Grading question

[robot_hamster]

This isn't my first semester as a TA. I'm not sure what's wrong, but this time around has been absolutely crazy as far as grading goes. All I have been doing this semester is grading stuff, I can barely keep up. I didn't have this much trouble before, but there weren't nearly as many assignments being turned in (it was a completely different class). Is there a secret to keeping up with a gazillion assignments flowing in?

[Sigaba]

My suggestions are these:

Before the assignment

• Give students as much guidance as you can on what they need to do to earn high marks.
  
• Provide study questions that help them focus on the relevant course materials.
  
• If you're the one writing the assignment, use these discussions to figure out the class's overall strengths and weaknesses.
  
  • So if you realize many members of the class don't understand G, you can either provide additional instruction or decide not to put G in a graded assignment.
    
  • (You can always circle back to it in a subsequent assignment.)
    
  • Expand office hours so students can get guidance
    
  • Facilitate the formation of study groups.
    
    • If possible, go the these study groups and provide additional tutorials.
      
      
      During the assignment
      • Develop rubrics that you'll use to evaluate the students' performance.
        
      • If the assignment is an exam, observe the students as they take it.
        
        • If students are really struggling, you may be in for a long couple of nights.
          

        [*]Discuss with the professor the guidelines for evaluation he or she has in mind.

        [*]As students hand in the assignment, provide them an opportunity to complete an evaluation form.

        When grading the assignments

        [*]Figure out how you want to approach the work.

        [*]Do you want to grade one assignment from beginning to end?

        [*]Do you want to look at everyone's' response to Part I before going on to Part II? (I recommend this method.)

        [*]Another method is put aside assignments that are proving difficult to evaluation. In my experience this category includes work that is going to fall between a -/+ for a B or a C.

        [*]Resign yourself to the fact that you've got some grinding to do.

        [*]As much as possible, pay attention to how you feel. Do not take out your anger over the situation on your students.

        In my experience, the pre assignment prep work was the most helpful. It helped students to get focused on the assignment and to allay some of their concerns. It helped me to understand where they needed additional support and to get a good sense of how they'd respond to specific questions. When it was time to pitch questions with my boss for the exam, I would offer a bunch of fastballs, but no curveballs. (And certainly, no softballs.)

        HTH.

Edited September 16, 2011 by Sigaba

[runonsentence]

What kinds of assignments are you talking about? The daily flow of low-stakes homework and in-class work? Mid-stakes homework write-ups? Essays and exams?

[Sparky]

• As students hand in the assignment, provide them an opportunity to complete an evaluation form
  

Do you mean give them a copy of your rubic/a modified version thereof? Does this really make grading easier? (As a student, I really appreciate having a copy of the rubric in advance, so it would be awesome to find out that it also makes grading go more smoothly...unfortunately the profs I'm currently TAing for are adamantly opposed to their use.)

[robot_hamster]

Sigaba - Wow, this was a very thorough answer! So you know, the students have access to rubrics prior to completing the assignment. I have no control over the assignments, they have all been predetermined by the professor. Most students prefer to ask their questions through email, so I do spend a lot of time answering emails.

runonsentence - These are daily low-stakes homework assignments and then larger, mid-stake write-up type assignments. It's just that there are so many of them. It's difficult to get them turned around in a timely manner.

Edited September 17, 2011 by robot_hamster

[runonsentence]

Sigaba has a lot of handy suggestions. Whether you use a rubric or not, I find it useful to not only go over my expectations in class, but I sometimes also model my feedback on the projector for students so that they really understand what that will mean in practice. (Really, what does "I'm looking for a sharp focus" mean? It's good to spend time talking about it and show them.) During peer review or full class workshops up on the project, I ask students to either adopt a rubric we're using on their own grades in class, or articulate their own.

Modeling is also something that could help cut down on homework grading. Are you giving students feedback on daily homeworks? If so, try instead only awarding a score, but responding to a couple of examples in class. This would help save time if you were finding the same mistakes/weaknesses cropping up over and over again. I try to keep grading very simple for things like in-class work or homeworks: I usually go with the "check plus/check/check minus" system.

Another thing that really helps cut down on student emails: I assign a homework buddy to everyone the first week of class. That way they have someone else to contact if they have a quick question like, "Wait, which chapter do we read again?" or "Where do I find the homework on Blackboard?" Students are free to contact me if they still want to or they have a question their homework buddy can't answer, but it really cuts down on the time I spend answering very simple questions. It also builds a better sense of community; since I've started doing this, I've noticed my students contact each other more outside of class for help, study together, etc.

Edited September 17, 2011 by runonsentence

[robot_hamster]

runonsentence - We actually use a check system like you described for the daily homework. Students still want feedback though. They "need" to know if they are doing things "right". I have only been giving feedback on select assignments, but the general feedback to the entire class about strengths/weaknesses is a good idea. I might try that. I don't mind answering emails. They usually aren't simple questions like you described though. They are usually more complicated questions, like they don't understand the definition of a term or how a concept should be applied.

Edited September 17, 2011 by robot_hamster

[Sigaba]

@ Sparky

The post exam hand out is not a rubric, but an evaluation form that allows students to give feedback on exam itself and on the support you provided them in their preparation for it.

FWIW, I agree that specific evaluation rubrics should not be disclosed to students. They should get a heads up as to what are the basic components of a successful answer. (An argument that is well written, features multiple examples that are succinctly desecribed, discusses several causal factors, an evaluation of those factors head to head, and an awareness of ongoing historiographical debates).

[parable151]

I am teaching high school science, including Chemistry. One of the things that I do, is for the low-stakes assignments we grade them in class together. I date stamp everything (and scan it) to make sure it is completed and then we go over the correct answers. Then, they have to turn them in to me so that I can put them in the grade book. I check to make sure they really corrected their answers. If they did not, then they get a zero. This takes up some class time, but it helps them solidify their understanding.

For mid-stakes, I correct and then hand back, giving them the option to make corrections for more points. This cut down a lot on my daily grading. I am really only entering in the grade and doing a quick scan. Plus, they get immediate feedback. Studies show that the sooner the feedback, the better the learning.

NOW, if you're not the one interacting with them and you're only doing the grading you're kind of out of luck. As one of my fellow teachers said, "If it wasn't for all the grading teaching would a pretty easy job". Take comfort in knowing that it doesn't last forever.

[Eigen]

I am teaching high school science, including Chemistry. One of the things that I do, is for the low-stakes assignments we grade them in class together. I date stamp everything (and scan it) to make sure it is completed and then we go over the correct answers. Then, they have to turn them in to me so that I can put them in the grade book. I check to make sure they really corrected their answers. If they did not, then they get a zero. This takes up some class time, but it helps them solidify their understanding.

For mid-stakes, I correct and then hand back, giving them the option to make corrections for more points. This cut down a lot on my daily grading. I am really only entering in the grade and doing a quick scan. Plus, they get immediate feedback. Studies show that the sooner the feedback, the better the learning.

These ideas both sound like things that would work in Highschool, but not so well in college. For the former- spending time in-class on marking low-stakes assignments really isn't the best idea. For the latter, I'd recommend *not* increasing the amount of grading you have to do by encouraging them to correct/hand it back in/come argue points with you at a later date.

[l.greg45]

It helped me to understand where they needed additional support and to get a good sense of how they'd respond to specific questions. When it was time to pitch questions with my boss for the exam, I would offer a bunch of fastballs, but no curveballs.