Having so many classes, it is really important for me to be economical with my marking. I have over ten sets of books to mark in KS3 and KS4 alone, so I am continually looking for new ideas to help me be speedy at marking.

Recently on TES, I saw an idea for printing generic stickers that encourage a response from the pupil, but do not need to be personalised for each individual book. I have done the personalised marking stickers before, but these are still quite time consuming as I find that I need to look at the book first to gage what sort of questions will be appropriate to be printed. 

Some of the stickers require a green pen response, which is the policy of the school that I work at, however some are just recognition of good work. I think the pupils like that they are personalised from myself, as it shows that I have put effort into the marking that I am doing.

Other ideas for generic marking stickers:

1. Where’s Wally? Find the mistake on the page, underline it and correct it with green pen
2. Self reflection – using a green pen write down one thing you have done well in this piece of work, and one thing that you could improve if you did the work again
3. What is the best piece of work that you have created this half term? Why is it the best?
4. Compare your work with the person next to you – what can you learn from their work and how would you apply it to your own?