DillyDabbles: Organizing my Grading

Grading, especially keeping up with it, has been an area in need of improvement for me. The actual keeping up hasn't gone as well, but the organization has been much better. It started with this great drawer system I found at Jo-Ann's fabric and craft store on sale over the summer. It has worked out beautifully to keep my in and out papers organized and out of the way. The one adjustment I need to make is specifying to the students which direction to hand in papers. I spend a lot of time turning papers back and forth. I added the two slot bin above for no-name papers and notes that need to go out from the school.

The second thing that has really helped me is using a class list and colored pens in combination. The class list allows me to quickly go through the papers and record scores to then quickly transfer to our computer grading system. They're already in alphabetical order, so I can easily enter them in the computer. I also like having a paper record, technology is great, but there's always a time or two that it fails.

I use the colored pens to help me track which grades have been entered in the computer. I use a different color every time I grade so I know that at the end of my grading time each day, I just look for all the grades marked in that day's color to enter or change in the computer. This works really well to keep track of late and missing assignments. It also helps in the way I grade math homework. Each homework is worth 2 points. Students receive 1 point when they hand it in and the second point is given when the homework is correct. So, using the different colors helps me to know when a grade needs to be changed from a 1 to a 2.

I have really liked these B2P recycled water bottle pens made by Pilot. I didn't know they came in a variety of colors until receiving this lovely pack. As you can see in the photo above, the colors are vibrant and I think the pens write very smoothly. These are gel, which you can get in single colors as well, but the pen also comes in a ballpoint option. Shoplet sent me these and a few other great pens to use and review a few weeks ago. I like to use the FriXion pens in my gradebook and when I sew to mark the fabric. Since the ink disappears with friction or heat, it's perfect to erase easily from my planbook or remove with the iron in my sewing. The FriXion highlighter would be great to use for close reading. For writing throughout the day, I do really like the Acroball pen. I've been using it when I do examples under the document camera. My students can't see pencil very well under the camera, so I often use pen and this one writes nice and smoothly.