self grading essay

How to Shift to Self-Grading in English Classes

By articulating clearer expectations about what’s being evaluated, teachers can help students become more fluent in improving and assessing their own work.

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Grading English papers isn’t a straightforward task—and neither is writing them. Students are often asked to showcase too many skills within an assignment—or not given specific, actionable guidance and feedback—which can make the entire process bewildering. “I thought I’d clarified that grades on papers came from students demonstrating their skills in a number of areas,” says middle school teacher Stephanie Farley in a piece for MiddleWeb . “As it turned out, the students couldn’t figure out how facility in those areas translated into points or a letter grade.”

Having concluded that she was assessing too many skills at one time, and hadn’t clearly articulated the skills she wanted students to learn, Farley invested a lot of time in refining a grading strategy that would change the way her students are graded: they would grade themselves.

“ Student-centered assessment is the most transformative change I’ve made in my English teaching practice within the past five years,” Farley says. It began with her asking students to try grading just one paper themselves, and soon enough “there was no stopping the kids [and] I had successfully transitioned my class to student-centered assessment.”

Here are three steps Farley used to help kids evaluate their own work, with consistent oversight from herself:

Create Kid-Friendly Standards

Good writing encompasses mastering many skills all at once, and for kids who are starting out, breaking it down into smaller, concrete goals as they work towards fluency can make progress seem more feasible.

Farley concluded that rewriting all of her learning targets in “kid language” and only focusing on one skill at a time helps her students better understand what they’re aiming for. Teaching what a “big idea” or a “supporting detail” looks like in a written piece of work, for example, helps students get familiar with the language used for assessments.

She also recommends replacing more formally worded statements like “Develops a big idea that is well supported by details within the story” with simpler sentences such as “I can write a story or essay with a purpose – or big idea – in mind,” and “I can use details in my story that support – or give examples of – the big idea.”

Beside providing a rubric for all written assignments, Farley encourages students to evaluate each other’s work based on learning targets. “It’s hard to be objective about your own work, but practicing on others’ work trains your brain to take a step back and look for the learning targets ,” she adds.

Teach the Basics of Self-Evaluation

Assessing one’s own learning requires a solid grasp on what skills are being evaluated, and Farley gives her students plenty of written feedback—using language clearly tied to the learning objectives—and time to make revisions before asking students to evaluate their own writing. “In this way, they already knew which areas of the work needed improvement and what was strong, so if they edited successfully, they’d have a fair understanding of where the work stood in terms of the rubric,” she writes.

To make the evaluation more specific, Farley asks her students to pinpoint an example of how they fulfill a learning target, like highlighting where a “big idea” is in their story—which corresponds to the goal of “writing a story with a big idea in mind.” This visual connection not only helps students see how well big ideas are expressed in their writing, but also means that the teacher doesn’t need to do as much work to explain problems in the future.

Hold Individual Conferences

Once students have completed a self-evaluation and it’s time for grading, Farley sits down and talks through what they’ve come up with to help fill in any gaps in their own assessment. “I was quick to point out when students didn’t give themselves enough credit or underrated their achievement,” Farley writes. “If needed, I’d also mention where their work didn’t quite align with their evaluation of it.”

During these one-on-ones, Farley’s students would explain their revisions using examples that correspond to the different criteria in the rubric, and eventually arrive at a conclusion of what grade they merit. She adds that it’s rare for her to disagree with her students’ evaluations, but when it does happen, she “explained how the work could improve and invited the student to revise again.” Finally, the agreed-upon grade is recorded in the gradebook.

Farley notices that self-grading has led students to internalize some of the language of good writing; they now know how to articulate in very specific terms where they’re succeeding and where they have room to grow. “In this class, I learned how to write using descriptive language like metaphors and sense imagery. But most of all, I felt like I got better at and more confident about writing,” according to one of Farley’s students. Witnessing her students feel “safe and confident in the classroom” is one of the greatest rewards to Farley as an educator, she writes.

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Digital Assignments Auto-Graded By TeacherMade

What is auto-grading.

Auto-Grading is your best teaching assistant, designed to ease the burden of manual grading. It automatically scores a wide range of question types and provides instant feedback, freeing up your time for more meaningful interactions with students. With TeacherMade’s auto-grading, you can streamline your workflow and focus on what matters most— teaching!

