Marking: RIP

9  ways to kill marking:

1. Create a discussion forum (chat room) for the writing task. Students post their stories/articles/essays. Other students post comments based on success criteria and climate of respect. Could enforce "positive comments only" rule. Or "2 stars & a wish". 
2. Put a sign on classroom door saying "Examiners' conference: trained markers only". GCSE students leave their work open to view on a desk, choose 3 criteria from mark-sheet, and move around room, reading work, underlining evidence of their chosen criteria, leaving comments in the margin.  Follow-up lesson could have groups of students discussing findings and writing examiners' report.
3. Students form a discussion circle with 2 concentric circles. They sit on chairs and the outer circles turns in to face someone in inner circle. Books are swapped, writing read and marked using agreed success criteria. Outer circle rotates and cycle is repeated. By the end of the process, books should have been thoroughly proof-read and marked!
4. Film it! Give students an opportunity to view their speaking & listening on screen. Score-sheets are given to grade, using their own or approved success criteria. Waving the camera at them will mean they won't repeat the same mistakes!
5. Editors' conference. At the end of the writing process, after stories have been group-written, redrafted and printed, a copy is left on tables, together with the blurb, cover design etc. Writing groups rotate around tables, in role as editors and would-be publishers. They use a score-sheet with pre-decided success criteria (5 works well). This must include proof-reading strands as well as creativity. 10 marks for each strand, with a possible total of 50. A countdown sound could signal when it's time to move on.  Post-its are used to suggest any targets/ leave positive comments.
6. Idea stolen from a primary school: Homework is left on desks. Students rotate to leave positive comments on cards inside books. Idea is that students collect positive comments. Makes them want to try really hard next time!
7. When the teacher is marking, only closely mark the first 2 paragraphs. Indicate this with a hash sign. This gives a snap-shot of how well the student has proof-read their work. Next lesson, they look carefully at the close-marked section, and continue marking the rest, correcting any mistakes.
8. Use "experts" in the classroom! Promote some students to be the experts in literacy. They are approached before the teacher to work with students on proof-reading and corrections. Similarly, could GCSE, top sets or English Language A Level students be given sets of books from other classes to mark in lessons? Great practice for SSPs!
9. Only controlled assessments, the "Big Write" or half-term/exam assessments are marked by the teacher. Everything else is planned for "no marking" (especially home-works! These should never generate marking, but should always inform starter for next lesson) or peer & self assessment. Class-books should not have to be "ticked and flicked" by the teacher, but should have plenty of evidence of proof-reading and self-correction. The exception is the "Big Write"...

Life with no marking...