Opinion Blog

Classroom Q&A

With Larry Ferlazzo

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to lferlazzo@epe.org. Read more from this blog.

Teaching Profession Opinion

Teachers, Don’t Take Your Work Home

By Larry Ferlazzo — April 12, 2023 2 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

I asked teachers on social media to share their best strategies for minimizing the amount of work they have to take home.

Here are some of their responses:

Always ask beforehand.....what is this task's purpose....why am I doing this? If it's necessary, do it. If it brings you joy, do it.
Collaboration with colleagues to share the workload.
I create as many opportunities for students to lead, design, teach, & self-assess as possible.
Peer assessment and self-assessment!
Ask myself: is this something I could do, should do, or must do? (A lot falls into the could do).
Utilize tech that helps auto-correct and provide instant feedback.
Whole class feedback rather than individual feedback.
Doing some assignments via Google Forms - much quicker to grade. Not grading everything. Verbal feedback instead of written.
Sometimes when students are working on multiple examples of a type of thing (for example: capitalization), they do a LOT of practice, but then only submit two to me: the one they're most sure they got correct, and the one they struggled with the most.
Digital formative assessments for feedback. Whole class feedback for common errors. Peer feedback on general tasks allows me to focus my feedback to students.
Don’t grade everything.
Put my phone away during planning!!
I refuse to take anything home to be present with my family. If I can’t do it at school, it doesn’t get done.
If you have several assignments that are warm-ups, do-nows, credit/no credit, have the students make a table of contents and collect the packet of work at the end of each month. Enter one grade instead of 15 per student.
My to-do list is on post-it notes so I can easily move them to a different day or even next week as I prioritize on the fly
Go gradeless or as close as you can get. Students don’t learn based on how many hours I spend grading.
I've been trying to have my students create the materials themselves whenever possible. For example, I've been using cleaned-up simple texts written by my intermediate English speakers to teach reading and language lessons to beginner English learners.
I get to work about 30 minutes early, I close my door during my conference period and I do the same for lunch.
Use a single rubric for most work quality + teach students to self-assess their work from Day One.
Have students self assess themselves against exemplars in class.
Utilizing a good textbook or online resource can save a lot of time. Approaching the book thoughtfully is important, but it can save teachers from reinventing the wheel over and over.
Being relentless about prioritizing that what goes in front of kids gets done first, and remembering that things don't have to be cute/perfect/adorable as long as the content is strong.
For major assignments, I create several 2 min feedback video/mini lessons for common first-draft issues. Then, when scanning 120 drafts, my first feedback sounds like this :”See videos 1 & 3.”

Thanks to everyone for contributing their thoughts!

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It’s titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.

Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email (The RSS feed for this blog, and for all Ed Week articles, has been changed by the new redesign—new ones are not yet available). And if you missed any of the highlights from the first 10 years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below.

I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column.

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Events

Jobs Regional K-12 Virtual Career Fair: DMV
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
Blueprints for the Future: Engineering Classrooms That Prepare Students for Careers
Explore how to build career-ready engineering programs in your high school with hands-on, real-world learning strategies.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Cardiac Emergency Response Plans: What Schools Need Now
Sudden cardiac arrest can happen at school. Learn why CERPs matter, what’srequired, and how districts can prepare to save lives.
Content provided by American Heart Association

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching Profession AI Can Help Teachers Craft Their Assessment Portfolios. Is That Cheating?
The tools help guide teacher reflection for the portfolios used for PD and licensing—or be used to cheat.
9 min read
Northside American Federation of Teachers President Melina Espiritu-Azocar, right, speaks with middle school teacher Celeste Simone during a Microsoft AI skilling event, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in San Antonio.
Northside American Federation of Teachers President Melina Espiritu-Azocar, right, speaks with middle school teacher Celeste Simone during a Microsoft AI skill-building event on Sept. 27, 2025, in San Antonio. As use of generative AI ramps up, it could affect the integrity of the portfolios teachers have to assemble in many states to meet licensing requirements.<br/>
Darren Abate/AP
Teaching Profession Increases in Teacher Pay Offset by Inflation, Union Analysis Shows
The inflation-adjusted increase was less than 1 percent, the National Education Association says.
2 min read
Image of a teacher's desk with the words "Pay Day" ghosted on the background.
Collage by Laura Baker/Education Week with Canva
Teaching Profession Download 5 Strategies for Supporting K-12 Teachers: Lessons From California
This resource discusses the main takeaways from a March 2026 live event hosted by Education Week and EdSource.
1 min read
Attendees and panelists partake in breakout sessions during the State of Teaching event in San Francisco in March 2026.
Attendees and panelists partake in breakout sessions during the State of Teaching event in San Francisco in March 2026.
Andrew Reed/EdSource
Teaching Profession Q&A Teach For America's Tutoring Focus Is Now Helping Drive Teacher Recruitment
The education corps is rebounding from pandemic losses, thanks in large part to a burgeoning tutor focus.
4 min read
Teach for America teacher Channler Williams with kindergartners at Templeton Elementary School in Riverdale, MD on April 12, 2016. Teach for America has seen its applicants drop in each of the last three years so they are retooling the way they recruit students. One thing they are doing is taking prospects to see TFA teachers at work. Today, students from Georgetown and George Washington University got a glimpse of life in the classroom and Mrs's Williams class was among those visited.
Teach For America has had success getting undergraduates to tutor, some of whom later go into its teaching corps. The organization is seeking ways how to respond to newer teachers' needs and expectations. TFA teacher Channler Williams works with her kindergartners at Templeton Elementary School in Riverdale, Md. on April 12, 2016.
Linda Davidson/The Washington Post via Getty