Grading Math Assignments

Do you hate grading math assignments?

Do you get anxiety from grading “all the things”?

GREAT Teachers do not stress about grading math assignments. They plan for it. This blog post is part of the series, "6 Things GREAT Teachers do". Grading is one of the key parts of teaching. Read the different types of grading options and choose a grading strategy for your classroom today!

Grading Math Assignments

Grading is necessary for any classroom environment. Students need to know from their teachers how well they are performing. Grading can be done many different ways. Some of the most popular ways to grade are with letters (A, B, C) or for mastery (on target, progressing). Regardless of your grading system, grades need to be distributed fairly and given regularly. 

What do grades look like in today’s classroom? Here are some examples of how grades can be given in today’s classroom. 

1.       Grading Math Warm ups 

There are a couple different ways to grade Math Warm ups and Bellwork effectively and efficiently. Try one of these ways to help you grade in less time. Grade weekly by collecting bellwork on Fridays, grade bi-weekly and only grade every other week. Any more frequent than a week and you are doing more work, and any less frequent than two weeks it will become less effective for the students to relate bellwork and a grade earned. 

2.       Grading Classwork & Homework

Grading classwork is tricky. You could grade all the things and grade classwork every day of the school year. Or you could do less grading and collect a grade for classwork once a week. Grading less shows students that what they do in class matters. Any less frequent than once a week and students start to disassociate classwork with a grade (or importance). 

Homework is also a catch to grade or not. It’s important to practice skills outside of the classroom, but grading it all can take a lot of time. A method that works well is grading a set number of homeworks a quarter. Set up at the beginning of the quarter the number of assignments and maybe even when they will be due. It will show students the importance of homework and they will be able to prepare for doing some homework at home.

3.       Grading Exit Slips

Math Exit slips are important to assess informally what students know. Taking a grade for an informal assessment is not necessary. Exit slips or tickets are for students to display what they know about a math skill before they leave your classroom. Make it informal and do not take it for a grade. That’s one less grade you will need to mark, but will give you information if the student is ready to test or move on to the next skill. 

4.       Grading Tests

Having a good syllabus with a grading system in place is key for testing. Students will know what they need to score to do well and show mastery. If students do not show mastery on a test give them the opportunity to make it up. Students who do not do well on a test and have the opportunity to improve will learn a great life lesson. They need to get up, practice and apply themselves again. After giving students a math retest like in the Math Mindset retest form HERE.

Click HERE to download Retest Form & Video.  

Students not only do better on the test, but they now have gained more knowledge to apply forward. Retesting should not be given lightly, but with a firm explanation that this is an OPPORTUNITY that they can take to earn a higher grade. Students will see it as a chance for redemption and take the challenge.

Grading and recording math assignments doesn’t have to be hard. Start by setting a goal for the course. How many grades do you want to distribute? Plan ahead and your grading will be much easier and organized. Get the FREE Grading Rubric today!

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Happy Teaching! 

Why I don't grade papers after school

Do you find yourself grading all the time?

Do you want to know a secret? I stopped grading papers after hours and am always the first teacher to sign out grades before the end of each quarter.

How do I do it? I plan for it. Follow these 3 guidelines for grading and you will be a pro at leaving grading at school and having more personal time outside of school.

1. Plan 

What are you grading? For each subject you are grading, think of the categories it can be broken down into such as classwork, homework, and tests.  

Why are you grading it? For each category, think about why you're grading it. Does it need to be graded? If yes keep the category, if no do not grade it. 

Does it have an academic value? If there is no academic value to the work, then don't grade it! This is the most important step in planning to grade. If there is no academic value in an assignment and it cannot be tied to a standard, then the students should not be held accountable for completing it. 

Can you narrow down your assignments? My rule of thumb is 9 to 10 assignments for homework (1 per week of each quarter) is graded. 1 test for each chapter, which is about 2-3 tests each quarter. 5-6 classwork assignments each quarter. So I only assign and grade 16 to 19 assignments each quarter per student. I pre-plan these on a calendar and display it in the classroom for students to see and will email it to parents who need it to help their students turn in assignments on time.  

Also I love my EZ grader! If you don't have one, you need to get one. It's my favorite gift to give student teachers or first year teachers. It calculates the grades for you every time. (Affiliate link included).

2. Follow Through

Now that you've thought about your categories for grading, list the assignments on a calendar. When and how many are you going to assign? List them on the calendar and follow through with assigning and grading a limited amount. When I write them on a calendar ahead of time I might not have a specific assignment name already, so I just pre-plan and write "Assignment 1" and so on. This helps me plan when to grade at school.

Another strategy for only grading at school is having other do it for you. I have used the "trade and grade" method for small quizzes and homework. I have also used student assistants to grade homework assignments. It's helpful in that most of the work is done, but you will still probably need to glance at each assignment to make sure it's completed to your specifications.

