Homework issues

[Aaron Christensen]

Hello, all. I've been a teacher for 12 years and struggled this year more than ever with my students and their homework issues. I thought maybe I could connect with a few folks out there who have come up with some workable solutions, since I'm sure we've all had similar difficulties at some point.

Topics on which I'd love some input:
1) How do you get your students to actually do their homework? This one's a biggie - it seems to be getting worse every year despite my efforts.
2) Does anyone have any magical way of using homework in their classes? "Give it, go over it, pick it up, grade it" is pretty standard. Anybody have any great uses?
3) How do you grade your homework? I'm actually pretty comfortable with this part . . . I usually pick a sample of questions from a homework assignment and grade those. If the student made a high-quality effort and appears to have the basic idea, they usually get full credit. I do a lot of review assignments - those are graded more completely and rigorously as I expect them to have the ideas down better the second and third times.

[Mary Henton]

Hi, Aaron,
I've contacted a few classroom teachers who are in MSP2 to see what they might have to offer/suggest. Hang in...we'll get you some help!
M

[Tom Jenkins]

Hi Aaron. Ahhhhhhh....The million dollar question. I'm sure that there will be a wide array of answers to this one, but I offer my views:

Every year that I have taught- I have given less and less homework. I’m not a homework hater- I still give it out, but long gone are the days when I assigned a reading section and a chapter review for homework. Many failed to take this type of homework seriously and considered it busy work. Thus they would have it low on their list of priorities and or just copy a friends during study hall. At that point, it dramatically lost its value as a learning tool for my situation.

So in response, I changed my practices whereas I gave slightly larger homework assignments, but less frequently. In addition, I ceased using the text book (keep in mind this was for Science) for any homework at all. Many of my assignments became studies of things relevant to the daily lives of the student. Tracking mileage on a car. Chemical usage around ones home. What electrical devices do you use throughout the course of a day (for how long)? Sorting trash- What does your family throw away/recycle (a parental favorite!). After they collected the data or made observations, I would have them tackle an extended response question that dealt directly with the standard that I was teaching.

Those were just a small handful right off the top of my head, but the basic idea is that the kids have a personal connection.

The beauty of this style of homework is that it was very easy to grade. Either they completed the assignment or they didn’t. If I ever felt that a student was “fudging” answers, then I would occasionally have parents sign off on the papers. Many of the parents really liked this style of homework and often contributed to the project.

[Aaron Christensen]

Tom -

That's very interesting. With math, I can't get entirely away from giving assignments out of the book, but more assignments with personal connections is a distinct possibility. I teach percents, proportions, rates of change, etc in algebra class. I should be able to figure out some assignments that put each kids' life in play.

Thanks very much!

Aaron

[Mary Henton]

Building onto Tom's examples and your situation, Aaron, here are some brainstormed ideas (keep in mind I'm neither a math nor a science teacher!):
- don't know if curriculum connects to health or you can collaborate with phys ed teacher about caloric intake, tracking dieatary changes
- with global warming a huge topic (build on current events): calculating personal or family carbon footprint and how that would change, effect carbon output as changes in behavior or specific practices are made. Also, percentages: if class carbon footprint is 100%, what is each student's? As individuals change practice, how does percentage of contribution change?

Another angle is to begin with identifying with kids what they are interested in, what they care about, what they know the community cares about: school budget? skateboard parks? jobs lost/available? cell phones? number of text messages they're allowed each month? music downloads? increase of homelessness in the area? This approach also opens up the opportunity to connect with other content and another teacher to build curriculum that is integrated--something else important for deep learning.
M
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Aaron Christensen said:

Tom -

That's very interesting. With math, I can't get entirely away from giving assignments out of the book, but more assignments with personal connections is a distinct possibility. I teach percents, proportions, rates of change, etc in algebra class. I should be able to figure out some assignments that put each kids' life in play.

Thanks very much!

Aaron

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

Great discussion! I've never taught high school, but I have taught elementary and middle (through 8th grade) and I'm speaking from that experience. Another thought - do your students have all the prior knowledge needed to complete assignments from the textbook? Can they read and understand the text? Many times, motivation problems are a symptom of a larger problem such as lack of background knowledge or inability to comprehend the text or directions.

I'm currently reading "Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science, and Math" by Laura Robb (Scholastic). She provides 5-15 minute mini lessons on strategies that can make text more accessible to students. Some of her strategy lessons deal with building up requisite schema, while others are about making connections to content. This might be helpful, not just to answer your homework problem, but in general.

[Mary Henton]

Good point, Jessica. When I think about reading comprehension--how many students don't know how to read to learn and that this impacts their ability and willingness to engage with the content. So easy to assume that student engagement is just a matter of student care or interest. Sometimes it's a matter of underlying abilities (e.g., reading comprehension, reading fluency). Aaron, if you want to go down the literacy path let us know. There are a host of resources to help with literacy in the content areas.
M

Jessica Fries-Gaither said:

Great discussion! I've never taught high school, but I have taught elementary and middle (through 8th grade) and I'm speaking from that experience. Another thought - do your students have all the prior knowledge needed to complete assignments from the textbook? Can they read and understand the text? Many times, motivation problems are a symptom of a larger problem such as lack of background knowledge or inability to comprehend the text or directions.

