Correcting AP Spanish Work

Though there are many joys of being an AP Spanish teacher, one of the major drawbacks is correcting AP Spanish Work! The work our students can produce is complex and requires more feedback than students in lower levels of Spanish classes. So how can we streamline what we do to make sure that we can still have a life outside of being a Spanish teacher?

Tip #1 For Correcting AP Spanish Work

Create templates for yourself! For me, I find that the most time-consuming thing I correct in AP Spanish is the practice Argumentative Essays. Over the years I found that there are common themes in the feedback I need to give students, and I created this checklist. It’s so helpful because it allows me to just check off where I want students to focus or improve, or what they are already doing just right!

Provide this checklist to your students. They should keep a copy in their binders and you should also provide it while they are writing. Until they get really good at the argumentative essay, it will help cut down on the amount of corrective feedback you need to give if they can refer to this list while they write. Now, correcting AP Spanish work takes much less time!

Tip #2 For Correcting AP Spanish Work

Another trick I use is to take the time to create multiple choice questions. It takes longer to create these activities, for sure. However, once the activity is created, I can reuse it every year! I also find that I get faster at writing AP Exam-style questions the more I practice. The real benefit comes when you’re correcting this AP Spanish work! When you use programs like Edpuzzle or Formative, the answers are corrected for you! And in Formative you can even leave feedback!

Tip #3 For Correcting AP Spanish Work

At this level, students are usually able to do a decent job with peer edits. (Sometimes in the lower levels, it’s harder for students to give helpful or correct feedback.) AP Students can at least spot things like…. Do you have an introduction? If you are telling a story in the past, did you use the past tense throughout? Did you support your ideas with evidence, etc. Having students do a peer edit helps them be more mindful of their own work, and it will help students improve the work they turn in to you. Therefore, it will reduce your time correcting AP Spanish work!

Tip #4 For Correcting AP Spanish Work

This is hard for me to say… because I didn’t follow my own advice for a long time… but…. We don’t have to correct everything! It’s ok to have some assignments that just get checked off, or discussed in class the next day, or saved for future reference for an upcoming assessment. I try hard to be sure and correct and give feedback on things that take students a long time to do. That only seems fair. But if I forget to correct one homework assignment, or if I don’t have time to give feedback on every diary entry… it’s ok.