The dilemma over waiting for your essays, tests, and assignments to be graded is something that can leave students in a state of discomfort and frustration, but there is more than one point of view to this story.
Do teachers take too long to grade work, or is that just how long it takes to grade students’ work? Teachers generally already have a heavy workload to take care of on top of grading assignments from attending meetings, replying to emails, making lesson plans, and so on. All this work only makes it longer to finish the grading process. Due to this huge to-do list, these teachers have to work towards getting done; they oftentimes need to work overtime and work at home to get it all done. “But – just like students, we have lives outside of school. We need to keep a work/life balance too,” shares Ms. Huggins.
While grading may be a hassle, it does affect the student’s side as well. When the clock starts running out of time and the end of the quarter or semester comes around, not having your assignments graded or returned can be problematic for students’ grades. Chesnie Coggins, a Sophomore at Wilsonville, explains, “It’s really hard to apply the feedback given to us on our assignments when we get it back so late because then it’s usually too late to resubmit it, and it’s not like we can fix it anymore.”
This issue can be resolved in a few ways, whether that’s teachers allowing students to resubmit revised work by giving them more time as well or by students doing better at turning work in on time. Ms. Huggins states that turning in late work is a “chronic problem, and many kids are taking advantage of the fact that teachers will accept late work, which causes way more time for teachers to then enter it.”
While being more patient and understanding is something students can try to be better at, other outcomes of waiting for assignments to get graded can be harder to control. Grades nowadays have seemed to become a label for students’ worth when they are so much more than that. This can cause a series of effects on teens’ mental health. Statistics shown by Cross River Therapy state that 61% of teens feel stressed over achieving perfect grades. This can cause a lot of anxiety for students when they have to wait for their grades to be posted online. The anticipation can cause a lot of negative rumination on top of everything else students have to endure.
Grading work from your hundreds of students can be a hassle and very time-consuming but it’s important to share that information with your students as well. Communication is key to seeing both sides of this dilemma and ensuring both teachers and students get the validation they need for their work and time.
