5 Tips to Breaking the Habit of Falling Behind on Grading

Every semester, no matter my best of intentions, I tend to fall behind in grading about half-way through (which would be right about now). Luckily, I have not fallen behind yet and I have actually implemented 5 strategies to break this cycle of falling behind. In today's blog post I am sharing what these 5 strategies are and how you can implement them as well!

Tip 1: Select your weekly grading days

The first strategy I implemented was to select my weekly grading days. To do this, I selected 2 of my lightest days out of the week (this semester they are Tuesdays and Thursdays). Then I pick 2 hours each day that I can dedicate to grading. This semester I am teaching 2 classes so I dedicate each day to a different course. Then I add these dates and times to my weekly calendar/schedule.

Tip 2: Plan out your assignments to be graded

After selecting your grading days, it is also important to clearly identify what you will be grading on each day. In one of my classes, the typical due date is Sunday and in the other class, the typical due date is Wednesday (I staggered these due dates intentionally to ease my grading schedule). For the class where the due date is Sunday, I grade those submitted items on Tuesday during my grading time and for the class where the due date is Wednesday, I grade those submitted items on Thursday during my grading time.

In addition to this, at the end / beginning of each week I also list out the items to be graded. This eliminates wasting time trying to determine what needs to be graded and allows me to get started the right away.

Tip 3: Identify "special" grading days / times for alternate assignments

The grading schedule I identified above is specific to low-stake assignments such as Discussion Board and VoiceThread assignments. For longer, high-stake assignments I either add in additional grading times on my assigned days or I add in additional grading days that week. Since I allow myself a longer turnaround time for grading these assignments, I can even allow the grading due date for these higher stake assignments to go into the next week.

Tip 4: Use a feedback bank when grading

One of the things that has allowed me to complete my grading in the allotted 2 hours is the use of a feedback bank. For those unfamiliar with a feedback bank, it is generally a listing of typical feedback given for particular assignments. This helps you to frame your responses to students in a more efficient way. For instance, I list out several categories based on an excellent post, a post missing several key issues from the prompt and a poor post. After I have listed my categories, I provide respective feedback.

Tip 5: Make up your missed grading days

It's unrealistic to think that you will never miss a grading day or that interruptions won't happen to delay your grading. Knowing this, it is imperative to be proactive and to make plans for how you might make up this grading time. I have had several occurrences that have prevented me from grading during my scheduled times but I have made a conscious effort to make up this time. unfortunately, this tends to happen during the weekend, but I still limit this time to a 2 hour block.

These 5 strategies have helped me to stay up to date with my grading so far and I am so thrilled because this is generally the point in the semester that I would have already fallen behind and my frustration would have been mounting. Because of these strategies I have a clear head and less anxiety than I have had in previous semesters.

I hope that you find these strategies helpful and I would love to know if you might be able to incorporate one or more of the strategies listed here. Share your thoughts, experiences and ideas in The Online Educator Facebook Group by clicking the link HERE. Also, as a treat don’t forget to GRAB YOUR FREE GUIDE to the 3 Secrets to Teaching Online Successfully.