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Make important decisions about student learning more efficiently because of TeacherMade’s auto-grading features. Formative data is instantly available and teachers can easily see where students need reteaching using the color-coded reports. 

These visual insights help educators quickly identify areas of struggle, allowing for targeted interventions and more personalized instruction at the time of learning– not days or weeks later. By leveraging real-time data and feedback, teachers can adapt their teaching strategies effectively and improve student outcomes.

Can Students See Their Grades Instantly?

Auto-grading doesn’t just make life easier for teachers; it can also gamify assignments for students. We’re not talking video games, but rather a contest where they are competing against themselves! This approach makes learning more engaging and motivating. 

Don’t worry though, teachers still have all the power. They can set controls like preventing students from submitting until they reach a 60% score or allowing them to check scores once or twice only before submitting to cut back on guessing. This balance ensures that learning remains focused and productive.

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We’ve thought of everything. The TeacherMade platform covers all of your grading needs, saving you loads of time and hassle. And because our software seamlessly integrates into Google Classroom, Canvas, and Schoology, you don’t have to shuffle through many different programs to put grades where you want them.

TeacherMade Helps You Simplify Recording Grades with LMS Gradebook Integrations

Once TeacherMade is connected to your LMS, students receive their assignment links there. They also get their grades for completed assignments there.

For teachers, LMS integration means student grades flow right into their Google Classroom gradebook, Canvas’ gradebook, and Schoology’s gradebook. No more manual entry, downloading .CSV files and uploading them into another system– the integrations work with auto-grading to significantly reduce the amount of time you have to spend on administrative tasks each day. Enjoy life more when you use TeacherMade!

HQIM and New District-Adopted Curriculums On Paper?

Do you have a new curriculum? Facing a pile of paper and pencil assignments and being told you and your students must do them? Don’t go back to making copies! 

With TeacherMade’s auto-grading feature, you can easily digitize and automate grading, saving time and reducing stress on you while making your students much more likely to engage in their work. 

Now that TeacherMade includes an AI-powered Activity Assistant, it takes just a couple of clicks of the mouse to have a PDF converted to an interactive auto-scored activity that produces instant formative assessment data.

Make grading go faster with our auto-grade features

We listen closely to our Teachers. That’s how we developed the most versatile and intuitive auto-scoring system you’ve ever used. And we include rich feedback features so our Teachers can directly impact student achievement: 

• Auto-grading of 16 different question types
• Teacher can write, draw, and mark anywhere on student submissions – including adding motivational stickers

Online Assignments Auto-Graded By TeacherMade

Make key decisions about student learning faster with assignments and assessments. By using auto-grading features on TeacherMade, educators can use data and student feedback to inform their teaching. 

We’ve thought of everything. The TeacherMade platform covers all of your grading needs, saving you loads of time and hassle. And because our software seamlessly integrates into Google Classroom, you don’t have to shuffle through many different programs to put grades where you want them.

TeacherMade Helps You Simplify Your Grading With .CSV Exports

Need scores in your gradebook? Export a set of scores straight to a Microsoft Excel .xslx, .csv, or Google Sheets file. Then from there, you can quickly upload scores to your school’s grade management software.

Check out what Teachers are saying about TeacherMade

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TeacherMade transforms teaching materials into interactive digital lessons and saves teachers time with instant autograding. Our platform integrates seamlessly with major systems for personalized student engagement.

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AI Essay Grader

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CoGrader: the AI copilot for teachers.

You can think of CoGrader as your teaching assistant, who streamlines grading by drafting initial feedback and grade suggestions, saving you time and hassle, and providing top notch feedback for the kids. You can use standardized rubrics and customize criteria, ensuring that your grading process is fair and consistent. Plus, you can detect if your student used ChatGPT to answer the assignment.

CoGrader considers the rubric and your grading instructions to automatically grade and suggest feedback, using AI. Currently CoGrader integrates with Google Classroom and will soon integrate with other LMS. If you don't use Google Classroom, let your LMS provider know that you are interested, so they speed up the process.

Try it out! We have designed CoGrader to be user-friendly and intuitive. We offer training and support to help you get started. Let us know if you need any help.

