I am not sure about you, but throughout the week I have SO many student papers that get accumulated. Some of them, like essays or projects, are things I need to keep. Those get graded and filed into the students' portfolios. Others, like math homework, foldables, workbook pages, thinking maps...you name it....need to be passed back to the students to take home. If I were to pass these back each day, I fear it would become very unmanageable very quickly. So I have come up with a solution that has worked for me and my class.
We call it the "Paper Pass Back" (clever, I know.) Basically, all the work for the week that needs to be returned gets put into the "Out Box". On Fridays, the students line up at the Out Box, I hand them a stack of papers, and they get to work putting those papers on the desk of the rightful owner. When the stack of papers is done, the student gets back in line and gets more to return. It proceeds like this until all of the papers are returned.
The students do this all WITHOUT SAYING A WORD. It is literally as quiet as a mouse in my room. I generally tend to give the quietest, most helpful student (someone who is helping to stack other students' papers neatly in a pile) a homework pass...so that helps to keep the noise down.
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| This is the page from the Procedure Manual that describes the process. |
This is a procedure that we do from day one in my classroom. Because of this, I have never had a problem with other students seeing the work that was done by a classmate. It is simply the way we do things in class I have had other teachers ask me about what others think of the kids seeing their "private" work and grades....it is my feeling that since the paper pass back is a part of the classroom culture, the kids aren't embarrassed or worried by others seeing their work. I know there are some who disagree with this, and that is fine. This is just what works for me in my classroom. How do you handle papers to be returned?
We call it the "Paper Pass Back" (clever, I know.) Basically, all the work for the week that needs to be returned gets put into the "Out Box". On Fridays, the students line up at the Out Box, I hand them a stack of papers, and they get to work putting those papers on the desk of the rightful owner. When the stack of papers is done, the student gets back in line and gets more to return. It proceeds like this until all of the papers are returned.
I just started handing papers back this way (used to have student filers) and want to continue this way. I will start next year with your guidelines. And, if there is a LOW grade, I set those aside and hand them back to the student with an "oops this was on my desk" or a "let's make a tutoring appt. to go over."
ReplyDeleteGood idea to put the low papers on your desk so you can talk with the student!
DeleteWe have Friday folders! I just sort all the papers I have graded throughout the week on Friday morning(everything is in alphabetical order) then I put them on the students' desks and they look at them when they come into class in the morning. Then they put them in their folders and into their backpacks...takes minutes and no class time!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your idea!
DeleteI like your idea of passing out papers with student help. I have a trustworthy parent sort the graded papers and I put each student's papers in a folder to go home on Thursday which gets signed by a parent. The students like to have time on Thursdays to look through their papers and ask questions about them before taking them home.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the small black storage boxes on the student desks. It looks like a great way to display their name tag and keep supplies handy. Can you tell me where you got your boxes?
Those are the plain cardboard pencil boxes we get for free with the district. I cover them in contact paper to make them 1) last longer and 2) look nicer :)
DeleteI do something very similar with my 1st grade students. My teammates do not agree, but it saves me a TON of time and the kids enjoy it. They work silently as well, and nothing is said about what symbol or number is on their peers' papers.
ReplyDeleteI like this idea. Passing back papers can be such a time-suck!!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I did last year that I found helpful was asking the students to fold every paper vertically in half and put their name on the outside of the fold. That way, when I had others pass back papers, the grades were inside and the names were outside. If you ever get worried about students seeing others' papers (or if, God forbid, an admin or parent throws a fit!), you could always use this method in conjunction with your own. :)
We did something similar in the fifth grade classroom that I student taught in. We had "Friday Folders" and things/work that needed to be passed to students were filed away during the week and then on friday, student work was stuffed into folders. This was also a way to communicate with teachers because students had a log in the folder where the teacher commented on the students week, then the student wrote how they felt their week went, and there was a place for a parent signature. I thought it worked extremely well, and passing back papers was much less of a hassle.
ReplyDeleteCute idea! I too have an outbox. I also have a job chart, and one of the jobs is a "Paper Person." Every day the student comes in and checks the outbox. If there are papers in it, the first thing he/she does is pass them out. Every time I finish grading papers, I just dump them right in the outbox. I have one outbox per class (really, it's not a box, but those stacking shelves labeled for each class). It works great! Students are always vying for that job.
ReplyDeletei do the same as you... just not as organized, not every week!
ReplyDeleteI have a tray that I put papers in as I get them graded. When I have students with a few free minutes, they'll ask to go sort papers into mailboxes (I use shoe organizers). Then on Friday, the kids take home all of their graded work for the week and any other notes home.
ReplyDeleteLaura
www.willgradeforcoffee.blogspot.com
The techniques which you have mentioned are great.According to me Homework is very essential thing for everyone and especially for beginners because it provide practice and guidance for them.So that they will not face any kind of problem in future with higher section's topics.Generally children takes homework as a burden but it is very essential for them
ReplyDeleteOne of my classroom jobs is "Postmaster." This student is in charge of putting graded papers, newsletters, flyers, PTA notices, etc. into student mailboxes (9 x 12 paper sorter, found in office supply stores). Because the jobs rotate weekly, everyone will have the opportunity to pass out work. I keep all papers with less than a 75%, and meet with that student (or a small group if there's more than one) to work on reteaching the skill.
ReplyDeleteAll of these are such great ideas! Thank you so much for sharing with everyone. I am glad you are all here to help share strategies and ideas!
ReplyDeleteI have such a hard time remembering to pass back papers. Love the ideas on here.
ReplyDeleteStop by and check out my blog...
mrswsmathconnection.blogspot.com/
Seems like you got it down to a science! I HATE collecting papers so I don't!!!! I grade it in class as I walk around the room, during DEAR time, student-teacher conferences, or during lunch.
ReplyDeleteAs for passing out handouts, I pass it to a kid who passes them out. I tried to keep paper free :) I even had my students write their reader's journals on blogs this year so I can read them from home without keeping stacks of paper :)
Hope you had a great week!
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Great idea! A fellow teacher had a large mail sorter/literature organizer with enough slots for the number of students in class. Each slot was numbered and each student had a number (they would put their name & number on all papers). When they had work to turn in, they knew the procedure to line up and quickly went through, turning their papers in to their numbered slot. The teacher simply went in order and removed the papers...keeping them in alphabetical order made it even easier to record grades or input them to the computer. At the end of the week, all of the week's work was returned to their slots (very quickly b/c they were all still in order!) Students picked up their stack of work and took it home in a weekly folder. Worked AMAZING and saved a TON of time!
ReplyDeleteI teach middle school and I struggle each year with figuring out a quick and easy way to pass back papers that won't eat into too much of my 50 minutes. I try to wait until they are working in groups and I've already made the rounds once to check in with each group. Then I pass them back as quickly as possible. I never get it finished, though because I'll notice someone who needs some guidance or a group who needs to be redirected and then the bell rings and we're gone! Any ideas for a process that doesn't take up more than five minutes of my teaching time??
ReplyDeleteFor middle and high school, I have a hanging file box that has a folder for each class period. I put all graded papers in that file, and students are responsible for getting their own graded papers from that folder. With 100 plus kids, it is extremely time consuming to try and sort papers by name. This also puts some of the responsibility on the students--who need that responsibility by that age.
ReplyDelete