Do you have students who do not perform well on tests the first time? Do you like to give them opportunities to retry or makeup the work? I found a strategy that helps with test retakes. It also helps me with less grading, and students earn higher test scores. It's a win win in my book! Check out the video below about using test retakes to help your students achieve higher results.

Click HERE to download. 

3. Reflect 

Did you stick to your goals? Did you not bring home any grading? Did you leave when your teacher duty day was done? If you YES, then you are well on your way to starting a successful habit of not grading after hours. You need a break. You deserve a break. Let yourself have the time after school to rest, relax, and enjoy your family and friends. 

These suggestions and ideas are meant to be reflective of your grading practices. When we reflect as teachers on what we are doing in the classroom, we continue to grow and mature into better teachers. Think about how you currently grade, what you currently grade, the time it takes you to grade, and how you could make the process more efficient. My favorite motto for teaching is "Work smarter, not harder." There is so much on our plates as teachers, let's simplify the process of grading and make it more efficient.

Happy Teaching!

3 Steps To Continue Student Growth

Congratulations you've made it half way through the school year!

Do you ever get to this point and think, oh my goodness how am I going to finish?

I do every year. It's a great time to reflect on the first half of the school year and compare what worked and what did not work well with the students. One thing I've always noticed is the students' attitudes and work habits towards completing assignments. Why do I have more students completing less assignments? How do you get students to complete assignments in time for report cards? I don't like the end of quarter crunch for grades to be submitted. There needs to be a better solution for students turning in assignments in a timely manner.

Creating a system for the students to succeed within the classroom and the structure for grading doesn't have to be difficult. Implementing these 3 steps will improve your students' work habits and growth mindset. Try one or all three, and tap into your students' potential for academic growth and creating lifelong learners in and out of your classroom.

Step 1: Plan for grading 

Once I acknowledged that there was a problem with the process of grading, changing it to meet the students' needs was key. There are many variables that go into completion of work for a grade. The first is changing the amount of expected graded homework assignments. The easiest change was to go from the staggering 24 assignments to 9. That's 24 grades x 150 students = 3,600 grades just for homework. Your number may look different or the same, but it was key in setting an ACHIEVEABLE GOAL. Setting the standard helps students' GROWTH MINDSET. Once they can achieve a small goal, then they can achieve larger goals later.

Setting up the expectation at the beginning of the quarter was key. I created a calendar and set up the students to know when homework was due at the beginning of the quarter. Any other assignments that normally would have been "homework", now became a "notebook" grade under the "classwork" section of my syllabus.  Showing the calendar to the students, modeling how to turn in assignments to receive 100% credit, and checking grades was key. They bought into the new process and were on board with "less work".

Step 2: Plan for students to grow

Students all buy in to the plan of "less work". It's getting them to do the "less work" that can be the problem. Always have a Plan B for students. The easiest way to help students grow is creating a scaffolded approach. Students need structure and scaffolding the process of completing assignments is just as important as scaffolding the learning process. The Plan B for students who still didn't turn in work was to complete it during lunch in my classroom. No music. No friends. Just complete your work during lunch. Some saw it as a punishment and other saw it for what it was, an OPPORTUNITY to complete an assignment and RAISE their grade. After completing two lunches in the classroom students amazingly did not want to do that again. They would turn in their work ON TIME or before having to come in for lunch. This helped keep them accountable and they worked hard to complete it. Their growth mindset was encouraged to grow and develop as they worked hard to attain more knowledge.  Another opportunity offered to students to grow was through their test scores. Given a scaffolded approach, they completed a plan, retook the chapter test, and improved their grade. Sometimes just giving the OPPORTUNITY allows students to SHINE like never before. 

Step 3: Celebrate Growth

Lastly, plan to celebrate students' growth and accomplishments. At the end of each quarter giving out an award to every student gave them encouragement and helped them continue on their own growth mindset journeys. There are many different types of awards you can give out to your students. You can use phrases, goals, grades, or whatever will inspire your students to continue to do their best!

CLICK HERE to download award certificates to encourage your students growth mindset. 

Awards let your students know you care about them, their growth, and their success. One of the best growth mindset strategies that I did for my students that worked. To earn the top scores your students need to know you care and you want them to do their best work. This strategy is just one simple way to show you care and want to CELEBRATE with them to continue their growth mindset journey.

Challenge

I challenge you to use these certificates this week, this month, or this quarter. Giving them feedback on what they do right, helps them to continue to progress and grow. Maybe it's a certificate for homework completion, or just completing their classwork on time. You can make the certificates as personal as you want, but remember it is a process, commit to awarding certificates every quarter, month, or end of the year.


All the best,