I ask for paper-passer-backers during the first or last few minutes of class. Usually students trip over themselves to get to me first so that they can pass stuff back.
You're lucky to have 110 students per day. I see around 240. While I love their beautiful, bright, smiling faces...that's a heckuva lot of faces.
I usually do it while they're working on something independently. If it's a 15 minute thing I wait 10 minutes and do it then. I usually have 3-4 students finished by that time and they help hand stuff back. I do that for general classwork anyway. For tests only I hand them out as I don't necessarily want others to see the test grades. But for simple "check" and "check plus" type work I think it's fine to have help passing stuff out. And as with Caesar, I usually have more volunteers to help hand stuff back than I need. I think it's cute that in high school it's still something they like to do.
Each of my classes is color coded. So my 1st period is in the aqua folder, 2nd the purple, and so on. As I grade tests or quizzes, I arrange them into rows. (OK here's where it gets a little psychotic: We have 6 rows in every room. So between my thumb and pointer, I put row 1 in front, row 2 behind, rows 3-4 between the next 2 fingers, and rows 5-6 between the next 2. So I'm sorting as I enter the grades.) Then, as they're entering the room, I put that row's papers on the first desk in the row. The kids can find theirs as they enter. By the time the bell rings, each of the 30-40 kids in the room has his or her paper.
I always have students fold papers lengthwise ("hot dog") and write their name on the outside. Grades are recorded on the inside so students who are finished with work can help pass them back. Its nice to have them write their names on the inside in the scenario as well. It makes recording grades much faster.
I'm a little obsessive with organizing--like Alice, I color-code, and each of the desks in my room has a number. Students write their seat numbers as part of the heading (period 2, seat 14 writes 2-14). They pass them up in order, I collect the piles in order and grade them. I record them in a paper grade book, which is alphabetical, and then on the computer. Passing them back is a snap.
I have about 120 students, and this is the system that I have found works best for us. At the beginning of the year, I gave each student a file folder (different color for each class). I then had them label them neatly with their names in sharpie. Then, we put the folders in plastic file folder boxes alphabetically. I have 3 of these-- one for periods 1 and 2, one for periods 3 and 4, and one for periods 5 and 6. They easily hold 40 folders and could hold more. Now, when I have graded papers, I have a kid file them for me by putting them in the correct folder. When the kids come into class, they may go check their folder for any graded papers. The best part about it to me is that I also use it for makeup work. When someone is absent, I just put their makeup work in their folder for them to pick up when they return. Occasionally, I will let students pass back papers during class, but only if it's not something major-- like a test. I feel that can be a privacy issue.
outsidethelines - so, do you have ALL the students from periods 1 and 2 in one box, alpha? Or do you divide the box up into 2 sections... one for period 1, alpha; one for period 2, alpha?
When a student is absent, I write their name on any paper that I'm handing out so that when they return, there is already a paper with their name on it.
Yes, their seat number changes. I literally have little labels with the numbers on the desks, so all they have to do is look...which sometimes seems to be asking a lot! :lol:
My system is somewhat like outsidethelines - like others, each period is assigned a color and each student has a file. Last year I found file labels postit notes that are removeable so I use my folders again next year. Then all these go into the green hanging folders into my filing crate. It takes me about 15 minutes each day to file the graded papers into the proper folders. Students then check their folders to retrieve their graded papers. Works great for me
The other day, I started class and then realized I needed to pass back quite a bit of graded papers. I selected about 5 students to hand back a short stack of papers each... and then, right as they started, the principal walked in for a "walk-through"!!!!
