Alternatives to "filing papers"

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Alternatives to "filing papers"
By Beth

Grading papers could sure be overwhelming! I taught 4th grade for many years and just keeping up with their writing papers was challenging. I also felt the need to grade every paper... As a new teacher I felt that if I
felt it was necessary for students to do the assignments, then I must be responsible to give them feedback. But obviously, it was very difficult to keep up. I never got over the guilt of throwing papers away, so I asked around and found some really great alternatives!
* I often had students do assignments with a partner. This worked well for math as students would check eachother's

work and assist one another when the math problem was challenging.
* Each of my students also had a red pen which was used for grading their own papers. I seldom had them switch papers as I did not feel this was a "healthy" practice for all students. Students loved to take out their red pen and grade their own work. I think this empowered them to do their very best work!
* I also was blessed with some very good friends who would come over to my house and we would grade papers together... (For example, we would not have dinner until 2 stacks were graded! Grading papers was a novelty to my friends who were not in education!)
* I also never took home more work than I planned to grade. This helped with my frustration level. (My principal taught me this!) It was easier to motivate yourself to grade one stack of papers than motivate yourself to grade 5 stacks!
* If I did feel I needed to "file" my papers....I did not do so until the end of the school year. Yes, I had several boxes full of ungraded papers. (One for each season) This way if a parent or student ever asked me about an assignment, I was able to retrieve it! I also did my filing at home!