Month: April 2018

Grading Made Easy

Grading, Teacher Chores

I am always looking for ways to make grading go quicker. Through Pinterest I discovered an app called ZipGrade. It is fantastic! ZipGrade allows you to create your own answer bubble sheets (similar to Scantrons) and to grade them with your smart phone or tablet! It is great for exit tickets, quizzes, tests, or any multiple choice or True/False (T/F) assignment. You can create answer sheets with up to 100 questions. Free download and 100-scans per month or Unlimited Scanning: $6.99 for 1 year. I purchased the unlimited scanning option and do not regret it. It has saved me so much time!

I use it to instantly show students what they scored and which questions they got wrong. It also gives me the feedback to know quickly if they got the material and we can move in or if they haven’t grasped it yet and we need to slow down. With multiple choice and T/F reading quizzes ZipGrade allows me to see at the beginning of class who read the assignment and who did not. With quizzes or multiple choice / T/F assignments they turn in the answer sheet, I scan and keep it, then we go over the assignment together. They also marked their answers on the actual assignment. It allows me to collect the grade and immediately be able to discuss the answers and why those are the right answers so students can learn from their mistakes while the material is fresh on their mind.

It takes a photo of the answer sheet and saves it so you can pull it up online if you need to see it again. If you use an answer sheet frequently (such as a 5 question exit ticket) you can laminate it and have students use a dry erase marker. Simply have students erase it after it has been scanned and reuse the answer sheets for the next class.

Features:

  • Download and print free answer sheets
  • Install ZipGrade
  • Create new quiz and define key
  • Scan and grade papers
  • Review item analysis and graded papers
  • Export PDF or CSV reports
  • Use with or without student names and ID numbers
  • Internet access not required to create quizzes, scan, and grade.
  • Import student rosters (CSV) via ZipGrade Cloud website
  • Create answer sheet packs with student names and ID numbers pre-filled
  • Multiple marking and scanning options
  • Click through item-analysis to groups of students
  • https://www.zipgrade.com/

Hero’s Journey Short Story Creative Writing Project

Lessons, My TPT Products, Projects

Learning about hero’s stories or archetypes? Have students practice this with a creative writing assignment! This product will have students write a short story about a hero who goes on all 5 stages of the hero’s journey plot pattern archetype. It has an outline for that, dialogue guides, a rubric, and more.

There is an additional outline to expand the project to include other archetypes as well such as character archetypes, symbol archetypes, etc. The different outlines in this packet allow you to differentiate learning and challenge more advanced or older students. The basic outline is perfect for younger or average students. You can buy this project at my TPT store here.

10 pages!
– Plot Pattern Overview handout (explains all 5 stages)
– Instruction sheet with room for page length and deadline due date
– hero’s journey 5 stages outline (2 pages)
– other archetypes outline 2 page version
– other archetypes outline 1 page version
– Rubric
– Dialogue How-To (2 pages)
– A teacher’s guide explaining how it can be differentiated and how I have used it.

 

 

The outline: You will definitely want to use the 5 stages part of the outline. Whether you use the other archetypes is up to you. Things to consider are your students grade level and your goals. For middle school the 5 stages could be enough. For G/T middle school students or for the high school level you may want students to use additional archetypes. There are two versions of the other archetypes: a long version and a short one page version. The long one is for older grades or to challenge G/T students.

Normally I make a due date for the outline, then a separate due date for the story. I want to see the outline before students proceed to writing the story so I can make sure they are on track. Reviewing the outline allows you to make sure students understand the different parts of the assignment and allow you to clear up any points of confusion. For the story part you could assign a rough draft and have students peer workshop it in class before turning in a final draft. Or you can just do one final draft.

The rubric has a blank spot for points so you can weigh some categories more than others depending on your objectives for this assignment. I give students a copy of the rubric with the assignment prompt so they know what is expected of them and how to obtain the grade they want.

I included a handout over viewing the basics of writing dialogue. I find that some students have difficulty formatting their dialogue correctly and this handout can help.

There is a TED Talk* about the hero’s journey that could help explain the five stages of the hero’s journey. Just search What Makes a hero? – Matthew Winkler on YouTube or try this link: https://youtu.be/Hhk4N9A0oCA or this one: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-makes-a-hero-matthew-winkler

*Note: I am not selling this video, I am merely listing it as an additional public resource you can check out to supplement this lesson.

 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Heros-Journey-Short-Story-Archetype-Creative-Writing-Project-3738776