I'm currently reading "Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science, and Math" by Laura Robb (Scholastic). She provides 5-15 minute mini lessons on strategies that can make text more accessible to students. Some of her strategy lessons deal with building up requisite schema, while others are about making connections to content. This might be helpful, not just to answer your homework problem, but in general.

[Sandra Bureau]

Grades don't seem to be the incentive, at least for some students. Our middle school team has been working on getting to the bottom of "no homework". I don't take points off for late work but we have a series of supports and consequences for those that don't do homework. If students don't turn in homework or their work is not acceptable they attend a quiet lunch study hall rather than the "fun zone." In the quiet study hall they work on completing that assignment or getting help. Until they get it completed to the satisfaction of the teacher their learning log is stamped and they may become ineligible to participate in other activities. In the meantime they are working toward mastering the material from that assignment. The gist is that we don't let them off the hook for their learning. The kids come to understand that we really mean it and care that they learn. Sometimes they stay after, this is where you find out that they have no place to do homework, there's no one at home to supervise them, that they don't understand the assignment or that the assignment is boring them out of their mind. Were there things that we could put in place to help that student with no place to go, no supervision? Sometime it's just removing those barriers. We have an after school study hall for kids and provide them with healthy snacks. Another piece to our approach was to look at what we were assigning. Were our assignments really meeting the needs for student learning etc...

Depending on whether your homework is formative (practice) or summative, I don't put much weight on the practice, because it is just that. This year our school is doing away with any grades for formative assessments of student learning.

One way in particular that has worked for me, using homework the next day... for a lab activity I assign reading the lab and a few questions that show me they understand what will be going on in the lab and what we hope to achieve by doing this activity or the particular product. If they don't come to lab prepared then they are not allowed to do the lab and must make up on their own time, typically after school. While the others are doing the lab the student is reading the lab and completing the assignment. This may seem like more work for me but it only happens a couple of times. Kids get the idea that I need them to be prepared. They don't want to use their time out of school.

Yikes... well long answer and perhaps a little incoherent. Be glad to write about anything that you'd like more information on.

[Aaron Christensen]

Russel -

I'll look into this, but some quick questions . . . does this replace the textbook in a classroom or is it lined up with something? Totally online? Is it a curriculum in and of itself or is it a site on which you put your curriculum?

Thanks,
Aaron

[Aaron Christensen]

I should do a better job of teaching students how to read the textbook for information. In the back of my mind, I assume they've already learned how to do that, but that's probably not the case. Thanks, Jessica!

[Aaron Christensen]

Sandra -

That's good stuff about establishing an after-school or lunch study hall. We don't have anything like that. I know that completing work is a problem school-wide and maybe our principal would be interested in setting something up. Is that a program you do with your kids or is it administered by the school as a whole?

Aaron

[Karolee Smiley]

Aaron Christensen said:

I should do a better job of teaching students how to read the textbook for information. In the back of my mind, I assume they've already learned how to do that, but that's probably not the case. Thanks, Jessica!

Yeah, I find that is a huge stumbling block for my students too. Many of the skills that we assume students have mastered may not have been learned at all. Even if students did learn a skill, they sometimes have difficulty transferring that skill into different settings and subjects. It is very different reading a math book, a science book, or a literature book.
Over the past 15 years teaching both 7th and 8th grade, I found I needed to actively teach, and reteach, basic academic skills throughout the year: reading, note-taking, organization, etc. Middle school students are learning and developing these skills and need constant reinforcement.
Most of my homework is either projects or work that was started in class and needs to be completed independently. I have adapted my homework quantity and policies to reflect my school's culture. Often times, students may not be able to do this assignment tonight, but can do it tomorrow night. Between kids having too many activities (karate, soccer, church, etc) or too many responsibilities (taking care of siblings, cooking dinner, etc), having assignments with more flexible due dates allow students to use the time available. For example, all of the homework is due Friday, whether it was assigned Tuesday or Thursday. They can turn it it as a packet, which makes grading easier for me.

Sandra's ideas work great when I have a lab. I get a great turn out for work then. But, we do not have an activity period anymore (it was taken away) and detention does not seem to be a motivator for my kids. Students either refuse to stay after school, or will stay after because they want to anyway.

This is a great thread. All we can do is get all the ideas possible and test them out to see what works in our school. Depending on the school culture, the systems in place, and the support of your peers, admin and parents, some things work and some things won't.

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

It's tough, because I know you have more than enough to teach without thinking about reading! But I've a fair amount of math tutoring for middle school and high school kids (mostly working on homework that they hadn't completed!) and in every case, I spent most of my time helping them decipher what the questions were asking and locate the needed information in their text. They just had no idea how to use the text as a resource - so they just didn't do the work. Anecdotal - yes - but I'm sure they weren't isolated incidents!

Aaron Christensen said:

I should do a better job of teaching students how to read the textbook for information. In the back of my mind, I assume they've already learned how to do that, but that's probably not the case. Thanks, Jessica!