Complicated is Not Always Better

I teach in a sixth grade ELA classroom, and I love it.  I have fantastic students, and I enjoy teaching them everything that I can in the year that we have together.  Unfortunately, one struggle I have as an ELA teacher is the correcting.  Two to five page essays multiplied by at least seventy kids, and I have hours of correcting.  By the time I get one set of essays graded, the next set have already been turned in.  On top of that, reading class requires its own form of grading with reading journals and responses.  I find it completely overwhelming.  I have attended many workshops in the hopes of finding the magic technique that will allow me to actually meet with all of my students and provide them with meaningful feedback without staying up late night after night.  There have been many encouraging anecdotes, but nothing that actually proved to help in my classroom.

I will share a couple of the more successful strategies I have tried.  Just know, I have nothing that is perfect, but I certainly have methods that are more efficient than I was doing before.  My first strategy helped with correcting reading journals in a timely fashion.  I tried MANY different methods.  I would take the journals home with me and read them at night (that did not last long).  I tried alternating days of the week that I would do my correcting for each class group (I quickly got overwhelmed).  Last year, I would read the journals in class, while my students were meeting with their reading groups.  This worked fairly well, but resulted in me scrambling around the room trying to get this done.  It also prevented me from having meaningful discussions with my readers.

Toward the end of the year, I made progress.  I decided to simplify.  I did not require less thinking from my students, but I allowed them to show their thinking differently.  I moved away from the typical journal, which most of the time resembled a long summary anyway and took students a long time to complete.  I also completely stopped with sticky notes.  Sticky notes made me hate reading as a child, so I am not too fond of "sticking" that on a child.  I thought to myself, "What do I want my students to do while they are reading?"  This question made me re-evaluate what I was making my students do.  I wanted my students to think about their reading and come to class ready to discuss their thoughts with their reading group.  That led to the creation of a different assignment.  I required my students to write a list of major events that happened in the story (a shortened summary).  Next, I asked my students to complete two of the following: write down a question, write a prediction with evidence, write a connection, write a quote and why you liked it, or write down vocabulary that is unfamiliar, where it is found, and the predicted definition. 

What I discovered, surprisingly, is that my students found this more challenging than writing a journal.  It was a shorter assignment, but it required them to think as they were reading.  Most students liked that they could work on the assignment as they were reading, rather than having to wait until they were done reading.  Students also liked that it was easy to know what to do.  This assignment is not perfect, but it required students to do what I wanted them to do.  I think sometimes, as teachers, we need to do the simpler option as long as it still gets to our learning targets. 

Grading these papers is also more efficient.  I now grade my students based on their participation and conversation during their reading group, instead of on their responses directly.  Part of the grade comes from completing the paper correctly, the second part comes from following discussion protocols, and the third comes from their ability to use evidence to support their responses and questions.  The process allows me to be a part of group discussions, while still giving students feedback on their reading.

I feel like I have found a way to manage grading my reading work, but writing is still a challenge.  I usually give my students feedback as they are working on a piece.  I also allow them to confer with classmates during writing workshop.  However, at the end, I am still bringing home over sixty essays to score after my school day ends on numerous performance indicators.  It takes me weeks of late nights.

I am trying a new method this year with a hope that I can make my correcting easier for me and better for my students.  I want them to get quick and meaningful feedback on their writing.  I plan to break my writing rubric into parts.  For example, instead of having a rubric for the entire writing piece, I will just have a rubric for writing an introduction.  I will teach students how to write an introduction, then I will give them feedback as I walk the room (as I always do).  Once students have had a chance to revise, I will read their work in class again.  This time I will score their work on the rubric.  I can do this before the writing piece is even complete.  I can also revise the score, if I see improvement later on.  I hope, in this way, that I can take away some of the work that has to be brought home.  It will also allow me to give students instant feedback, so that they know where to improve.  When students turn in their finished piece, I will know to only recheck the areas where they were not proficient before.

As you can see, balancing work and home life is a constant struggle.  I am constantly looking for ways that I can be an effective educator without killing myself for it.  I think if we all strive to find solutions to these problems, teachers will be less likely to burn out.  Also, teachers need to share with each other.  If you have found the solution, share it with others.  We will all be better in the long run.  Feel free to post any of your successes below.