First Time Mom - High School Math Teacher
Hi r/teachers, first time mom here. I am a high school math teacher (Algebra 2) who has taught the same course for 5 years now. I purposefully waited a few years into my teaching career to have a baby to iron out some of the difficulties of work/life balance with teaching and it has certainly paid off. Many days, I feel like I can walk in to work and simply pull out my lesson and practice assignment from the year prior and there is no extra work necessary! I am so proud of the work I did in previous years when I reuse each lesson; I worked so hard to make my lessons and assignments meaningful and impactful. I am thankful that my admin have not moved me to a different course over these past few years so I am able to do this!
HOWEVER, I am struggling to complete my grading at work. I am looking for advice and suggestions for how you manage grading in a timely manner. Will I always feel like I'm facing a mountain of grading? My system requires that we have minor grades (practice assignments, small quizzes) and major grades (tests, projects). I fall behind mostly when grading tests, it often takes me a week to grade tests as I give partial credit on Free Response questions (my tests are about 60% free response, 40% multiple choice). When I get bogged down in grading tests, minor grade assignments also fall behind, so it just feels like an endless cycle.
Give me your suggestions for how to make grading quick and efficient for a high school math classroom. I love hearing how other teachers do things in their classrooms! Do you walk around and check HW? Or take it up? Do you do all multiple choice tests? No partial credit on free response?
I'm hoping to test out some new grading methods in this last month of school to see how it goes and start next school year in a better place.
I LOVE reading through this subreddit for ideas and inspiration on all kinds of posts, it is truly such a helpful thing to hear how other teachers manage their classroom!
Thanks in advance!