We talked with 5th-grade teacher Emily Adamsheck about how she uses TeacherMade daily in her classroom. Emily incorporates TeacherMade seamlessly with Google Classroom and uses it for standards-based grading. 

How do you use TeacherMade?

I am the TeacherMade site contact for my school. It makes me feel so happy and excited when teachers come to me and ask for help, ideas and troubleshooting on TeacherMade. I teach 5th grade math, reading, and social studies. When we found TeacherMade in the fall of 2020, when the education world was upside-down, we saw some hope. As educators, we were, and still are, exhausted. Between preparing lessons, making copies, grading homework, assessments, and keeping track of all of our papers, we became very run down. TeacherMade has changed the way we deliver schoolwork, and I’m obsessed. 

How did you integrate TeacherMade with Google Classroom?

Our district became 1:1 technology very quickly, and we use Google Classroom. There wasn’t much more we had for resources besides the Google world. Don’t get me wrong, I love Google, but TeacherMade quickly became my choice between Google Docs, Slides, and Forms when it came to delivering homework and assessments for many reasons.

When I say that TeacherMade is a lifesaver and a timesaver in the classroom, I mean it. Our platform is through Google Classroom, but mostly from TeacherMade through Google Classroom. Students caught on very quickly to the flow of how TeacherMade works, and they are able to take responsibility for their learning. 

How do you collaborate with teachers when creating online assignments?

One of the top reasons I use TeacherMade in the classroom is that it cuts the prep work with assignments and assessments down tremendously. I’m very honored and appreciative to work on a team that collaborates with almost everything, including how we deliver instruction. My 5th-grade team has found a system that works for us, and one of the greatest parts of the system is sharing our TeacherMade work with each other. 

How do you create assignments for standards-based Grading?

With standards-based grading and teaching, we have been able to break up practice, assignments, and assessments for each standard by utilizing TeacherMade, and it’s so organized!

It’s so productive to be able to see student progress as they are working in TeacherMade, and also be able to reopen their assignments and try again. Once an assignment is submitted, students are able to check their work and fix their answers. They are able to self-assess and self-monitor their understanding more independently than ever before. Of course, they can always come to me for help, but sometimes it’s more effective when they see their mistakes and can self-correct. 

How do you handle retakes and corrections with interactive activities?

The rule that has been developed this year in my classroom has been to get 100% on your homework assignment in class. If it’s not 100%, write your name on the board, and I will reopen assignments when I am not busy with students that need help. They don’t interrupt one-on-one or small group time; I can stop every couple of minutes and reopen a handful of assignments. Students are totally on board with this, and it has just become the norm. It makes the classroom flow very smoothly as students work at their own pace.

How do digital worksheets simplify grading?

Grading assessments was my least favorite task as a teacher. On paper, it took so much time and effort to grade each assessment, count the scores, and return the graded assessments to students so they could see how they did. With TeacherMade, grading and returning assessments have been done for me before I even start the process. Our standards-based grading is on a 4 (exceeds), 3 (meets), 2 (partially meets), and 1 (does not meet) scale. When students submit their tests, they are able to see their score for each standard (by how we organize it) and even know if they need to reteach and retest on any given standard. 

Why should other teachers use TeacherMade to create online worksheets?

TeacherMade has changed the game for teachers, and I honestly can’t remember how we survived without it, and that’s not an exaggeration! I’m truly impressed with how efficient and effective TeacherMade is and how it’s made teachers begin to breathe a little sigh of relief in the departments of preparing and scoring student work. It has helped students become more independent and accountable for their work. It is a program that I will forever use, and it continues to have the improvements I didn’t even know I needed.