Seriously. I know I'm a bit late to the party, but...
The highlighter trick to getting students to put names on their papers?
It. Works.
I mean, it really, really works.
Why has it taken me until my fourth year of teaching to get on board with this idea? Well, I'll tell you why. I was skeptical. I thought that adding a step to students' turn-it-in procedures would just confuse them more. Then I'd not only be policing the no-name papers and the kids who want to put their papers everywhere but the turn-in basket, I'd also be constantly reminding them to use the highlighters. Right?! Wrong. So, so, so incredibly wrong.
After telling them what to do with the highlighters, it took my firsties all of fifteen minutes to get on board with this procedure. Now they walk up to the turn-in basket,
I don't want to jinx things here, but not one no name paper has shown up since that glorious day.
Not. One.
Whoever first came up with this idea should be a millionaire by now. Seriously.