On this episode of the Teaching Middle School ELA podcast, we're diving into a very opinionated topic: Grading.

The majority of the team members that make up the behind-the-scenes of EB Academics were once educators themselves at a variety of different grade levels. So we thought it would be perfect to "poll the team" and gather their most helpful tips for managing the demands of grading work in the ELA classroom.

We breakdown the tips below and more:

- Use TeacherMade or Google Forms to turn those hard copies digital and foster faster grading

- Allow students to select which in-class essay they most want you to grade

- Allow students to revise essays for a higher grade but only after they've met for a 1:1 conference with you

- Staggering your units between classes so your grading doesn't pile up at once

- Grading as you go through a unit or essay

- Resist the urge to grade the full essay; focus on improvements in a specific part of their essay

-Randomly select items that will be graded rather than grading every piece of work

- Lock your door during grading sessions to prevent interruptions

- Shake the guilt of not grading everything

- Always use rubrics and even consider letting students self-grade

- Batch Plan so your prep periods can be used for grading instead of planning

After listening in, you're sure to have a few tips to add to your routine to shave off those very valuable minutes you spend grading!

Get ready for an incredibly practical and helpful episode!

BIG NEWS: The EB Teachers' ELA Portal will officially be open for enrollment this summer! If having access to ALL of the below sounds helpful to you, then we invite you to take a quick moment to add your name to our priority list today! Are you ready for:

• Hundreds of ready-to-go ELA lessons
• A robust Core ELA Curriculum that includes reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary covering all of the ELA standards
• Innovative digital lesson planning software
• Hours of on-demand PD videos
• A community of thousands of supportive ELA teachers from around the world

Pretty incredible, right?Click the link below to add your name to the priority list today:

https://www.ebteacher.com/ebtc-priority-list

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