Teachers grading papers-?

[snowball22]

I have a question for all the teachers along with all the parents on the DIS. In my DS's class, the teacher, 95 percent of the time, has the students either grade their own papers or the kids trade papers and grade each others. Today, I ran into a teacher friend, at the store, and she started complaining about having to grade papers over the holiday so she was thinking about not assigning anything to grade this week in school. My first question is.....since the parents pay their taxes for the teacher's salary, isn't it the teacher's responsibility to grade the papers? Do you think Ds's teacher just doesn't want to have to do school work at home so that is why he has the kids grade the papers in class? Half the time, my ds's papers are not graded correctly because a student is not grading correctly. What do you think? How do your teacher's handle grading in their classes? Thanks.

 

[letfuller]

I teach high school English and I grade 95% of all my student's papers. I spend endless hours and never seem to be caught up. Rarely do I have multiple choice type questions that could be graded by peers. Occasionally on rough drafts, I have them peer edit. It is necessary for them to become analytical and conscientious about others work.

In your DDS's situation, I would probably conference with the teacher and point out the constant errors in students' grading. The teacher should be responsible to look over the papers and ward off student errors. That would be the least he could do.

Don't forget teachers have other duties than grading papers!!!! We deal with more issues than I thought possible, plus we plan, teach, coach, inspire, grade, laugh, cry and form relationships with our students. At least, I hope I do that.

~Linda
(you caught me as I have spent the last day and a half reading papers and I am still not done. I, too, wonder how others do it)

 

[Kallison]

I work in a middle school, unless it is a very small quiz, the teachers all grade their own stuff. It is time consuming, most of them have 125 total. We have 5 in our math class, it can take me a good 20 min. for one period to grade their hw every day, but I'm the aide so my teacher is lucky he has help. In my kids elementary school the teachers do the grading.

 

[Pin Wizard]

One of my friends tells her class that if they make a mistake correcting a neighbor's paper, the points are coming off their own test! Yes!! Tends to make them a bit more accurate. I can't imagine a teacher having her class check each other's papers and then not check over them him/herself.

Actually, DS came home with an incorrect grade...the teacher checked the papers!

 

[Beth76]

My parents are both teachers (my dad's now retired). I remember a few years ago my mom was sitting at the kitchen table which was covered with papers--she's an english teacher. My dad was sitting in his chair watching TV. I asked why my mom had so much work to grade and my dad didn't. My mom said "Your father has a student teacher this semester and she grades everything." But seriously, I hardly ever saw my dad (science teacher)grading papers and I always saw my mom grading papers almost every night. I think certain subjects just lend themselves better to student grading.

 

[lindamg]

Edited

 

[Wishing on a star]

If the teacher is the one responsible for issuing an official grade for my child for each term, and the final grade for the year... Then the teacher should be the one responsible for doing the grading!

If a teacher was having other children grade my childs papers, then I would definately speak with the principal. First, it is MY CHILDS grade. It is not right to have another child to come up with the grade. Second, it is NONE of the the other kids business how well, or how poor, my child did on their paper. This is just asking for problems... We all know how kids can be.

In general... I find student-grading to be unacceptable.

If I felt like my childs papers were not being graded correctly/fairly, then I would be checking over each one myself. Then, each week I would return the papers with the CORRECT grade, and ask the teacher to modify their records accordingly!!! I already am expected to initial every paper below an 80 and return it.... (of course, if my kid gets a B on a C paper - then who's to tell!!!! I would only do this with the ones where my childs grade was better than the grade given.

If all the parents were doing this, and the teacher was spending more time correcting grades than they would have spent grading the papers to begin with, then they may re-think their habit of having children do their job...

 

[jgmklmhem]

I just wanted to ask this question Is it now legal for students to grade each other's work that will be counted. I know when I was a TA for a University we had to go through extra lengths to make sure posted grades were anonymous (no alphabetical listing...usually it was done in numeral order of the last 4 SS# digits) and were never allowed to let other students see the grades of one of their peers. The university was not even allowed to report grades to students' parents unless authorized by the student regardless of who was paying the tuition. I thought the new privacy act or something even for schooling lower than college level set up these rules.

 

[Wishing on a star]

edited....

 

[lindamg]

Edited

 

[Wishing on a star]

edited....

 

[chrissyk]

I'm going to become a high school math teacher after we move to FL. I'm sorry, but it will be a cold day you-know-where before I ever let my students grade each other's papers. I HATED it when teachers did that while I was in school. Besides, how do you know which students need help when you aren't the one grading their papers? Their lack of comprehension of one concept could really snowball into a problem if the teacher isn't grading the papers, KWIM?

BTW, my mom is a teacher, and she always grades her own work even when she has a student teacher.

 

[CheshireVal]

My first question is.....since the parents pay their taxes for the teacher's salary, isn't it the teacher's responsibility to grade the papers?

First of all, I really don't understand what this has to do with anything? Sounds like a red herring to me. As a teacher, I *hate* that old "I'm ultimately the boss because I pay teachers' salary through taxes" argument.

Secondly, I wonder if that 95% figure you've quoted is accurate? Are you sure the teacher doesn't do more than that himself?

Granted, there are some lazy teachers out there, so you never know. I do think certain subjects/quizzes/types of tests are fine to have the class grade, especially if it's not a major test.

I personally don't have my students grade each other's papers. For one thing, I teach a writing class, so that would be difficult! But even with grammar quizzes, I think it's just easier to do it myself....

 

[jgmklmhem]

Granted, there are some lazy teachers out there, so you never know. I do think certain subjects/quizzes/types of tests are fine to have the class grade, especially if it's not a major test.

But isn't that an invasion of a child's privacy by letting his or her classmates know their grade.

 

[Kitty 34]

I've been in a long term 7th grade Math glass (12 weeks to be exact) and I have graded all the papers. I like grading the papers because than I see where kids may be having problems and thus I can help them more.

 

[buzzlady]

Last year DS had a teacher that had the kids grade homework each day. Homework counted as 75% of their grade. DS would have math problems marked incorrect when they were correct. I did speak to the teacher and I'll just end it there or I'll probably be another *edited* post. I will add that if you don't feel comfortable with the situation, speak up. You probably aren't the only one feeling the same way. I found that out too late.

 

[Mermaid02]

Without reading everyone else's responses..... the students should NOT be grading other childrens papers. It is not anyone else's business what the kids get for grades. I have a big problem with this practice.

 

[Tinkbell]

I grade everything myself. I hated when my teachers had us exchange papers. It wasn't anyone's business what I got on my test or assignment!

 

[Feralpeg]

DD's teachers have other students grade papers on a regular basis. It is usually on things with a multiple choice or fill-in answer, but she has had English essays graded by other students in the past. They looked for set things and counted off if they didn't find them.

 

[mudhen]

I grade all of my own, with the exception of an occasional math
fact time test, in which the kids will score their own.

I also agree with the previous poster about the parents paying taxes
thing. The teacher's grading of papers has nothing to do with that.

Nor does it give parents any right to tell what the teacher's should or
should not be doing in the classroom.