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.

[Sandra Bureau]

It's school-wide.Teachers approached the admin about the need. They set it up and paid us. Last year we negotaited it into the contract

Aaron Christensen said:

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

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

Karolee, I think the flexible assignments idea is great. Students are so overscheduled these days - I know parents appreciate this as well as the kids. It's also a great way to help students learn time management skills for themselves. When I taught 6th grade, each kid had a calendar (provided by the school) and we spent time each week going over upcoming deadlines and talking about how they could manage their time efficiently. Not a magic bullet, of course - but I did see some progress with most kids and they were very successful moving on to middle school.

Karolee Smiley said:

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.

[Karolee Smiley]

One of the things that helps is the fact that I also use an InterActive Notebook. Many of the main assignments, notes, and papers are stapled or glued into the notebook. No pages ever come out. I go through tons of glue, but I have less lost papers. I also provide storage of the notebooks in my room. With some of my students, if it goes home, its never seen again (and, sadly, this may not always be the child's fault). I can also grade several assignments for one student at a time. I can ensure a due date is met, even without taking custody of the assignment, by stamping work on the day it is due but not collecting it at that time for grading.

If you are unfamiliar with InterActive Noteboks, its an AVID strategy.

Jessica Fries-Gaither said:

Karolee, I think the flexible assignments idea is great. Students are so overscheduled these days - I know parents appreciate this as well as the kids. It's also a great way to help students learn time management skills for themselves. When I taught 6th grade, each kid had a calendar (provided by the school) and we spent time each week going over upcoming deadlines and talking about how they could manage their time efficiently. Not a magic bullet, of course - but I did see some progress with most kids and they were very successful moving on to middle school.

[julieme]

I am a middle school math teacher in an urban public school and have been pretty successful with getting kids to do homework. The easiest 'trick' I use is choice. Let's say the page you're on has 30 problems...like 3 columns of 10. Instead of assigning all 30 problems, I tell the kids that their homework is #1-30, but if it's done by tomorrow, they only have to choose one (or two) column(s) to do (rows don't work because the harder problems are generally near the end, but with columns, they get the easy and hard problems). Generally, if kids can successfully do those 10 problems, they have the skill down, and don't need to do all 30. Letting them 'choose' whether they have to do 10 or 30 problems is also a pretty powerful incentive to get homework done on time!

[Mary Henton]

Thank you for the reminder that choice is a powerful and empowering tool!
M

julieme said:

I am a middle school math teacher in an urban public school and have been pretty successful with getting kids to do homework. The easiest 'trick' I use is choice. Let's say the page you're on has 30 problems...like 3 columns of 10. Instead of assigning all 30 problems, I tell the kids that their homework is #1-30, but if it's done by tomorrow, they only have to choose one (or two) column(s) to do (rows don't work because the harder problems are generally near the end, but with columns, they get the easy and hard problems). Generally, if kids can successfully do those 10 problems, they have the skill down, and don't need to do all 30. Letting them 'choose' whether they have to do 10 or 30 problems is also a pretty powerful incentive to get homework done on time!

[Mark Pennington]

Here's what I did last year and plan to do again this year re: assigning homework.

On back-to-school night last year, I made a deal with their parents: I said, "I won't assign grammar or essay homework, if you will supervise your child's reading-discussion homework." Every parent made positive comments about this approach to homework. Few parents at the intermediate, middle, or high school levels want to or know how to supervise written work. Supervising their child's reading is something that parents support and perceive as valuable.

Here, in a nutshell is the homework plan: Students read for thirty minutes, four times per week. Parents grade a three-minute discussion of each reading session. Students lead this discussion with reading comprehension strategy discussion prompts. I got a high degree of buy-in from parents and students. I flesh out this homework program much more on my blog at Homework That Makes Sense.

[Jennifer Knapp]

My questions to you... Why do you grade something that is supposed to be practice? What percentage of the students' overall grade is homework?

