Make your grading more efficient!

September is a great month for teaching!    The first few weeks of school is a happy time – new year, new students, new goals AND very little grading.  By the end of September those tests are rolling in and piling up on my desk and in my bag.   October is not as kind to teachers as the month of September.

I would prefer never to give a multiple choice test,  but I have to be practical.  Every year, I have over 150 high school students so to survive I make every test a mix of multiple choice and essay questions.   As test day approaches I gather the Scantron bubble sheets (usually in short supply) and plan an early morning assault on the one working grading machine when no other colleague will want to use it.

BUT FORGET IT! Not this year. INSTEAD…

This year… I manage my classroom on my PHONE! (Teaching? I’m on the phone!)

ZipGrade might be my best app find ever!    The basic phone app is a free download.  The free student answer sheets are downloaded from the site  (ZipGrade.com) in 20, 50 or 100 question formats.

Individual tests are graded instantly and you can export student and question detail.   You can easily fit multiple answers key on one page to make printing more efficient.Put your answer key in via the phone and scan away!  Here’s a sample scantron:

Teachers can get up to 100 scans free per month or unlimited scans for only $6.99 a year with no auto renewal.   I have been testing it out and so far I love it.   I can’t wait for the first test! A+ for this teacher!