Elementary Teachers: Do you have your students grade their own papers in class?

Question

Tell me what grade you teach and if you do grade papers in class, and how it helps you? Do you think that 3rd graders are too young to grade their own papers? Do the kids understand how to grade their own papers?

Answer 1

When I taught 3rd grade, I let my students grade their own papers in all subjects, but not all assignments.
When we went over homework, they checked it. When we took spelling tests, they checked their own; same for most math tests. I always lent visuals to the correct answer to minimize the chance they wouldn't correct their answers. I tended to use the board.
One thing I didn't do was to have them exchange papers. Developmentally, kids in third grade are just figuring out social structure and their relationships with their peers and I just didn't want to lend fuel to the "daily drama" that is 3rd grade friendships. ;)
Having my kids grade their own papers didn't help me so much as it helped my kids. They got immediate feedback and were able to be more metacognitive about their learning. I still looked at every paper!

Answer 2

I remember passing papers back and grading them when I was is grade school 30 years ago, in 3-8th grade. It didn't bother me unless someone graded my paper wrong. I think in general the teacher still had to check to see if papers had been graded properly.

I think you just need to be very careful. When I was teaching 6-8th grade at a private school, we were not allowed to let kids grade each other's papers. Concern about teasing and/or invasion of privacy was the stated reason. Some kids are hypersensitive about their scores.

In general, I think it is a good idea if you can have kids grade their own papers. Maybe have a key on a desk at the front with a couple of designated pens to grade with. A child could grade a paper when finished with an assignment.(I remember trying to change my own grades if I was upset about a poor score.)

The other issue to worry about is partial or misspelled answers. Children in 3rd grade tend to grade very exactly...not much forgiveness there, and little judgment when there are slight errors .
Experiment. See what works. You may have a few groups or a few subjects for whom it works. Watch carefully to make sure you are catching problems. There are multiple ways and a few probably will work for you kids.

Answer 3

I teach grade 2/3 part-time, and I never let them do the "switch with you peers and lets grade" system, because I remember in school how much that bothered some kids. They would be very self-conscious about their marks. I occasionally let them grade their own assignments, but even if I do, I still have them hand them in so I can look them over. I agree completely with the one poster that said that it depends on the class. I have had classes that I would either not trust or don't think they would have been able to handle grading their own papers (grade 2 can be a hit and miss on this one) so it has to be up to you.

Answer 4

I have taught 5th and 2nd grade and I never let them grade their own papers. I think that some students will grade them correctly but there will be a lot who will not grade them correctly. It's not because they are cheating, but because of lack of attention span, noticing that it was wrong, etc... Plus by me grading their papers, I am able to see what mistakes that a student makes, as well as common mistakes that all students might be making that I need to correct. When teaching my money unit, I had 6 students confusing a nickel with a quarter. The only way I cought is was by grading their papers. If they had graded them, I would have only seen in wrong and left it there. So it is a pain in the butt, but I think it is important in elementary grades for you, the teacher to grade the papers.

Answer 5

I teach sixth grade. My students correct their own papers when we do practice work after lessons. They calculate their own percentages and add notes to answers. We use the papers as immediate feedback to the lesson. I have taught third grade (all grades, actually) and taught the students how to use a slider under the problems. Of course, it required much modeling with small groups and much practice.

The benefit is twofold: students have buy-in to the task/learning and I don't have an immense paperload. I only grade papers once a week for weekly tests/quizzes. I monitor papers for completion and understanding of concepts, processes, etc. Most of my assessments are authentic/performance based. Hope this helps!

Answer 6

I teach middle school, so I tend not to trust my kids if I really want to use the grade as an assessment and count it in the gradebook. However, I agree with the previous poster on how it can help kids notice their mistakes and think about them, rather than just stick them in a pile somewhere to be forgotten. Also, it saves you a little homework, and gives you back a little of your personal time, which we all know there is not enough of. So I would say, try it... the worst that can happen is that you can't record the grade, which means you don't have to use it in the averages anyway :)

Answer 7

I am an English teacher and I believe that it is very important for students to grade their own papers.

If the students see their mistakes and correct them themselves, they will understand where their mistakes are. If you grade them, they will only look at the score and stick them in their bags and forget about them.

I cannot tell you if your students should grade their own papers or not because all classes are different. Try it once and see how it goes.