My “30 Day Challenge” is to keep on top of grading during second quarter for all of my classes. I tend to let projects pile up and procrastinate a bit with grading projects. My goal is to get my grading completed in a timely manner this quarter therefore providing useful feedback to students that will help them improve techniques throughout their next projects.
With the beginning of second quarter taking place this week, I have updated all of my grade books in IC (our grading software) - this takes some time to make sure everything is in the correct order and has the correct dates, so I am glad to have it updated for this quarter. I will be trying some new things with my 8th grade students, so I will update those projects as the quarter goes on.
One step I will need to take is to create a “grading routine” for myself - When I have a project due, I plan to grade those projects that same afternoon or the following morning. I will then be able to get the grades into IC so students and parents can view their grades right away. I have been having my high school student assistant to take photographs of all finished work for Artsonia - this has really helped to keep on track with my grading as well.
Another step I plan to take to complete this 30 day challenge (and beyond!) is to print all grading rubrics and scales so that I will not run out while I am in the middle of grading. I have been working to update my grading rubrics so as soon as I finish one I plan to get it off to the printer!
**Another challenge I have been working on the past couple of weeks is getting things ready for our annual Art Sale that supports our high school Visual Art Scholarship recipients. I have recently been working on making greeting cards and some wall decor. I have quite a few things I still need to make for our December 1st sale, so I will continue my goal of working each night on these items :-)
Let me know what I can do to help you stay on track of you goal:) Maybe I can send you fun video or song to get you motivated to grade? I might send you random reminders with videos:)
ReplyDeleteGreat goal, I am inspired and encouraged by your passion for your classroom, creativity, and grading. I love our discussions about teaching, grading, and interventions.
ReplyDeleteGreat goal Brooke! Now as a fourth grader I have so much more to correct/grade and it does seem to take a system to get it done in a timely fashion! It is awesome you are making it a priority!
ReplyDeleteYour goal is such an important one, as I too struggle to keep up with grading projects! It must be an "art teacher thing". Including grading on my weekly lesson plan calendar has really helped me to start budgeting a set amount of time towards that process. How quickly are you getting the photographs uploaded to Artsonia?
ReplyDeleteWith your rubrics, what kinds of specifics do you find yourself updating?? I, too, have been working really hard to make the middle school rubrics user-friendly and part of their art experience. I'd love to share rubrics with you!
Hi Krista! Usually I am not very quick to get photos of my students work uploaded to Artsonia, however this quarter (and last quarter) I have a high school student assistant and I am able to give them a stack of finished work and they take the pictures and upload them onto Artsonia! The work gets out there much faster this way as I would typically be taking the pictures myself at the end of the day or in the morning.
DeleteUpdates that I have made to my rubrics have been changing to a 4-3-2-1 scale - some of the rubrics I had been using were more like checklists, so I changed them all over to holistic rubrics for the end of unit projects that students complete. I, too, would love to share rubrics - it is so helpful to see what other MS art teachers are using to provide feedback to their students - we should plan something!!