08/25/2026
Parent's night was tonight, so I decided to provide them with some English teacher math. Feel free to edit the document to fit your needs if you're interested in using it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y0H1ce6n1EHa4zsk5OPmvW6YE4WXc-AgMW2xrCQzric/copy
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Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s),
There are times throughout the school year that parents contact me wondering when a particular assignment will be entered into the online gradebook.
I’d like to assure you that I WILL grade work and enter it in the gradebook; however, I want to also readily admit, there may be times when grades won’t be entered in a manner as “timely” as you might prefer.
Because of the truth of the aforementioned circumstances, I’d like to give you a more-detailed look at what it entails to get ONE number in the spreadsheet of ONE student from a teacher’s–an English teacher’s no less–perspective.
This year, I oversee 140 students, all of whom will receive assignments from me for which I have to enter electronic data (titles, descriptions, due dates) , evaluate, provide feedback, and enter scores. I also have to produce well-planned lessons that introduce content, move kids to practice with the content, provide feedback while they are working with the content, discuss how they are and are not demonstrating the skills they need to develop in relation to the content, and then create final assessments that I will eventually have to grade.
For the sake of example, let’s say that students hand in an assignment that I will spend 3 minutes scoring. This would mean that I would have 140 assignments x 3 minutes which would require me to find a total of 420 minutes to just score the papers (without even entering them into the gradebook), which is the equivalent of 7 hours.
Now, each day, I am allotted 84 minutes of prep time. So, if I multiply those 84 minutes x 5 days, I have exactly 420 minutes, which seems great because that’s the exact number of minutes I need to score all of the assignments. But, it is during prep time when I also have to make copies, plan lessons, develop assessments, respond to emails, deal with discipline issues, meet with administrators and/or be involved in other meetings with school counselors, write letters of recommendation, settle accounts with the business office, and potentially even use the restroom.
Essentially, my allotted time during the day is hypothetically fully taken up by just grading, but there are many other responsibilities that I have as a teacher, and my original consideration is based on spending ONLY 3 minutes per assignment; if I have paragraphs or essays, I may have to spend up 7 minutes per assignment, and then I need to find 980 minutes (16 hours) to just add ONE more number in the gradebook for your ONE student since I have 140 students I have to score for.
Now, you may bring up that clearly I have to do some of this work at home; that’s a point well taken! I do also have 5 children of my own, and they are involved in extracurriculars, and I do actually enjoy spending time with them as well, so now I have to find time to bring my job home with me while still being not just a teacher, but also a present father.
My point in all of this is as follows: I will grade your student’s work in a manner that is as fair and as timely as I can possibly make it; and, you can feel free to reach out to me if you really have an issue with how long it may seem to take. BUT, I wanted you to know about what really goes into scoring papers and adding them into the gradebook because parents–of which I am one–often see ONE number, for ONE assignment, for ONE student, when really there is so much more on my side of the desk and the screen.
Sincerely,
Timm Freitas
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