next »

[ucboy1010]

I am wondering how long it takes you to grade papers (written essays)?

I have about 80 students in my class, and their first assignment was a short three-page paper explaining a (marketing) phenomenon they see in everyday life. It is a junior-level (3rd year) class.

I found that it took me about 9 hours to read through 240 pages and to give intelligent responses to them, and to assign them a grade.

This is my first teaching job, so I'm just wondering if 9 hours is way too long or short for 80 students / 240 pages, or of that's the norm?

Thanks.

[tenured_cat]

Depends on the paper:

A-level: easy, fun, breeze through three pages in under a minute (my students claim that my "A" looks like a star. Aaww - no, it does not!

F-level: easy, fun, breeze through, repeat, read again, sigh, write "F." I'd say 60 seconds for three pages (typed, right?)

B, C, and D: forever. Breeze through, shake head, read again, correct, read on, correct again, wash and repeat as necessary, write comment underneath, detailing why this paper deserves the grade it gets. Get more coffee. Total time: up to or even beyond five minutes.

[fiona]

LarryC had some good postings on this in the past. Click on his name and you may be able to find them.

In general, choose just a few features to grade on. Use a rubric. Don't spend more than 5 minutes per paper, or less if the student seemed to have spent less time than that.

Figure that students won't read the comments much if at all, and will just look at the grade.

Give the most attention to the best students, as they're usually neglected, and they're the ones most apt to appreciate what you know and make you feel good about teaching.

The Fiona

[figee]

And remember the golden, if unspoken, rule of marking: our aim is to move the papers from the 'unmarked' pile on one side of the desk to the 'marked' pile on the other side (or the floor).

Or is that just me?

Seriously?  Rubrics are your friend and help you give detailed, focused feedback.  Don't correct grammar etc throughout, especially if the same mistakes are repated page after page - just do it on the first page and refer them back to it.   I agree with Fiona - focus on the good students and think about how much interest students are going to take in your feedback - most won't be all that interested.  In general, I put as much effort into feedback as I can see that the student has put into the paper.

[msparticularity]

This is my first teaching job, so I'm just wondering if 9 hours is way too long or short for 80 students / 240 pages, or of that's the norm?

Thanks.

This is pretty close to my pace. For the past three semesters I have taught 2 sections of 50 students each for a course that requires 2-3 page essays three times over the course of the semester. Each time it takes me 8-9 hours to grade them. I do use a rubric, but also do some writing on the papers themselves to indicate where I'm seeing good stuff and specific problems. If I had a rubber stamp that says "Interesting idea - need a specific example" I could cut way down on what I write :)

I write quite a bit on the first couple of papers, because I feel like I'm coaching the students on how to do better. For the final paper, I write nothing - I just circle categories on the rubric and assign a grade, so my pace is much faster - more like 2 hours per section.

[mended_drum]

I spend probably ten to fifteen minutes per paper (longer if I'm commenting on a paper that will be revised after comments or a conference).  I generally make three substantive comments per essay, at least one positive and one negative (or constructive, if you prefer).  Once I get into a steady rhythm, the stack shrinks quickly.

I assume that all of my comments will be read (I enjoy deluding myself that way and do not intend to emerge from my fantasyland).

However, I'm able to do this because I never have more than eighteen students in a course or fifty students in a semester.

It's actually quite gratifying when the students who do read the comments tell me how helpful they were for future writing assignments.

[mountainguy]

One thing that I find helps to speed up grading is to make a 1-page handout with general comments that can be distributed to all students. If I see the same mistake repeating itself across essays, I stop marking it on individual papers and address it on the general comments sheet. It's more useful for correcting stylistic and grammar issues than it is content, but I occasionally make general comments about content as well.

[balancing_act]

I spend probably ten to fifteen minutes per paper (longer if I'm commenting on a paper that will be revised after comments or a conference).  I generally make three substantive comments per essay, at least one positive and one negative (or constructive, if you prefer).  Once I get into a steady rhythm, the stack shrinks quickly.

