Inspired Art Ed

There has GOT to be a faster way to do this.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought that while sitting at my computer entering grades.

As an elementary art teacher, I teach a lot of students—and a lot of separate sections. Most of the time, students within the same grade level are working toward the same standards and completing the same assignments. But when it came time to enter those grades into Infinite Campus, I found myself opening one class, entering grades, moving to the next class, entering the same grades, moving to another class…

Over and over and over.

And I’ve always been someone who looks for ways to make things more efficient. If I’m doing the same thing repeatedly, I’m probably going to start wondering, Is there a better way to do this?

Last year, I finally found one.

Section Groups!

I discovered that I could create Section Groups in Infinite Campus and combine multiple classes that I regularly grade together.

For example, if my kindergarten and first-grade students are completing the same assignment, I can create a K–1 Section Group. Instead of moving back and forth between all of those individual sections when I’m grading, I can see those students together and enter their grades much more efficiently.

And the best part?

I only have to set up the groups once.

It’s one of those small changes that doesn’t sound revolutionary until you think about how many times you repeat the same task throughout a school year. A few clicks saved for one class may not seem like much. Multiply those clicks by class after class, assignment after assignment, and grading period after grading period, and suddenly we’re talking about a LOT of time.

So, of course, once I figured this out, I wanted to share it!

I’ve created a short tutorial showing how I set up my Section Groups in Infinite Campus and how I use them when I’m grading.

If you teach specials, this could be especially helpful. But really, any teacher who has multiple sections completing the same assignments may be able to use Section Groups to simplify their grading workflow.

I’m Not Trying to Do Less. I’m Trying to Spend My Time Better.

I think that’s an important distinction.

When I talk about using technology to make teaching more efficient, I’m not looking for ways to do less for my students. Quite the opposite.

I want to spend my time on the things that actually need me.

I want time to plan interesting experiences for my artists. I want to change something in the studio because I noticed students weren’t using it the way I expected. I want to photograph their work, celebrate what they’re creating, find new materials, learn a new technology, or sit down next to a student and ask, “Tell me about what you’re making.”

Entering the same information into a computer twelve different times?

That probably doesn’t need quite as much of me.

And grading isn’t the only place I’ve been looking for ways to eliminate some of that repetitive work.

AI Can Help With the Repetitive Parts of Lesson Planning, Too

If your school or district requires a particular lesson plan template, this is another place where I’ve found that ChatGPT can be a really helpful planning partner.

You can share the standards you’re working with, explain what you’re planning to teach, and provide or describe your required lesson plan template. If your template asks for things like learning targets, success criteria, instructional activities, assessment, differentiation, essential questions, or other required components, ChatGPT can help organize your thinking into that format.

That doesn’t mean I’m asking AI to decide what I should teach.

I’m still the teacher.

I know my students. I choose the standards we’re working toward. I decide what happens in my studio, what materials are available, what choices my students have, what needs to change, and where we’re going next.

But once I’ve made those instructional decisions, do I need to spend another hour copying, rewording, and formatting all of that thinking into the boxes of a required template?

Maybe not.

That’s a job where technology can help.

And just like my Infinite Campus Section Groups, saving a little time on something I have to do repeatedly gives me more time for the things I actually want and need to do as a teacher.

Tech That Saves Teachers Time

This tutorial has me thinking that maybe this needs to become a series.

Over the years, I’ve created a lot of little systems because I needed to solve a problem in my own teaching. Sometimes it’s grading. Sometimes it’s lesson planning. Sometimes it’s figuring out how to collect information from an entire staff without receiving 47 separate emails!

Most recently, I’ve been doing this with The Beaver Buzz, our student-created school news. I’ve been refining how teachers submit stories, how I organize those submissions, how students record their segments, and how we use Canva Video to put everything together without the production process taking over my life.

So that’s coming next!

I think I’ll call these:

Tech That Saves Teachers Time

Not necessarily the newest technology.

Not necessarily the fanciest technology.

Just practical things I’ve figured out that make my life as a teacher a little easier.

Because teacher time matters.

And if I find something that gives me a little of mine back, I’m happy to share it.

Have an Infinite Campus shortcut, AI workflow, or teacher-tech trick that has saved you time? Please share it with me! I’m always looking for a better way to do things.