9 Ways to Save Time Grading

For years, I was the type of teacher who stayed late every day to catch up on my grading and planning and calling parents and decorating my classroom and so on and so on. But I’ve tried to maintain some semblance of work-life balance and I’ve started leaving school at the end of the day, not when everything’s done. (Let’s face it, it’s never ALL done, is it?) So I’m working fewer hours and still getting all of my papers graded and planning done and bulletin boards decorated while managing to find time for my family, friends, and even some me time. How? I save time grading papers using a few simple tricks that have saved me hours and hours every week.

How to save time grading

• Use rubrics for lab reports. Rubrics can help you save time grading by providing a checklist of criteria. Skim lab reports instead of poring over every word and mark the rubric as you go. Boss Level: Use Doctopus  and save even more time!
• Use well designed multiple choice questions. The standardized tests in science are mostly multiple choice questions but they’re not rote memorization questions. Design your multiple choice questions so that they test application skills. For example,  “Your rover on Mars encountered an area with a lot of seismic activity but no volcanic activity. What kind of boundary is it?”
• Limit the length of the assignments. “Write 70-100 words to answer this question…”
• Remember your job is to grade, not to edit. In science, I grade students on the quality of their answers, not on their writing ability. I may circle misspelled words or grammar, but I don’t belabor it.
• Use self-grading assessments. Google Forms is amazing. Set them up to calculate the grade for you. When everyone is done with the assignment, open the spreadsheet and copy the grades into your grade book. Done. Here’s a free assessment on Google Forms you can try out.
• If you’re grading digitally, keep a file of commonly used comments. For all written assignments or lab reports, I compose a doc for myself that contains the comments I anticipate using. “Use your data to support your conclusion,” is one I use a lot! Today, I used “Tension at a normal fault causes the hanging wall to move downward compared to the foot wall” about 30 times. Then, when a student makes an error, you don’t have to type your comment all over again – just copy and paste.
• Decide how long you will grade for before you take a break. I’m usually in the 20-30 minute range, then I take a 5 minute break and then go back at it until the end of the period.
• Focus on Key Areas: Prioritize grading key aspects of assignments that align with learning objectives or skills being assessed, rather than trying to provide feedback on every detail. Perhaps analysis question #2 was the only really significant question you need assessed on this lab report. Skip the others.
• Batch Grading: Grade papers in batches rather than one at a time, allowing for a more efficient workflow and minimizing context-switching between different tasks.

What are your best tips for science teachers to save time grading?