Time Mgmt: grading projects / AP pacing

Hello. I am a math teacher by training, and I am teaching APCSP for the first time. Our course didn’t start until late September. I’m looking for ways to manage our time better, and I was hoping someone could share their expertise.

1.) I’ve fallen behind on grading projects. Comparing each student’s code and output against the rubrics for each end-of-unit project plus the “debug” and “make” lessons of the recent units seems unwieldy, and I’ve admit putting it off for too long. I thought of streamlining this by just briefly checking the “debug” and “make” sections and only grading the end-of-unit projects more thoroughly. Is this good enough to see what students are capable of and to grade them fairly?

2.) Although my students understand the material well, at least according to their unit test grades, they seem to need longer than the time recommended to complete projects. I might’ve given them too much slack in December, and we’re just now finishing Unit 5.

Wanting at least a week to review for the AP Exam plus ample time to finish the AP Performance Task, I was hoping someone is further ahead than I am (which is “a page ahead of the students”) to know what can be condensed, streamlined, or perhaps skipped altogether. I was combining lessons in Units 1-2, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to skimp on Units 3-6. I realized that I could put off the last two units’ projects until after the exam (our school year ends in mid-June). Other ideas?

Thanks in advance.
Rich

Hi! I can understanding the grading thing, it can get overwhelming. At this point, you can probably get away with focusing on the unit projects and briefly checking the others.

I think you can streamline Unit 6. Maybe even consider assigning Khan Academy’s Algorithm unit to be done independently and then just use the Khan Academy quizzes for grades on that unit. For Unit 7, you really just need the parameter part. You can skip the 2nd half of the unit and just make sure students know what a library is, they don’t have to create their own. Those shortcuts could get you to the Create PT faster.

Sorry I didn’t get to respond sooner. This was VERY helpful; I greatly appreciate your advice!