One good reason to love marking!
Reframe marking from dreaded admin task to classroom management strategy
The number one reason to love marking is its power to manage a class REALLY well.
The quicker your marking turnaround time, the easier it is to positively influence learners’ attitudes and motivate their progress.
If learners feel that their work is irrelevant, they will be demotivated and undisciplined. Build marking time into your workday. Don’t let it pile up.
Some teachers take weeks – even months – to return marking to their learners. By this stage, the class no longer remembers the assessment and they don’t care anymore. It was too long ago. Any feedback at this point is meaningless.
Feedback must occur while learners are still buzzing from their tasks - when the activities they’ve done are fresh in their minds. Feedback is a reward for work: it validates learners’ efforts and shows that their teacher cares.
No one can learn from a mistake that they don’t recall making in the first place.
If marks are revealed only at the end of term, just as reports are about to be finalised, learners have no opportunity to improve.
Learners should receive feedback as soon as possible so that they can plan their response.
Feedback must be positive and encouraging, not critical or embarrassing. Explain the marking decisions. Show how learners could have done better in certain areas.
Supply model answers and marking guidelines. If possible, give learners a second chance.
It once took five re-writes to properly teach summaries to a class who struggled. It was worth it. They never had to return to this section again and the teacher was confident that they’d finally conquered this outcome. Learners could see improvements in each attempt, which encouraged them: as soon as they wrote, their work was marked and returned, with feedback. This was repeated consecutively, until summary writing felt more natural and less daunting.
We’re not suggesting teachers should do this always - we don’t have time or capacity, but assessments can build a relationship with a class rather than sabotage it.
Top tips to make marking your number one classroom management strategy:
five working days or less
write at least one positive remark
indicate an area for improvement
show the mark in a percentage
record the marks immediately
moderate with colleagues
set time aside to debrief learners
schedule a do-over if possible
Regular, timeous feedback is the sort of positive reinforcement that keeps learners on side. Marking earns respect and encourages a strong work ethic.
Marking isn’t going anywhere. We know those papers don’t mark themselves - we’ve alll wished!
Rather, reframe marking as the teaching tool it’s supposed to be, not some throwaway admin task festering in our car-boots or piling up on the dining-room table.