First Time Grading Fears

[C&C]

Did anyone here start out with a fear of grading student assignments? And how did you get over it?

 

I sat down for 2 hours yesterday with the professor I'm assisting to go over how we wanted to grade the first exam, and to make sure we are on the same page in assigning grades. Now that I'm grading the exams alone, I am terrified of the responsibility. I'm following the notes I jotted down and the rubric she gave me, but my lack of experience is unnerving. 

 

Any advice? 

[dr. t]

Just fail them all.

 

 

 

 

I kid, I kid.

 

What is it about grading that terrifies you? The professor, bitchy undergraduates, all of the above?

[fuzzylogician]

Yeah, this happens. You want to be fair and are afraid you might screw it up. It'll get better as you become more experienced and confident in what you're doing. If you're unsure, start out slower and give yourself more time. Do one round with just reading and comments, without taking off points for anything. Do one question at a time and go through your whole pile. When you're done, you'll have a good idea of how people did in general, what kind of mistakes you see, and therefore how you might want the grades to come out. As you go, keep a list of the kinds of errors you see and how many points you want to deduct. Then do a second round for just the grading, based on your comments and the list and grading key. The second round should be faster. Repeat for other questions, then sum up and put final scores on the assignment. 

[Vene]

Just fail them all.

I just finished grading this week's quizzes, believe me I'm tempted. Under no circumstances should a student tell me that sugar is an organism.

[C&C]

Thanks for the replies everyone! 

 

I'm mainly afraid that I'm trying to copy my professor's grading style so both halves of the class get the same treatment. I don't want to do a disservice to anyone!

 

At the moment, I'm mainly following what you suggested Fuzzy--everything is tentative and I'm definitely picking out patterns in what they understood and struggled with.

[fuzzylogician]

I'm mainly afraid that I'm trying to copy my professor's grading style so both halves of the class get the same treatment. I don't want to do a disservice to anyone!

 

Yeah, that's hard, but if you have a grading key it should come out ok. I'd try and share with the prof anything that was out of the ordinary or not agreed upon as part of the grading key, so you're on the same page. It's probably impossible for you to do things exactly like the prof (it's hard enough to be consistent just within what you are doing!), so aiming for similar scores is probably the best you can do. You're not doing anyone a disservice if their grade is 1-2 points different than it would have been if it had been graded by the prof (in either direction). They are still getting a fair assessment and you are doing the best that you can. If there is a grading key, there shouldn't be large discrepancies, and students can always come to you if they think something isn't fair. Just to make sure you're doing ok, a good measure, I think, is to check that the average for the prof's half is similar to yours--which is how multi-recitation classes I've TAed for in the past made sure things seemed reasonable--but I'm sure you'll do just fine! 

[TakeruK]

If the students aren't literally split into two different sections, I find it helpful to rotate the students I am marking so that everyone is equally affected by any one marker's idiosyncrasies. For example, in one lab course I TA'ed, all of the students were in the same lab section and there were 2 TAs and one prof assigned to that section. Each week, each one of us graded 1/3 of the lab reports and we set up a system so that each student would be graded by each TA/prof the same number of times. We still followed a common marking rubric but since grading is still subjective, we expect that any subjectiveness would be "averaged out".

[Edge]

I'm one of 3 TAs for a 135 person class.  We have 4 assignments, 2 tests, group presentations and individual papers to grade.  We split it up so that the work is covered evenly.   For example, I'll be grading 2 assignments, and all the papers and abstracts.  Another TA will be grading 1 assignment, 1 test and be in charge of all the handouts/learning materials for class; and the third will be doing 1 assignment, 1 test and grading the presentations.

 

The way I grade assignments is first I complete it myself.  We are not given a rubric, we have to make it ourselves.  So i list all the possible mistakes that could be made, then i mark all the assignments WITHOUT taking points off, simply noting what is wrong.    When I'm done with that I assign point  values to each of the mistakes.  More common mistakes get fewer points off than they should in my opinion, but it's a graduate level class and my professor is on the lenient side so I adjust point deductions accordingly.  Then I go through again and assign actual number grades to the assignments.