Privacy matters to us and we're committed to protecting student privacy. We are FERPA-compliant. We use student names to match assignments with the right students, but we quickly change them into a code that keeps the information private, and we get rid of the original names. We don't keep any other personal information about the students. The only thing we do keep is the text of the students' answers to assignments, because we need it for our grading service. This information is kept safe using Google’s secure system, known as OAuth2, which follows all the rules to make sure the information stays private. For a complete understanding of our commitment to privacy and the measures we take to ensure it, we encourage you to read our detailed privacy policy.

CoGrader finally allows educators to provide specific and timely feedback. In addition, it saves time and hassle, ensures consistency and accuracy in grading, reduces biases, and promotes academic integrity.

CoGrader is able to detect ChatGPT or other AI systems for assignments, but achieving 100% accurate detection is not possible due to the complexity of human and AI-generated writing. Claims to the contrary are misinformation, as they overlook the nuanced nature of modern technology.

CoGrader uses cutting-edge generative AI algorithms that have undergone rigorous testing and human validation to ensure accuracy and consistency. In comparisons to manual grading, CoGrader typically shows only a small difference of up to ~5% in grades, often less than the variance between human graders. Some teachers have noted that this variance can be influenced by personal bias or the workload of grading. While CoGrader works hard to minimize errors and offer reliable results, it is always a good practice to review and validate the grades (and feedback) before submitting them.

CoGrader is designed to assist educators by streamlining the grading process with AI-driven suggestions. However, the final feedback and grades remain the responsibility of the educator. While CoGrader aims for accuracy and fairness, it should be used as an aid, not a replacement, for professional judgment. Educators should review and validate the grades and feedback before finalizing results. The use of CoGrader constitutes acceptance of these terms, and we expressly disclaim any liability for errors or inconsistencies. The final grading decision always rests with the educator.

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Just try it out! We'll guide you along the way. If you have any questions, we're here to help. Once you're in, you'll experience saving countless hours and procrastination, and make grading efficient, fair, and helpful.

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Grader Rubrics

Analytical thinking, originality, organization, focus point, how does the ai grader work, 1. select the grading tool.

Pick a grading tool based on your requirements. For example, if you’re a teacher, use the AI grader to evaluate your student’s essays. If you’re a student, the AI Feedback tool provides real-time feedback to improve your work before submission. There’s also an AI resume grader to evaluate your work history document.

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Average Deviation of Our AI Grader From Actual Grades

Professional graders evaluated a large dataset of essays on a scale of 1-10. They used detailed criteria determined by the grading rubric to establish the essays’ real scores. The deviation is the variation of Smodin’s best AI essay grader from the real score.

The graph shows the average of all the criteria as the overall score. It also shows the individual scores for each rubric. The column’s headings show premade criteria, which are available as the default options on Smodin’s best AI essay grader. We also used our tool to generate custom rubrics based on the premade rubric criteria.

The overall Smodin Premade Rubrics with our advanced AI matched the scores of professional human graders 73% of the time. The custom rubrics generated by our tool matched human grades 82% of the time. The graph shows the average deviation from the real scores for all the criteria.

* Rubrics created using Smodin’s AI custom criteria matched human evaluator scores 82% of the time. It used our advanced AI setting. Smodin’s premade criteria matched human evaluators 73% of the time. When the AI scores differed from the human scores, 86% of the time, the difference was only 1 point.

** The AI grader provides 100% consistency, meaning the same essay will produce the same score every time you grade it. We repeated all the grades in this data 3 times, and the output produced 100% consistency across all attempts.

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Your writing skills play a considerable role in influencing the grades you receive for your essays. Smodin can analyze your work’s strengths and weaknesses and identify sections that require improvement.

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Manual essay writing and grading is tiring, as it can take hours, if not days. Without the right feedback, you’ll always be in the dark about why you received specific grades.

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Elevate your essay writing skills with Smodin’s AI Grader, and achieve the success you deserve. Whether you are a student looking to improve your grades or a teacher looking to provide valuable feedback to your students, Smodin has got you covered. Get objective feedback to improve your essays and excel at writing like never before! Don't miss this opportunity to transform your essay-writing journey and unlock your full potential.

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