Teaching Is Not Checking

Yeah! Definitely not! I do not become a teacher just to check! I dont want to spend my nights and my weekends bringing all my students' papers and checking them all at home. I dont want to watch my favorite tv shows with bunch of papers by my side and some on my lap using the commercial breaks to attend to the papers. I dont want to skip from my girlfriends' dates just to check papers. No! I dont ever want to make checking an excuse to attend to more important things. No!!!!! (Omg! Excuse me.I was sleep talking! I had this dream when I was still a thread away of being a teacher.)

That was such a nightmare! But hey, that's part of my life as a teacher. A Math teacher! And sad to say, my biggest nightmare is happening. Checking! Checking! Checking! When will I ever be spared of checking? I only wanted to teach! I never wanted to check! Huhu!

But that was when I haven't figured out the beauty in checking. Ahuh! It does have a beauty. ( Just agree with me, ok. I'm also trying to convince myself here. :P) Seriously, as years went by, I had learned to appreciate checking. It's just a matter of acceptance. It's part of the profession that I'd chosen and so I had learned to embrace checking whole-heartedly. Hmmmmmmmm... Ahhhh.... Checking! I love checking! More papers there? Let me have them. :P

I have learned some strategies to lighten up things for me. And I'm so loving every bit of learning I gain.

1. If possible, give short quizzes and assignments - just enough to evaluate the learning.
2. Seatworks can be done in pairs or small groups. This also promotes cooperative learning. (This was what I discovered in my classes - When students do things in group, they learn more because they discuss answers and solicit ideas. Sometimes, when they do things alone, it's either they depend solely on themselves or on others if they don't know the answers.) Cooperative learning works!
3. Give other forms of evaluation instead of just in writing. Try individual recitation or group reporting. It not only makes them express everything they know, it also develops their confidence.
4. Give multiple choice questions during exams. It can serve as a training ground. Board exams are given in multiple choice. Train them early.

The above not only makes things easier for me, it also improves students' learning and classroom experience is more enjoyable.

And another tip, by the way... Check with a group of checkers. I mean, group of teachers. :) That's what we do in the office every after final exam. We stay in the office for a day to check! It may be impossible to finish everything but as the day ends, we'll be more than half way of all the papers. Because, we motivate each other. We laugh together, we eat together, we tease each other, we compete playfully. And everything would just seem to be a play!

I never imagined checking could be so fun after all. Thank God! I would have quitted teaching. Hehe..

Final exams for this semester were done. Here's a view of a busy checking office :)