Time saving top tips

[GodolphianArabian]

I'm struggling to stay on top of everything home and at school. I need to work smarter not harder. So homework is taking me a lot of time to sort. But this week I've decided to change my approach to make it more manageable where I'll set a KS3 and a KS4 revision homework.

I know I need to make more of an effort to mark in class as I circulate. I already get students to mark their own work and do a lot of work on whiteboards.

Any other suggestions?

I find that planning a whole half term's homework at a time is a timesaver. Get admin people to make booklets and set a task once or twice a week. Mark in lessons and check the booklets a couple of times a term. I get my classes to put the booklet open on their desks to show it's done. I make them relevant to what I'm teaching, but you can google and download them to get you started.

Some of my tasks are vocabulary based and using the words in a table or sentences can also be starters. Whole class marking sheets can save time. Mine are quite basic - I divide an A4 sheet into four and note common misconceptions, good examples, SPaG errors and next steps in the boxes.

In the next steps box is what the kids need to to (rewrite paragraph I've highlighted using X, answer these questions, add a quotation where I've put * etc). I then photocopy the sheet and they stick it into their books and respond. If it's an essay, I'll write common WWW/EBI type comments as I'm marking them and number them. Then, I can just write the numbers at the bottom of the work. I still put some individual comments on, but don't write the same comments over and over.

Try whole class feedback for homework. Set a task and then collect in the books (get the students to hand them in open at the right page). Read though a selection and come up with a general list of things that were done well and things that need to be worked on. Don't write anything on the books.
Next lesson, give the books back and project your list of good points and areas to develop. Students can pick 2 things they did well and one that they need to improve and write them in. It saves so much time not having to write in 30 books, especially if you're writing the same things over and over.

Set prep for homework - learn 5 facts about x etc and then quiz them/pair them up to feedback etc so you can check for understanding/that hwk is done then build on the prep in the lesson.

If you need to mark a set of books, get students to give you an open book. Saves you time flicking through and finding the right piece of work!

I find that by leaving my marking till the max time, I have so much to mark that my mind wanders and it takes forever. So I self assess every activity except essays and I mark every book, every week. That way, I barely have anything to mark and I can usually get through it all in 1 evening.

Homework I use self assessment websites, like activelearn or memrise. At my last school when we didn't have the money, homework was to revise X and then I'd test them on it the next lesson and peer assess.

Also, if your class are just getting on with a task and they get it, I will try and get a task planned for another lesson.