As teachers, the stacks of papers can be endless.

We’ve all been there. You had your desk all nice and neat when the school year started and two weeks later, you are drowning in papers.

No judgement.

Not every system works for every teacher, but every teacher needs a system that works for them.

How do you process the papers?

How do you prevent the stack of papers from becoming overwhelming in the first place?

Let’s talk about it. 

Have Designated Areas

One place.

There should be one place in your classroom for students to turn in their work for you to grade.

There should be one place were you put papers that you need to grade.

There should be one place were you put graded papers that can be returned to your students.

If you have multiple stacks of random papers stacked all around your room, then there isn’t a system. Once you decide what kind of system would work for you, make sure those expectations are made very clear to the students.

I tell mine at the beginning of the year that if they want something graded, then it needs to go in this specific tray.

Do not lay it randomly on my desk.

Do not hand it to me as I am walking by.

I tell them that if they don’t put it in the designated tray, then I will lose it. I probably wouldn’t lose it, but I say that so they don’t hand it to me.

I have three places in my classroom that papers should be.

1. Students have turned their work into their class tray, meaning that it needs to be graded. This tray (linked here) also contains papers that need to be handed back to students at the beginning of class the next day.
2. There is another paper tray (linked here) on my teacher desk. I am the only one who puts papers here. I take them from the classroom tray and put them in this tray.
3. The last place papers might be are in my gradebook to be written down. Yes, I have a paper gradebook (linked here). I know that isn’t super popular in this digital age (I still love digital tools), but I think it is important to have a paper document of student grades.

Don’t Let Random Papers Hang Around

Whether its notes from a faculty meeting, papers from your mailbox or emails that are being sent out. The same concept of “have a designated place” applies.

That might be your lesson planning book, your calendar book or your Google Calendar, either way – put in the information and THROW THE PAPERS AWAY.

Note any dates you need to remember or things you did to do and then throw the paper away, because let’s face it if you say to yourself “I might need this paper later” with this paper and 12 others, you are never going to be able to find them when you need them anyway.

So put them in a central location so that you know you can refer to the information later if you need to. 

Make It Digital

Look – I love paper and pencil as much as the next person. (I am a math teacher so obviously)

However, there is a time and place when paper and pencil trump digital organization, but it you can make it digital your desk and classroom is going to thank you. 

Google Suite

My district provides GSuite accounts. If your district doesn’t, you can make your personal account and use it.

I use several Google applications daily to help me stay organized: Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Sheets, Google Keep

Minimize Paper Assignments

Do kids have to turn in the paper?

As a math teacher, I know that there are times whens students have go old school and use paper and pencil. There are times when that really benefits their learning.

But did you know that just because you make students practice something or complete something doesn’t mean they have to turn it in for you to grade?

I know that some districts have grade minimum every week, but who says you have to grade 10 assignments everyday?

Be smart with your planning and see if there are ways you can give grades that aren’t simply worksheets or homework – which then gives you less paper to worry about in the first place. 

Formative Assessments That Don’t Require Endless Grading

I made a previous blog post about formative assessments that could tell you as much about the students mastery as grading their papers.

Best of all, these formative assessments can be quick to grade, require no grading at all or just take seconds to complete while also giving you the information needed to instruct how your next lessons should go.

Remember, work smarter not harder!

Quality Over Quantity

When you do have paper assignments that need grading consider the amount you are assigning.

Is it really necessary for a student to answer 30 basic questions or would 4 quality questions be sufficient?

There are times when students need to practice their endurance and their repetitive skills, but it is exhausting for the students and for you as a teacher to do this every single day.

Focus on what the goal of the lesson is and what you need to know to analyze their mastering of the skill. That is how you choose your few quality questions. 

Choose Random Problems to Grade

When you need to practice those skills that students need to repeat over and over again, students can have a good amount of practice without resulting in you having a pile of papers on your desk.

Choose 5 random questions to grade – don’t tell the students which ones – and only grade those 5.

More practice, less grading, same information.

Students will get practice, but by not knowing which one you will grade for accuracy they will need to give their best effort on all of them.

I know that only 5 questions might seem scary if you are used to assigning 30ish questions, but you will be able to see a pattern on mastery, tiny mistakes or misconceptions with those five or less. Plus you won’t have grading fatigue by the time you get to the 15th paper. 

Batching

Anyone who is a productivity junkie knows what batching is.

It is when you complete like tasks at one time.

For example, here is my system and how I use batching in the classroom to minimize papers. 

• Throughout the day, I am adding papers from the tray that students have turned in to the tray on my desk. I am not trying to grade individual papers as they come in. I am making the most of the time I have with my students to answer their questions or build relationships. 
• When I get time to grade papers, either during my planning or while students are working independently, I grade all of them in the tray that sits on my desk. This way I have my answer keys and marking pens out and I can quickly grade many of the same papers at one time. 
• Once I have papers graded, I write the grades into my grade book (linked here). By this time I have put up my answer keys and my grading pens and I can very quickly flip through the papers, write down the grade and put the papers in the tray to give back to the students. 
• Final Step – I put all of the grades in my gradebook into the computer system my district uses. I highlight the grades when I have entered them into the computer so I know what I have entered and I haven’t.

Now I know all of that sounds very obvious, but if you are trying to go back and worth between getting paper, putting things in the computer and then getting more papers valuable time is wasted.

Not every system works for every teacher, but every teacher needs a system that works for them.

Papers are a part of our daily tasks as a teacher.

Figuring out a system to manage them can be therapeutic for your mind and make you feel more organized.

What is one thing you do to keep yourself organized? Comment below!