Checking homework "aha"

A small, “checking homework ‘aha’”.  When my cooperating middle school teacher checks homework she has several tricks that shave off time from the task.  First she uses a Palm pda to enter anything she wants into Easy Grade Pro, this is a big improvement over printing a roster, carrying it around, and then entering the grades into a computer.  With the Palm she simply uploads the grades.  The possibility for making mistakes is greatly reduced.  Second, she only grades as “unsatisfactory”, which is to say if the homework is complete she does not have to enter a grade, it is automatically graded as satisfactory.  When there is a missing or unsatisfactory homework she can record it on the Palm.  Even if half the class does not have a satisfactory assignment she has cut her effort in half, freeing up more time for the class and herself.  Third she uses rubber stamps to mark satisfactory assignments.  This is the only real record of the satisfactory grade and if the student later claims that a satisfactory assignment was not marked appropriately they have the evidence to prove it.  The students have to be organized to make this work but of course that is a skill we hope we are fostering in school.