Ms. Rachelle uses TeacherMade's auto-grading to give her students instant and personalized feedback.

TeacherMade lets Teachers give instant, personalized feedback

There are many advantages to using TeacherMade in my eighth-grade science class. One of the major perks of TeacherMade is how you can give your students instant and more personalized feedback within the same assignment. The various grading options that TeacherMade offers have benefited my students and me. 

Choose auto-graded or manually-graded question types with TeacherMade

TeacherMade has a variety of question types that allow my students to showcase their thinking in multiple ways. I can choose a question type based on whether I want the question to be auto-graded or manually graded. Many of my assignments have a mix of teacher/manually graded elements and auto-graded elements. I use teacher-graded elements for open response questions, like observations during a lab or reflection questions. For example, if students are writing what they think can vary between students, that will be a teacher-graded question. I will use auto-graded question types when there is a more concrete answer or only a handful of possible answers, like a math question or an identification question. When students are working on something like velocity equations or balanced and unbalanced forces, those will have one correct answer and are best put in as auto-graded questions. 

Let students instantly see their assignment score and the correct answers 

When I start assigning a piece of work to my students in TeacherMade, I can choose whether the students can see what is correct or incorrect upon turning it in. I am also able to allow TeacherMade to show them the correct answers. For my assignments, I typically choose the option where they can see what they got wrong but not the right answers. This way, when my students turn in an assignment, they get an instant score based on the auto-graded questions, and they will review their work to see which ones they got incorrect. Once they have taken a few minutes to figure out what they need to fix on their assignment, they will ask me to reopen it so they can give it another shot. 

Monitor student assignments and give instant feedback and comments

If I am clicking through and monitoring students that have finished early and want to move on, I will add a comment if I see them not using the correct resource or to try to point them in the right direction, especially when they have a score they may not be happy with. I may add something like "Refer back to table one!" On longer assignments or ones with multiple parts, which they tend to rush through, I may add, "Make sure you are reading the whole question." This can help refocus students and remind them to use their time and resources wisely. After the due date has passed and the assignment has been graded for the final time, I will also use the comment section to explain what they got incorrect. For example, if a student had some factual errors or missing pieces of the prompt, I would write something like, "Wavelength is the length of a single waveform, not the whole diagram if there are multiple waves." This is a common error when measuring wave properties. 

Give students plenty of time to complete assignments by assigning due dates before the assignment is closed

When it comes to grading, I am pretty flexible. If students have completed an assignment before the due date, they can retry it as often as they would like and ask for feedback. After an assignment's due date has passed, they can still get feedback, but the assignment is closed. I will then start grading their work the morning after the due date. They will see their score on TeacherMade, and their final score will be inserted in PowerSchool and calculated into their overall grade.

Save time with TeacherMade's auto-grading feature

TeacherMade's scoring options have been great for my students and me because it cuts down on the amount of time between completing an assignment and receiving a grade with or without feedback. With a traditional assignment, it could take me anywhere from 10 minutes to a week or two to get an assignment back to a student. By that time, we may have moved on to another topic or unit. The feedback that would have been useful within a couple of minutes is usually useless a few weeks later. Typically after the final grade is given, the students will move on instead of correcting their mistakes or putting more effort into understanding the topic. With the instant feedback that TeacherMade offers from the auto-score feature, they at least have an idea of where they stand and know if they need to put in more effort or redirect their focus.

TeacherMade's interactive assignments help motivate students

Since using TeacherMade in my classroom, I have seen a great change in my students. They are motivated and want to try again on their assignments. They also ask for another chance on an assignment rather than stuffing a graded assignment into their backpacks or leaving it on the floor. Not only that, but TeacherMade has also cut down on the time I would have normally needed to grade a traditional assignment. I can quickly override other accepted answers and add points for teacher-graded items. I don't have to decipher student handwriting, and I no longer have to calculate their grade by hand or use an EZ grader to determine their score. Thank you, TeacherMade!

Teachermade's auto-grading feature lets Teachers give instant feedback to their students.