237: Highly Recommended: Don't Grade it All

This week I want to share advice I only wish someone had given me long ago - don’t grade everything your students create in class. 

It’s easy to feel pressure to put a grade on everything students make. They often come in expecting to see a letter on top of every single piece of paper they create for you. 

But ew. It’s impossible to keep up, and it doesn’t necessarily benefit them for you to try. 

Instead, think about how you can grade what really shows what they’ve learned, and build in ways to validate their effort on other things.

Maybe you do 5 bellringers a week, and the grading load is crushing you. Try walking around with a stamp and stamping them as students complete them. They see that you’re noticing their work, and you can give them a completion grade for the week, taking off for kids who repeatedly DON’T do the work. Or you could invite students to choose their favorite on Friday that really shows their mastery and effort, and turn that one in for you to see.

Let’s look at another scenario. Your students are working on their argument writing, and you’re planning to do a series of five prompts with them. Think about how you can build in self-editing stations (with tips from you build into the stations), peer editing, and revision practice focused on specific skills you know they need to work on throughout the unit. Then invite them to turn in a final draft of just one of the prompts for you to grade. 

I could go on and on with examples, but the main thing is to remember: you don’t have to grade it all. Use stickers, stamps, check marks, peer feedback, and selected pieces to turn in for grading to validate your students effort, and save your grading time for what really counts.  I highly recommend you give yourself permission to stop grading everything, and see how much creative planning time you can get back into your day! 

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