Grading procedures that are so time consuming that they cause you to avoid giving writing assignments are counterproductive. Thus, it is critical that you use procedures that give students writing practice without overburdening yourself with grading. Try some of the following suggestions, keeping in mind that students' skills improve with practice and the use of rubrics to grade of each other's writing even if you do very little in-depth grading.

1. Use Peer Evaluation.

Distribute rubrics to students asking each student to read and grade three of his peers' essays. After evaluating a peer's essay, the student should staple the rubric to the back of the essay so as not to influence the next evaluator. If necessary, you can check off students for having completed the required number of evaluations; however, I have found that students do this willingly, making the extra paperwork unnecessary. Collect the essays with attached evaluations, check off that they were completed on time, and return them for revision.

2. Grade Holistically.

Use a single letter or number based on a rubric such as that used for The Florida Writes Assessment Program. To do this most efficiently, put your pen down and simply read and sort writing assignments into piles according to score. When you have finished a class set, check through each pile to see if they are consistent in quality and then write the one score at the top. This takes quite a bit of self discipline, but will allow you to get a large number of papers back to students in a timely fashion. This method is best used for a final draft after they have used a point by point rubric to grade one another's writing and made appropriate improvements.

3. Use Portfolios.

Have students create a portfolio of checked-off writing assignments from which they select the best to be graded. An alternative approach is to have the student select one of three consecutive essay assignments to be graded.

4. Grade Only a Few from a Class Set - Roll the Die!

Use a roll of a die to match numbers selected by students in order to select from eight to ten essays that you will grade in-depth, checking off the others.

5. Grade Only a Few from a Class Set - Keep them Guessing!

Tell students you will make an in-depth evaluation of a few essays from each class set and check off the others. Students will not know when theirs will be graded in-depth.

6. Grade Only Part of the Assignment.

Grade only one paragraph of each essay in depth. Don't tell students ahead of time which paragraph it will be though.

7. Grade Only One or Two Elements.

Have students write at the top of their papers, "Evaluation for (element) " followed by a line for your grade for that element. It is helpful to also write "My estimate _____" and fill in their estimate their grade for that element.

8. Have Students Write in Journals Which Are Not Graded.

Require only that they write either for a specified amount of time, that they fill a specified amount of space, or that they write a specified number of words.

9. Use Two Highlighters.

Grade writing assignments using only two colored highlighters with one color for strengths, and the other for errors. If a paper has many errors, mark only a couple you think the student should work on first so that you don't cause the student to give up.