What's your teaching workflow?

October 2, 2006 5:33 AM

My wife is a new 7th grade English teacher. Help her get organized (please)!

She's looking for organizational routines to streamline her grading and planning. Do people use online tools? What tools? Is paper better? Anecdotal is great!

posted by puckupdate to education (14 comments total)

Best book ever for new teachers: The First Days of School. Invaluable.
posted by kdern at 5:56 AM on October 2, 2006

I had Word templates set up for lesson plans... other than Excel spreadsheets, I never really found a decent way of mass grading. I'm looking for answers too :-)

I second kdern's suggestion.
posted by trinarian at 7:03 AM on October 2, 2006

I'll second the book nomination, Harry Wong knows his stuff.

In my experience, the computer is a huge help for grading programs, much easier than keeping a paper grade book.
Is there one her district recommends?

As for planning, I've always fallen back on the paper plan book. For me, it is more managable for planning lessons and writing in to keep track of the constant changes and lesson adjustments you need to make. In my 20 years of teaching, I have yet to have a week go exactly as I planned it with no interruptions (fire drills, picture day, snow day) or no need to adjust/adapt lessons as the students either 'get it' right away or need more reinforcement on a lesson. I've tried to use planners on the computer, but find that it's just easier to write in a change then get on the computer every time.
However, if your wife is very computer literate, using a program like Excel to create lesson plans can be effective too. I guess what I'm saying is that she should go for her comfort level, no need to make it harder by learning a new program or software when pencil and paper will work just fine. Especially since it's her first year.

Have her talk to the other staff members to see what is working for them. The principal may have requirements too as to how the lesson plans should be done and what should be included. Many districts require that teachers show or hand in their lesson plans to the prinicpal weekly.
posted by NoraCharles at 7:05 AM on October 2, 2006

Grading is not fun. Grading English is the worst. I taught 7th grade math and my tests were mainly long-answer, so I can commiserate.

Keep assignments short. You can tell enough from three paragraphs that you don't really need three pages.

Plan ahead so that you don't have a pile of essays due the Friday that you plan to celebrate your birthday/anniversary/etc., because you won't celebrate.

If you have a set of papers due one day, take the next day or two to have seat work-- worksheets, watching a movie, etc., so that you can get grading done during the day.

I never used online tools much-- Excel for gradebooks and did some fancy formulas to weight categories (tests, homework, etc.), so if she's not mathy she may need help with that. For planning, I used a clipboard and notebook paper, one page per day. Easy to file in a binder for next year, and plenty of space for notes (Susie was absent today, or After school meeting with parents).

Do take time to explore all the supplementary materials that come with the curriculum. There can be some great ideas and helps there-- take a few hours and really dig in-- it may save you in the long run.

Good luck. Blessed are the middle school teachers, for they endure realllly looooong days.
posted by orangemiles at 7:05 AM on October 2, 2006

I should say, keep *most* assignments short. Long papers are good... once a year.
posted by orangemiles at 7:07 AM on October 2, 2006

Oh, and as far as organizational planning of workflow, I try to get my lesson planning done at school, where all the teacher editions and resources are. That way you don't lug all those books back and forth. If I HAVE to bring stuff home, it's usually papers or tests to grade.

Also, another suggestion for her is to keep up with the grading of papers and tests. It can get away from you pretty quickly if you don't keep up. Students like quick feedback and are more apt to respond to it if it's done in a timely manner.
posted by NoraCharles at 7:10 AM on October 2, 2006

Thanks! These are all great. She already has the Wong book. Based on these suggestions, we're checking out paper options now.
posted by puckupdate at 7:24 AM on October 2, 2006

I'm a second year high school English teacher. I'm quite computer savvy and yet I never use a computer for lesson planning. The best advice I can give on planning is to get a copy of your school's calendar and create a long range plan. Determine what your units are going to be and then write a one-two word description of the day's lesson on the calendar. This can be as simple as writing - Monday, punctuation, Tuesday, sentence structure, etc. - Do this for the entire year. Then you can create detailed units and daily lessons based on this simple plan. Get a good paper based daily lesson plan template and photocopy it onto coloured paper. This is much easier than trying to create lesson plans on the computer, because you can update them on the fly and write down information such as how much material was covered and any homework assigned. Also, keep a very organized binder of all your lessons and supplementary materials. This will make next year a breeze.

As for marking, the easiest and fastest way to do this is to create detailed rubrics for each assignment. This way the students know exactly how they will be assesed and you can simply check off their level of achievement and then write some comments for improvement on the rubric itself or on the student's paper.

By doing this you will still have a large workload, but it will be more manageable.
posted by trigger at 7:38 AM on October 2, 2006

For grading, use a rubric always.

For most projects, I adopted a rubric style which was looked like a line on a subway map. For every major point in the assignment, I made a line with 5 circles on it. In each circle, I put the number of points and below the circle I wrote what you needed to do to earn that many points.

Then I put a mark on the line where they earned their points.

The rubric went out with every project and needed to be turned in by the student with the project. We discussed the rubric beforehand and I tried to stress that they were looking at exactly how to get the best grade they could.

What does this do for you?
1. It makes it clear to the student what they need to do
2. It makes it clear to you the teacher exactly how to dole out the grade.
3. It makes it hugely efficient to grade and it allows a third party to help without knowing a lot of the details of the assignment.
4. It makes it pretty much impossible for a student to argue with you about the grades and practically eliminates grubbing for points. Any argument begins with the rubric and ends with the rubric.

