English teachers who assign essays on a shared novel like If Only It Were True often face stacks of similar papers arriving at once. Reading them with the care they deserve can take entire weekends, and the exhaustion of a long grading session leads to inconsistent scores. A few deliberate changes to how you grade can recover hours without cutting the quality of your feedback.

The first change is to grade by criterion rather than by essay. Read every thesis first, then every use of evidence, then every explanation, scoring each category across the whole class. This approach keeps your standards steady and speeds up decisions because you are applying one lens at a time.

The second change is to limit yourself to a fixed number of comments per essay, usually two or three. Students rarely absorb ten margin notes, and long comment streams slow you down. Choose the issues that matter most for that student's next draft and skip everything else.

Build a Reusable Comment Bank

Many comments repeat across essays, such as asking for explanation after a quotation or suggesting a stronger thesis. Writing these once in a document and pasting them saves considerable time, and you can personalize each with a phrase from the student's own writing. A comment bank also improves quality because you can refine the wording until it is genuinely helpful.

• Grade one rubric criterion at a time across the whole set
• Cap comments at two or three high-impact notes per essay
• Keep a comment bank for issues that appear repeatedly
• Set a time limit per essay and stick to it
• Take short breaks so that late essays receive the same attention

Use Technology Wisely

Digital tools can trim grading time by inserting saved comments, tallying rubric scores, and handling routine checks. AI grading systems go further by drafting rubric-aligned feedback for each essay, which the teacher can review and adjust. The time savings are largest when the teacher supplies a clear rubric, since the tool works from the criteria you define.

It is important to review the output rather than accept it blindly. A quick read of each draft lets you correct misreadings, add personal touches, and ensure the tone fits your class. This review usually takes a fraction of the time that writing every comment from scratch would require.

Reduce the Volume Strategically

Not every piece of writing needs full feedback. Consider giving detailed comments on one major essay and lighter checks on smaller assignments, or having students submit drafts for peer review before the final version. Spreading feedback across different formats keeps your workload sustainable across the year.

Another approach is to require students to submit a short self-assessment with each essay, identifying where they believe they met each rubric criterion. This shifts some of the analytical work to the student and helps you spot mismatches quickly. It also builds metacognitive skills that improve writing over time.

Protect Consistency and Fairness

Speed should not come at the expense of fairness, and consistency is the main safeguard. Periodically return to a benchmark essay and check whether your scoring still matches the standard you set at the beginning. If a difference appears, adjust before finishing the stack.

Finally, be honest with yourself about what feedback students actually use. Ask a few students which comments helped and which they ignored, and adjust your approach accordingly. Cutting comments that students never read is one of the easiest ways to save time.