I assume that all of my comments will be read (I enjoy deluding myself that way and do not intend to emerge from my fantasyland).

However, I'm able to do this because I never have more than eighteen students in a course or fifty students in a semester.

It's actually quite gratifying when the students who do read the comments tell me how helpful they were for future writing assignments.

This is what I do. I was delighted this term when the second paper was markedly improved over the first. Many of the students told me my comments on the first paper were helpful. I think they do read the comments-- or at least the ones that give a hoot about their grade.

But on the final paper, I hardly write anything and I tell them this before they turn it in. Saves a ton of time at the end of the term.

[neutralname]

I don't put comments on papers.  I tell students that after the grades are in, if they want comments, they should email me and I will email them some comments on their papers.  None do.

You'd be shocked by how quickly I grade their papers. 

[professor_pat]

As much as I long to just write a grade on final papers, I can't bring myself to actually do that - for CYA reasons. If a student comes to me to protest a grade, I want to have some reminder to myself as to why I assigned that grade, rather than having to read through the whole thing again. My comments actually don't take that much time, since I have a Word file with my rubric and I just type brief comments of a few words in each space.

For those of you who just write a grade, how do you deal with subsequent student protests? Can you just remember (or quickly make up) why you assigned the grade?

[neutralname]

I get about one student protest a year.  We have a docile crowd.  Sometimes I change a grade, sometimes I don't.

If I feel like there's a danger of a bunch of protests, I'll tell them that I'm happy to reconsider their test/paper grade, but I will then in fairness have to look at their whole semester's work, and reassessing a grade means it could go up or down.

[airball]

I've been toying with Grademark which is part of the TurnItIn.com package. It allows you to highlight text, click a short comment (Relevance?) and a detailed comment pops up in their paper (How does this paragraph support your thesis? Remember that each paragraph should provide evidence and analysis that helps convince the reader of your argument.)  It's a bit cumbersome at first, but it helps you track how long you are spending on a paper, and I assume will get faster as I get used to it.

airball

[vortex]

I've been toying with Grademark which is part of the TurnItIn.com package. It allows you to highlight text, click a short comment (Relevance?) and a detailed comment pops up in their paper (How does this paragraph support your thesis? Remember that each paragraph should provide evidence and analysis that helps convince the reader of your argument.)  It's a bit cumbersome at first, but it helps you track how long you are spending on a paper, and I assume will get faster as I get used to it.

airball

Sounds like Mavis Beacon Teaches Grading :).

[odessa]

As much as I long to just write a grade on final papers, I can't bring myself to actually do that - for CYA reasons. If a student comes to me to protest a grade, I want to have some reminder to myself as to why I assigned that grade, rather than having to read through the whole thing again. My comments actually don't take that much time, since I have a Word file with my rubric and I just type brief comments of a few words in each space.

For those of you who just write a grade, how do you deal with subsequent student protests? Can you just remember (or quickly make up) why you assigned the grade?

If you're only concerned about this for final papers, there's a relatively easy fix.  Tell any students who make grade inquiries that they have to set up an appointment to go over the items with you.  This gives you lead time which you use to pull out that final paper and reread and comment on.  It takes less time to do this "regrading" for a paper or two or three than it does to write comments on 27 papers that nobody will ever bother to come pick-up.

If you're talking about papers during the semester, well, that's another story, especially if you teach a course that deals with lots of drafts and revisions.

O.

[wanna_writemore]

On final papers/exams, I dont' make comments, but I do jot down a few words so I know why I assigned the grade, like "connections?" or "evidence" next to the section.  Then if a student asks about it, I can go back and it makes sense.

For the first time in looking at research papers recently, I typed comments in a Word document and then printed and cut them apart.  It saved a lot of time because I could copy and paste (they were drafts, so everyone got the same comment about correct citations, e.g.)