Ask any teacher to list their top three complaints about teaching, I’m certain that “grading” will be on just about everyone’s list. I know that I absolutely despised all of the weekends lost to grading essays, tests, quizzes, projects, and so on.
But, the thing is…
I never stopped to ask myself: do I actually need to do all of this grading?
My students didn’t pay any attention to the feedback I spent my weekend writing out. They didn’t learn from my grading. The same students would repeat the same mistakes all year long. (Gosh, they probably made many of the same mistakes the year before, too!) And we know that grading teaches kids to value, well, grades, not learning.
So, why on earth was my default decision to grade everything?!
Feedback, Not Grading
Rather than grading an essay or project, I started to just pull students aside individually and have them explain what they had made. It took mere minutes. I’d ask just a couple of questions. Perhaps something like:
- What was the hardest part?
- What part are you most proud of?
- What did you learn?
- What do you want to work on the next time?
I’d say like, “Dang, that’s so cool. Can’t wait to read the whole thing.” or “You know, I think you could have done better.” (That was usually followed by the student admitting, “Yeah, I know.”). I’d offer, “Want to work on it for one more day and then turn it in tomorrow?”
These one-on-one moments were probably the most powerful thing I did in terms of feedback. It moved students’ mindset away from worrying about points to thinking about what they had actually made. I wish I had started it earlier in my career!
Now, we still had our unit tests and benchmarks and all of that district assessment junk that I had to grade. But so much of that multiple choice, grade-by-machine anyway.
But I learned that most tasks were much better handled as quick conversations.
Plus it helped me make sure to actually talk to all of my students! 😬
I wrote more about giving feedback, not grades here.
But I Don’t Have Time!
People are always like, “How did you possibly find the time to talk to your students!”
I observed a great mentor.
- She pre-assessed.
- She moved on as quickly as possible. (I was afraid to move on even when the pre-assessment said 100%. I’d worry, “What if they don’t really really understand it?)
- She only taught students what they actually needed. If Jan can add 10+10, we’re not teaching Jan how to add 10+10 again and again!
So, her students always had time during the day to work on ongoing projects. She’d pull her students during that time. Seriously, you’ve gotta just get into classrooms and see how teachers do this stuff.
But, if you can’t find the time to talk to you students, jot down feedback not grades! And only jot down the most important piece of feedback that comes to mind. “I loved the metaphor here,” “Your work is perfectly organized,” “What was your inspiration for this part?” Nothing else.
Consider how much different it is to receive your work back with one piece of thoughtful feedback versus 723 corrections and a big final grade on top. What a better experience!
And I’ll bet you $1 that a student will remember that piece of feedback and incorporate it next time. Can’t say the same for the 723 corrections.
And, best of all, this lack of grading will drive some students NUTS. And that’s important to realize, because…
What Does All of That Grading Do To Students?
As a student, I became obsessed with maximizing my grades. The longer I was in school, the less I cared about learning and the more I cared about gaming the grading system. Can I squeeze out 5 points here? Can I re-take that and get the 7 points I need to bump up to an A-?
Heck, there’s research going back nearly a hundred years that warns us of the dangers of focusing on grades!!
If you’re worried about perfectionism in your students, the first thing I’d ask is, “Are you giving students feedback in which perfection is the goal?” As a student, when I got back a big 90% or 17/25 on my work, it told me that perfection was not only possible, but the goal!
Click for an actual photo of me in high school…
Now, that’s me at school. At school, I was a hobgoblin obsessed with maximizing my precious points. Grading did that to me! My teachers created a perfectionist.
But, at home, I was entirely different. I was a curious, interested human. I taught myself to play guitar, learned to program games on my computer, and wrote and filmed and edited comedy skits with my friends. I made mistakes and learned from them.
So much learning and not a grade in sight!
So, if you find yourself giving up weekends and nights to grading (and are also aware that those grades don’t really help students to learn) then try cutting way back on how much you grade! It might keep you from burning out and prevent your students from become point hoarders!