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I chunk things in a way that is effective for both me and the students.
For the research paper, there are 4 mini assignments they do.
#1 - What is your topic?
#2- What three sources are you using?
#3 - What are 3-5 ideas that you will discuss in your paper (likely body paragraphs)?
#4 - What is your thesis statement

All of these make for easy grading and are things students will be doing while completing a research paper so it's not any additional work for teacher or student. (For example, I don't require an outline which would require a lot of work on both of our parts in addition to also completing the full essay itself.)
These mini assignments are the key things needed to write the research paper. (I don't require complete sentences other than the thesis statement one.) As long as they answer the question, they get full points. I'm grading straight for content, not how well it is edited. (For example, they can just copy and paste the link for the sources. No MLA format required for the mini assignment.)
This allows me to give some feedback during the process as well. I have found this to be effective and actually saving me from lots of phone calls to get students thinking about a topic and to get started.
I have found if they come up with a topic, they are usually able to get going from there.

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No rough draft. Just the final draft and then I'll work with students 1:1 or in small groups to improve their paper if needed.

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No rough draft. Just the final draft and then I'll work with students 1:1 or in small groups to improve their paper if needed.

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That is the most effective use of my time and the students'. It tells them to turn in their best work from the beginning. It allows me to truly focus on those that really need it.

Elyse - ISAZ

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I chunk out the assignment and make a separate dropbox for each part. First, students turn in their topic. Then, we go over the Intro Paragraph, then the Body Paragraphs, then the Conclusion; sentence by sentence in class. Students get an outline that breaks the paragraph down sentence by sentence and then they have the rest of class period and the next to complete the outline and write their paragraph, then turn it in. While they’re writing in class, I also have self-reflection questions for them to refer to as they are writing to ensure they are including everything they need to. I don’t open up the next assignment, or paragraph in the content until the previous paragraph’s due date, so they can’t go ahead or write the whole thing at once. Each assignment is worth part of the total number of points for the assignment, so it’s not so devastating if they do not turn in the whole thing and I can at least get a well-put together paragraph from each student at some point, even if they do not do the entire essay. I got more assignments turned in and that were better formulated and formatted this year then I ever have!
ISAZ J Williams

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I am trying to get my admin to use the autodialer, but I haven't heard back yet on that one. I also encouraged the principal to see if there would be a way that a pop-up come come up when the LC enters attendance that would force the LC to acknowledge that the student didn't attend class - to save from the crazy amounts of emails I send for missing students, or even Did Not Participate individuals, and pop-ins! It would save a lot of hassle so everyone be the squeaky wheel to help make sure this happens!
I, too, would like time saving tips, or timers online that would let me know when I need to change tasks. I get hyperfocused and do not realize I have spent too much time on things like emails, grading, planning the PPT for the lesson, etc. Any help on that would be greatly appeciated so I can hopefully not need to work over my hours constantly, which counts for nothing, if I need to leave for longer than an hour to go to a doctor's appointment. I know they do it to help encourage everyone to log off on time, but there is SO MUCH to do!... and as I said, my hyperfocusing and sometimes ADHD moments will pull me from a needed task to have to go back and figure out what I was doing before so a time-waster that I REALLY need to get under control!

How do others make organizing/setting up the class at the beginning easier? Seeing that Summit courses seem to have issues when being copied, I have to restart every time, which makes me waste a lot of time doing what I had already done... I do like being able to adapt my rubrics from the last time, but that's about it.

What hints does anyone have about Summit courses? I am new this year so any extras will help!

What do you find is the best way to make relationships with your students early on? (Like I make phone calls and ask them what their favorite song is, if they ask why I tell them for class projects where students will analyze the lyrics in our Reading for Meaning lessons - that must be done 3 times a week.)

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We look at what the students MOST need to learn to be able to have and prove the skills and teach those. That means some things they will absolutely need to do the lessons online to get (although getting them to do that I am still clueless on). We have flexibility to take out repeat objectives, create alternative lessons/assessments to cover the same information/skills/objectives. They understand when something needs to be retaught or stretched out, thus not teaching other concepts or only a shallow cover of them/combination with other lesson, etc. They like when we use some outside sources, but if a student needs to click into a different site and do work, play a game, etc., only about 4% actually do it, even if it could replace the grade in the OLS because it is covering the quiz/Unit Test objectives.

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We teach one hour then Open Help for thirty minutes after it, with a second Open Help time with the entire dept. on Wednesdays (unless we have PD). This is set-up by admin. The rest of the time is spent contacting students, Small Groups (at least 3 a week), 1-on-1s (at least 6 a week, but I often do more...anytime I can reach them, I pull them in to that or Open Help to get them going), and other things like planning, creating alternative assessments, more contacting of students, SpEd/Child Find meetings (at least 3 a week are required, when they are on the schedule, which if it does not interfere with my main teaching, I will go

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I like to try to get the students to use a rough draft to improve it, because it does make for better writing, but we do not require it anymore. We now require: Part 1: Topic/Making the Thesis Statement, Part 2: Outline, & Part 3: Essay/PowerPoint, which is the Outline is done well, they have it easy to make it into the final Part 3, so I spend the most time grading and giving feedback on it.
When I graded the Rough Draft, I would actually spend more time grading it, then look for those changes that were needed only in the Final Draft.

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Students avoid the Part 2s like the plague. My school is probably going to implement adding the Part 2 into the Part 1 to see if that helps. I also offer in-class help to get them through both with a Google Form questions (reduced amount for only one story covering the same skills needed with Part 2 inside it). It has worked well for those that try it. I also use the same one for Small Groups and 1-on-1s to help them understand and complete the needed work.
I also make sure that each part 2 has an outline after the question so they know what exactly to include. Some students use it, and others do not, but the option is there. For students that need a different approach (due to IEP, time, etc.), letting them just complete the outline gets all the information they need to find and use so it is ALMOST a paragraph, if they just took out the prompts from the outline, so I show them that next step the next time we meet.

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We have a set date to start the Interim, and at the end of the week, we analyze where students struggled most to help our teaching for the rest of the trimester. Interims stay open until the end of the trimester though because we have many late starters.

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I'd love time saving tips. Here's one of mine: I set up templates in Outlook for emails I send out or respond to frequently. My "absent reply" template is the easiest and saves ton of time.

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I'm curious if the other teachers send autodials to absent students. Any tricks to make this easier and faster? I have a spreadsheet to keep track of excused students, so I don't autodial them. Just curious if there is a faster way.

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We have a lot of flexibility at UTVA, and so I often cover lessons out of order. I also do not complete all of the units each semester because I want to cover topics more in-depth than get through all of the curriculum. We are encouraged to use a lot of outside websites to enhance our lessons, and using additional resources is part of our teacher evaluations. We also rely heavily on the I-Ready program, and students are required to work in reading and math lessons weekly.

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I teach two sections in the morning: from 9:00-9:50 and 10:00-10:50. On Fridays, both sections come to a review day from 10:00-10:50. In the afternoon on T-Th, I teach small group from 2:30-3:00. The principal creates the schedule for each grade level.

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I prefer just grading the final draft. I use Utah Compose. Students receive a score report plus recommended videos based upon their first draft. They can then revise their first draft based upon the recommendations from the report to raise their score. I often glance at the first draft, then read fully through the second.

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UTVA uses the I-Ready program for interims. We use the data to form small groups. The interventionist teaches a small group for students who test in the red, and I teach a small group for students who tested in the yellow.