I taught 7^th grade technology and used a project-centered curriculum. Planning was straight-forward in that we went from project to project. I used a few classes to build the groundwork, used some formative and some summative assessment (quizzes) to figure out what needed shoring up and then applied it in the project. Projects took a week to two weeks. Beyond that and it's hard to keep your students focused.

For grading, I used Teacher's Pet and a PalmOS device. It was nice to be able to use it to catch students who were digging themselves into a hole.

Since I was a technology teacher and have visual memory (really bad at names), I took digital pictures on day 1 and made a face sheet. Without that, I wouldn't have survived. If you remember names, great for you. It's also nice to have it around for substitutes to hold the students accountable for their actions. It's also a good one to hold onto for when they graduate.
posted by plinth at 7:53 AM on October 2, 2006

I keep myself organized with my Franklin Covey Educator Planning System. I used to use my Palm all the time but I really love this planner.

FYI... keep a really great sub folder. Maps, schedules, roster, hall passes, etc. It wil help when you are out.
posted by nimsey lou at 8:02 AM on October 2, 2006

I suggest using whatever system other teachers in the department use. My mother teaches 7th grade English, and she uses some complex computer grading program because everyone at her school has to use it.

She's really hot on the rubric thing, and she tries to be transparent about her grading structure; the kids know why they got everything wrong and what they can do to fix it. In other words: what plinth said.

She's also a veteran teacher, and is used to "sharing" her quizzes/curriculum/lesson plans with newer teachers. (In other words, she lets them copy the stuff and use in their classes.)

There are lots of good books out there that will provide structure and even quizzes for particular aspects of her curriculum. I suspect that these are invaluable to someone just starting out. (Especially if you don't have my mom to copy off of.)
posted by Sprout the Vulgarian at 8:24 AM on October 2, 2006

I was a TA for a 6th grade (Biology and Science) teacher many years ago. She graded everything by hand, and recorded the grades into a paper grade book. Then, I entered them into a computerized spreadsheet, which did all the calculating.
posted by muddgirl at 11:20 AM on October 2, 2006

My mother is not a MeFite, but is a 7th grade English teacher, and normally she spends a tremendous amount of her time on discipline and grading. This is her 20th-odd year of teaching and she has finally decided to do grading in class, by which I mean - giving the test, telling them to pass it X rows back and X rows over, reading them the answer key and getting it done that way.
She has a master's in educational technology and ends up using her own computer for PowerPoint frequently.
If you're more curious, drop me an email and I'll see if she can give more direct 'tips'.
posted by lilithim at 4:18 PM on October 2, 2006

I teach high school English. First things first: don't grade every precious little bit of writing that scrapes off their stubby pencils. (If nothing else, they won't come to high school with the "I'm not doing it unless you gather it up and give me some sort of mark" mentality.) Don't read every journal. Sometimes writing is for checking, and sometimes writing is because practice is good for you.

My district requires that the state "power standards" and objectives be on each and every lesson plan, which we're supposed to have done by the week and available for perusal on demand. I designed a LP spreadsheet that includes the state standard numbers, which I can then just circle or highlight or whatever. No more writing out the appropriate standards each week.

Don't point out and/or correct every single error in a piece of writing. Get a rubric that has a series of checkboxes - fragments, run-ons, comma splices, spelling, etc. - and have the students hunt for those errors. (Obviously longer pieces of writing may require more direction.) My students will ignore corrections but really get into looking to see if my "accusations" are correct.

Grading in class is good if you don't care if they cheat or mess up. (Some days you don't.)

For tests, use answer sheets instead of having them write directly on the test. That way your paper stack is smaller (psych yourself up!) and, if you have much true-false or multiple-choice, it's easier to grade those sections quickly.

Alphabetizing papers before entering grades can sometimes make the job feel easier. (If you find mindless alphabetizing relaxing or if you have a flunkie to do it for you.) She may or may not find using an "alphabetizer" to be helpful.

Keep some "evergreen" lesson plans and materials handy that will work at any time. When you're new you sometimes don't know how long a lesson will last. (Your plan for the whole hour could be done by half-past.) Likewise, keep some special LPs handy for those days when, despite your energetic plans, you just need everyone to work quietly. This means reading or worksheets; don't be tempted to assign a large piece of writing on those days - you will regret the grading later.

If start-of-class classroom management is an issue, don't resort to collecting warmups you weren't originally planning to take.

My department gave us Palm Pilots. Sometimes we walk around and enter grades on the spot. This is mostly for participation (and classroom management - the kids know that you're entering grades *right then* and get on task), but you can sometimes enter other kinds of grades as you walk around. (The Palm synchs to EZ Grade Pro on the computer, although we let the kids think the grades are going straight to EdLine - the website where parents check their progress. Heh heh.)

However, you may want to ignore my suggestions as I seem to be the one person on the planet who doesn't really feel the gushy fan-love for Harry Wong. ;) I like his general principles (first impressions count, show personal dignity, be clear = common sense), but his specific ideas in practice don't seem to fit my reality. (e.g., I'm not going to visit the homes of my 200 students before school starts. Even if I had the same students on the first day of school that I now have a month later - thank you Las Vegas growth-mania - I'd need a bodyguard or a translator. We're not all Michelle Pfeiffer or Matthew Perry.)
posted by Liffey at 10:59 PM on October 2, 2006 [1 favorite]