transition words in big idea sentences. As you circle the room, read students’ writing. If a student is confused, stop and help him correct his work and write “NH” (Needs Help) next to that student’s name. If a student has the skill, check in briefly with positive feedback. At the end of your writing time, you have a completed assessment. Any student without an “NH” has passed that skill, while your “Needs Help” are also noted. You also have a ready-made small group created, showing students with whom you need check in with the next day.
· Keep an ongoing list of skills students have mastered. A Kindergarten teacher we visited used the following list of skills students needed to master, with the first letter of each month in the corresponding box. As students demonstrated mastery of the skill, she marked the corresponding month. At a glance, she could see who still needed to be assessed.
· Combine writing across the curriculum. As you teach writing short answers (Shining Star Answers), students should practice the skill in all curricular areas. As students learn to take notes, look for practice opportunities in Social Studies and Science. Notes taken in Social Studies can be used for a Social Studies, Reading and Writing grade.
Writing instruction and assessment should not feel that it “attacks all at once.” Continually be on the lookout for ways to improve and streamline your assessment practice. Remember that timely, specific and productive feedback is the very best for students and for you!