Effective marking, there are a growing number of blog posts on the topic at the moment. Basically we are being advised to through in a pinch of meta-cognition and a smattering of feedback and whallop, we have a recipe for, I do not know exactly, but lets say 6+ months accelerated progress.
For the record, I am also an advocate of DIRT time (Dedicated Improvement and Reflection Time). I am also keen that the students work harder than their teachers. Ever since Dylan Williams told a packed SSAT conference workshop, that marking should elicit twice the effort from the student, than it did the teacher who marked their work, I have sought to apply that advice. Here are a few of the ideas I try to use for day to day teaching.
More for less
Stampers – Verbal feedback given. Expect to see student response. WWW and EBI. Students are expected to attempt all EBIs.
Highlighter – spelling mistake of a key word. Correct it and define it.
SP – spelling error – correct it twice (twice the work) and then write it into a short sentence.
When walking the room I put dots in the margin denote a mistake. I do not say what the mistake is. The student has to find it and correct it. On the next drive by, over the shoulder check, if the mistake has been corrected, I encircled it. Discrete and effective. Finding and addressing the mistake usually takes a student at least twice as long, as it does for you to spot it.
Always say “draft” a paragraph or an answer. Never write a a paragraph or an answer. The first suggests a work in progress, the later a work completed. Drafts can always be improved and should be improved.
On the odd occasion, write the feedback in the margin, or upside down. That way sea of tilting heads tells you they are reading the feedback. I have really done that, and it works too.
Comments and responses, only when the students has responded or actioned the tasks do students get their grades.
Peer assess against success criteria. Student self-marks, peer marks, – student redrafts. You mark.
Ask questions – ‘There are 4 spelling errors in the paragraph. Can you find them?’
Last week I create some STAR marking stickers and shared them we staff, they really do not need explaining, unbranded so any one can use them. Simply print, use and share. Below is an example from a PSRE lesson where the feedback form the previous lesson, became the class starter task for the next lesson. Just print direct onto label sheets. Friday a colleague scanned a few examples back to me. A promising start. 
Effort and worth it
Here is the exception. Don’t always given students their own feedback. Return the lightly marked assignments to a small group of students and then return the feedback individual feedback slips. Let the students work it out which assignment received which grade.
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