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Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology
CTLT Home >> Resources >> Teaching Topics >> Writing Across the Curriculum >> Writing in Large Classes

Writing in Large Classes: Don't Be Overwhelmed With Grading!

Kathleen McKinney, Cross Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Sociology
Illinois State University

Writing assignments are class activities that are considered invaluable for student learning regardless of the subject matter or size of the course. But what do you do when you are teaching a lecture hall class with 350 students and don't want to spend all your time grading papers? This handout offers suggestions and tips for ways to include writing assignments in large classes so that everyone can benefit: students will gain the writing experience they will need in the real world, and you will still have time to sleep at night. These ideas work for smaller classes as well.

Some general tips to remember about writing assignments include:

  • DO remember that students learn to write better by writing. THEY do not have to have feedback on all writing-the writing itself is what is important.
  • YOU, the primary instructor, do not have to give all the feedback that is given. TAs and peers can do so as well.
  • Feedback can be given in a variety of forms.
  • Writing assignments do not have to be lengthy.
  • Writing can be done individually or in situations involving groups.
  • Writing can be done inside and outside of class.
  • Writing assignments can serve dual purposes (i.e., they are writing while summarizing a lecture, while reflecting on what they learned in a given class period, while drafting ideas for a review sheet or exam questions for you...).
  • Not all writing has to be required.

Thus, to increase writing, yet not overwhelm you and your TAs, you can do things such as the following:

  1. Require students to post to a class computer discussion list or send e-mail messages to your TAs.
  2. Have students do very short written reactions, summaries, counter arguments, etc., to readings in or out of class that you simply check off as completed.
  3. Have students write one or more short papers and have them exchange their paper with two peers for peer review. The average of the peer reviews is their grade.
  4. Have students write up the first draft of a review sheet, possible essay questions, or a lecture summary handout. You can either check them off for a few points or tell them the reward is what they learn from the assignment.
  5. Have students write what they did learn or didn't understand from a given lecture once per week or once per month. No grade given.
  6. Have students write a response to discussion questions or an application assignment for a few minutes in class as individuals, then have them break into groups and rewrite a stronger response as a group. Grade only the group response, there will be fewer of these to grade.
  7. Have students write good discussion questions for lecture and give a few points credit. Then use the best ones for a think-pair-share in lecture (that is, each student writes for 2-3 minutes individually on the question, then talks to a neighbor about the question, and then you ask for volunteers to share their ideas with the whole class).
  8. Have some writing assignments be optional or for extra credit. This gives you fewer to grade but those students who want to learn more and improve their writing have the opportunity to do so.
  9. Limit your comments on individual papers. Rather, keep track of fairly common errors or strengths and then discuss these verbally with the whole class or distribute them to the class in a handout, or send them to all students via e-mail. Grading will go faster this way but students still get needed feedback.
  10. Consider the use of grading rubrics. When you have a detailed image and examples (either in your head or written down) of what you consider to be an A, B, etc. paper, grading is quicker and more consistent.
  11. Break up any lengthy papers into logical subparts and have these sections due at different points in the semester to spread out grading.
  12. Specify a very detailed and explicit structure to some assignments (e.g., exact format, length, coverage, parts, order/organization, outline style) and require students to follow it. Grading of highly structured assignments goes much more quickly because it is easier to find what you are looking for and to spot errors and omissions.
  13. Using random assignment, stagger the due dates of a paper so that 1/3 of the class turns it in one week; 1/3 1-2 weeks later; 1/3 later...OR encourage some students to turn in papers early (for extra points or because it is good for their schedule).
  14. Only do thorough editing or correcting of student writing for the first paragraph or first page of a paper. Then write a note that says the rest of the paper needs that level of editing. This takes less time than correcting the whole paper, yet allows you to show your standards for quality writing while not doing all the correcting for the student.
  15. Use in-class time modeling the writing and the RE-writing you want and how to meet your expectations. Do it together. Put a draft of the assignment you wrote up on an overhead and get their suggestions. Ask permission to use some of their papers (blind), put them on overheads and re-write as a class, with explicit references to your expectations and criteria.
  16. Refer students to the your institution's learning center or writing lab.