Tips for Grading Papers Without Scaring Off Your Students

We all remember being in school and anticipating, or dreading the moment our teacher would hand back an essay covered in large blotches of red ink. When we saw that ink, we knew we had lots to work on.

If you become a teacher or trainer at any point in your life, you will be faced with a similar type of dread: that of GRADING papers. In this situation, you are the one in control of the grades, which is perhaps even scarier than receiving the bad grade.

Teachers have the responsibility of not only grading papers but also to encouraging students to learn, develop, work harder, do better. While most students are used to seeing a paper flooded in red, is there a more encouraging color to see?

Grading papers is a tough job, but to make it easier on yourself and easier for your students to take your constructive criticism, follow these simple tips.

Avoid marking up papers with red ink. Red is such a strong color, and since it has been used to mark errors on papers for so many years, it immediately stirs up negative feelings. Try using green, blue, or purple to mark up the papers. You can even create a color-coded system. Use green to mark grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors. Use blue to indicate a confusing statement or topic. It may seem silly or like it's all in their heads, but by avoiding the red ink, you will eliminate a lot of students' anxieties about getting back their graded papers.

Avoid writing comments such as, "Good Start." Basically, a comment like this is saying, "Your paper was terrible. So bad, in fact, that I'm not sure what positive things I can say about it. I'll write 'Good Start' so you at least feel slightly encouraged (even though you failed this assignment miserably)." It is a similar situation to entering an intelligence competition and being told you have nice hair.

There has to be something positive to say. What will be most helpful to a student is if you can pick out a specific idea, style of writing, or good point from the student's paper and elaborate on the positive and successful elements. By being specific, you will help the student know what she or he did well and you will encourage the student by accentuating the positive qualities.

"Sandwich" negative comments between positive comments. It would be tedious to do this for every point, but in some places, try to find two positive comments to go along with the negative that's standing out to you. Write one positive comment followed by the negative comment, then end with another positive comment. It will be more encouraging to a student to see some positive feedback, and by encouraging the student, he or she will be more likely to accept, pay attention to, and learn from his or her errors.

These are just a few simple tips to make the grading process easier and more meaningful. By following these tips, you will not only establish a framework to follow each time you grade a paper; you will also employ positive teaching techniques that encourage students to succeed.