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Teacher Articles
Teaching Tips
Correcting Work
by Neerja Sharma
Teachers have their own methods of correcting students' writing mistakes. They choose ways that suit them and their class the best. As a teacher, I have found that the most effective way of correcting written work is by using certain helpful codes in the margin or the body of the writing. Many teachers might find it cumbersome and not a very easy task, but there are various advantages of doing this.
Firstly, codes make the correction look neater. Secondly, they do not threaten the student as compared to the big red circles, marks, and crosses that students may encounter on a page in their note books. And finally, codes give the students a chance to correct their work, once they know the nature of the mistake.
You can use different codes for different kinds of mistakes, for instance using "s" for spelling mistakes and "wo" for the wrong word order. There are many more such symbols that can be used. You have all the liberty to come up with your own codes, provided the meanings of these codes are explained to the students beforehand.
In the case of lower level students, write the code exactly above the mistake so that the students know where the mistake is. On the other hand, write the code in the margin of the line where the mistake occurs for higher level students. This way, the students will have to find the exact place of the mistake and then correct it themselves.
Once the students have had a chance to look at their mistakes carefully, take another look at their work. See if there are any mistakes that the students could not correct themselves and help them correct those mistakes.
The benefit of this kind of correction, using codes, is that it gives the students a chance to focus better and identify their mistakes and correct them. It also makes the whole business of written work more pleasurable and not so threatening. And when a student corrects a mistake on his own, he feels good and confident of having solved a problem all alone without anyone's help.
Here are some other codes you may like to use:
"t" for the wrong tense
"s/p" for the wrong usage of singular/plural form
"p" for the wrong punctuation
"^" for something missing
"[ ]" for something not necessary
"m" for not clear or meaning
"na" for not appropriate usage
