It’s week 7 in QLD and we are approaching the pointy end of the term.

For many of you, the mountain of marking may have already started to grow. This mountain can easily start to become overwhelming, and you feel the need to start working day and night to clear it.

While I dedicate part of every school holidays to planning and general school work this term I want to avoid marking in the holidays if possible. I want to be able to focus on developing videos and resources for my flipped classroom instead of the dreaded marking.

This year as part of addressing my work-life balance I’m heading into week 8 with a plan to manage my marking,  reporting and end of term management jobs. Read my post on work-life balance here. See below for my 5 Tips to plan to conquer your marking and an example of my planning.

5 steps to a planned marking and reporting period.

1. Identify when each piece of assessment marking is coming in and any moderation deadlines and reporting deadlines that you must meet. 

2. Determine what time you can reasonably allocate outside of 9 to 3. Exclude days with extra curricula activities. Keep some of the weekend free. 

3. Schedule periods of marking into your calendar based on priority. Use a tomato timer to help focus in small blocks.

4. Schedule time in your holidays if you need it for marking. Decide whether you want to use a whole day or parts of a day. Short sessions are generally more productive than long working days. 

5. Keep to your schedule. 

Here is an example of my plan so far. I’m sure more will be added as we get closer to the end of term however hopefully this will be a great start to a marking free holiday. By the way my reporting is due first day back and doesn’t require comments. My apologies that it is in the wrong orientation however it’s unclear if in landscape.

How do you plan for your marking and reporting load? Comment below to share your ideas or post on our facebook page.