Carol Jago writes about challenges all English teachers can understand: grading, giving feedback, and helping students to improve their writing while also having a life beyond the stack of essays we all carry in our bags and our minds every day.
Grading essays is one of the most time consuming and frustrating parts of being an English teacher. In addition, the feedback given on final essays is often not utilized by students. The following is a list of tips and specific strategies gathered from a variety of sources (including Carol Jago’s book and online forums for teachers) that can be used to give feedback on writing effectively while sparing the sanity of the teacher.
The more time spent by the student revising a paper before it is turned in, the less time those papers will take to grade. In addition, studies show that students are more likely to read feedback if they have the opportunity to make changes that will impact their final grade (Jago 87). In our district, one teacher in the high school told me that while most students looked at feedback on their drafts in Turnitin.com, almost none of them have looked at the summative feedback, even when it included the final grade.
According to Belhanger and Allingham, there is little to no evidence to suggest that students read comments from teachers if they are not being asked to revise their essays (Jago 88).
However, the study shows, “The most successful comments or corrections were those referring specifically to criteria that teachers taught in class” (Jago 88).
In addition, comments that addressed the student directly and showed care about the student and their ideas were more effective than general positive feedback (ex. “Great job!” would not be considered as helpful to most students) (Jago 90).
Choose specific elements from the rubric as a “focus area” where the most instruction was given and give feedback primarily in that area.
Boettcher, Judith, PhD. “Tips for Making Grading Formative and Efficient for Your Learners.” Designing for Learning. 2010.
Filller, Daisy. “Six Tips for Grading Writing.” The Educator’s Room. 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
Jago, Carol. Papers, Papers, Papers: An English Teacher’s Survival Guide. Heinemann: Portsmouth, 2005.
MizDubya. “English Teachers How Do You Grade Papers Quickly?” A to Z Teacher Stuff. 25 Oct. 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.