How to start using the Total Marking System!

Using The Handbook or the CD 

If you purchase the CD Rom, you simply need to open it as an Excel Spreadsheet, and all functions will be working correctly. Just enter the names of you own students and you will be ready to go! 

If you work from the handbook, just open up the book next to your PC, and start from page 1 of the handbook. Follow all instructions to the letter, remembering to save your work regularly. When you have set up one spread sheet, you will not need to set up further ones; all you will have to do is delete the names of the students and enter new ones. It really is this simple! 

Best Practice

I have found it best, as someone who has assessed work in English, Geography, Music, Art, Drama, Dance and PE NOT to try to do too much at once. If I am marking in Drama, I will tend to highlight the students in a spreadsheet, or change their font colour AS THEY ARE PREPARING, and then when I mark, change to a different font colour to show I have marked them. This sounds complicated, but it works. In PE, it is sometimes possible to use the Laptop out on the field, or have the computer constantly open in the office so staff can enter marks for individual students as and when. 

You will be able to use the results in a variety of ways, but underlying everything else is the time and the stress you will save. You can use the results to compare students you teach, or to see how those same students work in another group. You can compare a class ‘rating’ against another class. One of the best ways to use the results is to show them to students, and while they watch, add one or two marks to an area of their work they need to improve, so they can see immediately an improvement in their level. This works wonders in terms of motivation. ‘Look, Jane, if you had 7 marks rather than 5 for exploring, see what difference it would make to your level!’ As you speak, you can change the marks to show the student. This leads both of you onto target-setting. (Don’t forget to take the marks away again before you save!) You can also look at the narrative comments with your students, and of course it would be excellent practice for the students to add their own. You can use the marking grid as a guide and to aid departmental standardisation. 

Whether you purchase the CD Rom or the Handbook, you will be glad you did! It will become a part of the way you work, your normal teaching practice, and soon you will not remember how you coped without it!