[ritapita]

I grade about 400 students a semester on my own....yes shoot me now...  

 

With that said... 

 

rubric rubric rubric.  

Make sure the rubric is clear and concise, easily available to students, and both you and your students refer to it often.  

 

Consistency is key.  

I have done the rotating grader thing and I personally feel this is less effective. Some will disagree. My perspective on this is that each grader or professor, while on the same page and even with similar styles, will grade differently.  If a student has the same grader for the whole semester, insights you give to that student will be better founded.  If insight and suggestions are made to a student that has a different grader each assignment or rotation, than improvements made may not be noticed or heeded by another grader and it will be harder to discern any improvement or shortfalls from the student. You will learn what you like.

 

Own yourself in your position as a grader.  

Your professor is trusting you with that, and you are expected to perform as their representative accordingly.  If you are passive in your grading your students WILL pick up on it, and that will make your job more difficult.

 

Ask for feedback.  

Each professor you work for will want something different.  You will learn quick to ask for clarification on what they expect from you.  It could be as simple as them not wanting you to provide feedback to students, timelines for grading etc, or very vague such as too much feedback or too little, or pen color, or whatever else that makes you pull your hair out.

 

Provide feedback.  

Your students need it most in the beginning of the semester so they know what to expect from you and how to improve.  You will shift your feedback as the semester progresses and towards the end it be less of what to expect, and more of what they missed improving on through your earlier suggestions.  Anything less than a perfect score on something should come with a clear reason of what they did to miss those points.  Vague feedback ca mean potentially running in to student confrontation.  

 

Have thick skin.  

You WILL have problem students.  You WILL have students that think an A- isn't fair.  You WILL have students that get horribly offended when you correct their grammar. You will get sick of grading short narratives or discussion board posts that are more text message than proper writing (ugh - my nightmare!!). You will have students love you and students hate you.  You will have professors love you and professors that you will never be able to please.

 

Most importantly always be able to back up the grade you give.

Inevitably you will need to defend a grade at some point. As a TA, you will have to defend it to a professor you work for, when an angry student heads their way.  As an instructor, you will have to defend it to your department head and in bad cases, possibly a dean. It may never happen, but most likely it will, and you will need to justify it.

 

Its kind of funny because when we have been students for so long, you would think we would go into grading knowing what to do and how to be fair, but really it is very different.   You will get more confident the more grading you do.  You will learn a lot through grading, not just about grading and interacting with students, but also subject matter,  syllabus development, lecture techniques, etc etc etc.  Think of it as an active learning experience. It will help when you begin to take on your own classes. Have fun if you can.

[eeee1923]

^ You summarized all the lessons I learned the hard way a few semesters ago when I started grading for my labs  .

[gingin6789]

In the class I TA for, the students have two papers, two essay exams, and a group presentation. Grading papers was the hardest. I graded each paper fairly, but it was hard to give out lower grades to students I could tell were trying, yet still didn't do the paper properly. Added pressure came from the fact that students at my university expect this class to be an easy A and are always expecting A Grades in general. Plus, grading essays was left in our hands, completely (no rubric from the prof or anything). Moreover, we had to give out A, B, C, D, or F grades (as in no percentages besides 95%, 85%, 75%, 65% etc. So if you wanna give a B, you'd better be darn sure). So I felt lost and crappy.

I ended up treating myself to some cookie dough, took the rest of the night off, and consulted with one of the other TAs, asking him if he thought I graded the five or so papers that I felt worst about in a fair manner.

I guess the two things to remember are:

1) if you're crying over it or otherwise upset, just walk away for a little while.

2) consult with others and get their input/feedback.

Edited December 26, 2014 by gingin6789