Timed in-class essays are a staple of English instruction, and a unit on The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a natural place to use them. They show what students can do without outside help, and they prepare students for exams. The catch is that thirty or more handwritten essays arrive at the same moment, often with rushed handwriting and incomplete conclusions. A deliberate grading system keeps this from becoming a source of burnout.

Adjust your expectations to the format. A forty-minute essay will not have the polish of a take-home paper, so a rubric should emphasize thesis, evidence, and analysis while treating organization and mechanics more leniently. Students who identify a clear argument about Duddy and support it with two or three well-chosen moments are performing at a high level, even if transitions are rough.

Decide in advance how many comments each paper will receive. Many teachers settle on one strength, one priority for improvement, and a rubric score for each criterion. Limiting yourself to this structure keeps grading time reasonable and gives students feedback they can actually absorb, rather than a page of scribbles they feel unable to process.

A pass-based grading system

Rather than reading each essay thoroughly the first time, make a quick first pass to sort papers into rough categories. This gives you a sense of the range of performance and helps you calibrate. On the second pass, apply the rubric carefully, using the sorted stack as a reference so that you compare similar papers against one another and keep standards stable.

• First pass: skim for thesis and sort into rough performance bands
• Second pass: score each rubric criterion in a consistent order
• Third pass: write one strength and one next step per essay
• Final check: reread the highest and lowest papers to confirm calibration
• Class summary: record the three most common problems for reteaching

Handling handwriting and legibility

Poor handwriting slows grading dramatically and can unconsciously bias scores. Some teachers allow students to type timed essays on school devices, which also makes it easier to apply digital tools later. If handwriting is unavoidable, consider asking students to skip lines and write on one side of the page, which makes reading and commenting far easier.

Be mindful that students with learning differences may require accommodations such as extra time or typing. Grading should reflect the quality of ideas and analysis, not the speed at which a student can physically write. Documenting these accommodations in advance avoids confusion and ensures fairness across the class.

Turning grading into reteaching

The most efficient timed-essay workflow treats grading as data collection for instruction. As you read, tally the problems you see, such as thin evidence, unsupported claims about Duddy's motives, or conclusions that drift. At the end, you have a clear agenda for a mini-lesson that addresses the whole class instead of repeating the same comment thirty times.

Follow the mini-lesson with a short revision task, perhaps rewriting one paragraph using the strategy you taught. This closes the loop between assessment and learning, turning a one-time performance into an opportunity for growth. Students tend to appreciate seeing their common mistakes addressed directly in class.

Using AI to speed up the first pass

Digital timed essays open the door to AI-assisted first-pass feedback. A tool that scores against your rubric can produce a preliminary evaluation of each essay in minutes, which you then verify and adjust. This is especially helpful for sorting papers and identifying class-wide issues quickly.

Maintain control by reviewing every score before it reaches students and by keeping your own judgment central. The tool is a time-saver, not a replacement. When used this way, teachers report finishing in a fraction of the time and returning feedback while the writing is still fresh in students' minds.