Teachers? How do you do it?

[kdrake8]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I know what you mean. I teach 7th grade English, which is strictly grammar instruction and writing. They come into 7th absolutely terrible. It's hard to read their papers at the beginning of the year.

Takes lots of red ink.

[imimahoney]

I teach AP US History. I try not to concentrate on grammar too much because 1. they are in 10th grade and 2. it isn't an English class. BUT, if the errors seriously detract from the paper then I grade it down. I do mark it up not matter what though. They are told to write several drafts so by the time it comes to me it hopefully won't be a mess.

[formerlyllizzyb]

Hahaha yep. I used to teach 9th English and a handful of 9-12th electives.

Drink wine while grading

[SteelCity44]

I'm numb to it now. I'm in elementary and we focus primarily on content rather than grammar and formatting. They don't even use all of the letters in words at times (beg, mid, end sounds), let alone prepositions or articles.

[pinkpeony6210]

I only allow myself to do 5 at a time before I take a break. It obviously takes me longer to grade, but it saves my sanity.

[jaime183]

Dh always reminds me that most adults would be horrified if they saw how kids write now

[Beener]

Aug 6, 2013 11:34:46 GMT -5 formerlyllizzyb said:

Hahaha yep. I used to teach 9th English and a handful of 9-12th electives.

Drink wine while grading

Exactly! Wine helps a ton.

[Beener]

Also, I have to give myself goals or it feels so overwhelming. I usually have 90 essays to grade and I like to get them done within a week of getting them. I try to grade 2 before school starts, 4 during my prep, and 4-6 at night. On weekends, I try to grade at least 15 a day.

[kdrake8]

Aug 6, 2013 13:28:53 GMT -5 Beener said:

Also, I have to give myself goals or it feels so overwhelming. I usually have 90 essays to grade and I like to get them done within a week of getting them. I try to grade 2 before school starts, 4 during my prep, and 4-6 at night. On weekends, I try to grade at least 15 a day.

you get them back in a WEEK?

I typically have about 140. It takes me normally 3 weeks . They're so bad.

[imimahoney]

A week?! When my AP kids pass something in I always tell them not to hold their breath, lol. I'm in the 2 to 3 week camp if it's longer than 3 pages each.

[Beener]

Aug 6, 2013 13:35:48 GMT -5 kdrake8 said:

Aug 6, 2013 13:28:53 GMT -5 Beener said:

Also, I have to give myself goals or it feels so overwhelming. I usually have 90 essays to grade and I like to get them done within a week of getting them. I try to grade 2 before school starts, 4 during my prep, and 4-6 at night. On weekends, I try to grade at least 15 a day.

you get them back in a WEEK?

I typically have about 140. It takes me normally 3 weeks . They're so bad.

That's always my goal, for their immediate feedback and so I can get my life back! Since Emmy's arrived (and actually since I was pregnant with her) it is more like a week and a half to two weeks.

[jsillyfun]

I agree it's bad. One of my favorite gems (from a paper turned into DH) was, "The writing [of Romeo and Juliet] really detracted from the 1920's setting." Yup. Geez, that Shakespeare should really try to fit his writing better to future settings in which his plays might be placed. 

[katfco]

When I taught the college reading methods classes, I would take off points for students' poor grammar and spelling. What are the guidelines for the paper? Are you only supposed to look at content?