We spoke with Ms. Ukyah, an Elementary Math and Science Teacher, about how TeacherMade has helped her become more efficient with grading and how the instant feedback of the auto-grading feature helps motivate students.

How has TeacherMade helped streamline your classroom?

Teaching math and science this year has been a breeze thanks to TeacherMade. Creating assignments each day has been quick and easy. I have the option to give my students instant feedback with each assignment. Grading has gone from spending hours after school and on the weekends to posting in minutes with a few clicks of a mouse. The most valuable commodity we have in life is time, and TeacherMade has allowed me to redirect my time while maintaining my classroom like never before. 

How has TeacherMade made you more efficient as a Teacher?

One of the main reasons I love TeacherMade so much is its efficiency. Getting to learn the tools took no time at all, and new tools are being developed all the time. TeacherMade does a great job of promoting the new tools and providing step-by-step instructions and videos to show how to use them. The tools get easier and easier to use each time. 

TeacherMade reduces the number of copies Teachers make, saving time and money

My students are 1 to 1 with Chromebooks, so the amount of copies I have to make has gone down tremendously. Instead of making copies, I have now been able to assign work on the computer and teach my fifth graders how to take notes on lined paper, which is a skill that will continue to pay off as they progress through school. 

How does TeacherMade help motivate your students?

Another huge benefit of TeacherMade is the feedback! Good teachers give quick feedback to learners to guide their instruction. With TeacherMade, assignments can be graded and returned to students as soon as they hit submit. I do this daily when I assign practice, exit tickets, and homework lessons in math. Students see those scores and immediately talk through their learning. When they get 100%, they are so proud of themselves and become motivated. Any score less than 100% and students are discussing what they got wrong and begging me to reopen the assignment so that they can make corrections. This is a teacher's dream! Students want to do well, and TeacherMade helps with instilling that motivation. Aside from scores, I can also type my personal feedback and leave stickers on student work. This makes the feedback more intimate and helps me to strengthen my rapport with my students. 

How does TeacherMade's auto-grading feature help you save time?

Have I mentioned the amount of time saved on grading using TeacherMade? Not only are the scores captured instantly, but they are immediately sent to my class's Google Classroom account. I can alter them if I need to and export them to my school's grading system. No more writing out grades for me! I am able to export the scores from TeacherMade into my student's digital grade book in seconds.

How has TeacherMade helped minimize lost or incomplete assignments?

There are no more papers to collect from students and no more papers to pass out, hoping they make them home to parents. With TeacherMade, dogs aren't eating homework anymore, and it's not getting lost either. I have had a number of students tell me they "thought they turned it in." Well, now I can pull up the assignments and actually see if the assignment has been completed or even worked on at all. Parents are able to pull up work at home to see scores as well. It is a win-win for everyone. 

How has Teachermade helped you save time with grading?

Saying that TeacherMade has changed my life sounds pretty dramatic, but I'm being honest. This site has saved me so much time since I started using it. This past year my partner teacher and I decided to departmentalize. I went from having a class size of twenty-eight to fifty-six. Surprisingly, I didn't spend half the time I spent in the prior years on grading, even though my number of students literally doubled! I am no longer worried about school work taking time away from my home life because with TeacherMade, my grading can be done easily, requiring very little time. And since most of the assignments I will be using this year were already created in TeacherMade last year, I can spend time using new tools to enhance them. However, the best part is that my feedback will be instantaneous for the student and not take several hours after school during my family time!

The Bottom Line: TeacherMade helps teachers save time and become more efficient. The auto-grading feature helps save time and offers instant feedback to students and teachers without the need to manually grade printed assignments. TeacherMade's digital assignments also help reduce lost or incomplete student work because all assignments are easily accessible in TeacherMade.