[Reggi Mainero]

Hi Aaron,
First of all, I don't "grade" homework; it seems if I do it'd be more like a take home test on material they have yet had time to master. I assign homework so that students can validate their understanding, to themselves AND me. If there are questions, they are more likely to come up outside of my 4 walls. I want them to go home and apply what we learned in class. I do require every problem to be attempted and work must be shown so I can follow their train of thought to access where the break-down occurs. For grading purposes, HW is either done or it's not. if it's not done, or homework is not complete, I assign one hour of detention. For the past 3 years, I average 72% of students not doing homework the first week of school. Within 5 weeks from the time I start assigning homework, I average 5%-7% of students still thinking homework is optional. By the end of the first trimester, I have 1-3 students who do not turn in homework. I address this at the parent conference when they come in and let the parent know the responsibility is theirs to make sure the child does homework and that detention will continue, one hour for EVERY assignment not done. If a student fails to show for detention, I double it and require their last period teacher to deliver them. If this is an issue, I suspend them, Let me say, it seems like a hard line but I'm adamant about doing assignments. I do my HW every night and make sure my students have a great lesson every day, regardless what is going on in my life and I expect the same from my students. If I don't get it, I start holding the parents accountable. I will call them every day this child does not have homework. Many teachers simply aren't up for this level of accountability. Keep in mind, out of 100+ students, this only happens with 1-3 students. By the end of the year, I may still have that 1 child/family still not completing HW. This is where I emphasize free choice and let it go, choosing to direct my attention to the other 30 students.

[Sara Ankrapp]

Hi Aaron,

I have read the replies to your questions and we do several of these things in my school. Our teachers don't grade formative homework because it is practice and we use the "stay in for recess" to finish your assigned work. Another thing that I think is important is to differentiate your homework when possible. If a student already has the concept, is there really a need to make him or her do the same work as someone who doesn't get it and needs the practice? That's where you can add some really creative tasks that students are interested in that help to build skills ever further.

Oue teachers still struggle daily with the homework issue, but if we look at what the individual student needs and address that need, it should make the homework more meaningful to the student.

Aaron Christensen said:

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

[Kim Hutmacher]

Hi Aaron,
This post is very interesting because it pertains to what we are learning now in my methods courses. Students usually do not see textbook problems important or as a top priority on their homework list because they are not relevant to their lives. They feel disconnected from the curriculum. Many of the textbook problems are also not challenging for the students. Research has proved that if students are given the right strategies, they will be motivated and will learn more from more challenging in-depth problems. Therefore, instead of giving 30 drill and practice problems, one or two meaningful and challenging problems will give students a deeper understanding and motivation. This is the research currently at the university level; however, as a pre-service teacher, I must say that have no experience with this in the classroom. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. Keep us updated!
Kim Hutmacher

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

[Eric Biederbeck]

Hi Kim,

I do like the idea of giving students challenging more in depth thinking problems, however, I think it is very important that students understand the problem and what it is asking when you do this as you do not want them spending a lot of time doing something a completely wrong way. Obviously this involves a lot of modeling at the beginning of a year about problem solving and the various strategies that you can use.

I certainly see the value in not giving 30 skill and drill problems. Personally I like to give a couple of those problems though (3 or 4 tops) just so students can practice those skills outside of a challenging word problem. I also like giving students a couple of review problems, normally short word problems about something they have done earlier in the year. This allows me to see how they are retaining info.


Kim Hutmacher said:

Hi Aaron,
This post is very interesting because it pertains to what we are learning now in my methods courses. Students usually do not see textbook problems important or as a top priority on their homework list because they are not relevant to their lives. They feel disconnected from the curriculum. Many of the textbook problems are also not challenging for the students. Research has proved that if students are given the right strategies, they will be motivated and will learn more from more challenging in-depth problems. Therefore, instead of giving 30 drill and practice problems, one or two meaningful and challenging problems will give students a deeper understanding and motivation. This is the research currently at the university level; however, as a pre-service teacher, I must say that have no experience with this in the classroom. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. Keep us updated!
Kim Hutmacher

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

[Dan Sherman]

Hey Aaron,

 

I would like to inform you of a free resource that may be able to help - our product, TenMarks, is aimed at getting students to do better at math through practice and on demand help, and we have just launched a FREE learning and practice environment for teachers to use in class, and to assign homework to students.

 

TenMarks allows you to sign up your entire class for free, set up their curriculum (mapped to state standards, or customized to your needs), and assign your class practice topics as homework every day. Students get help (hints and video lessons) on the fly while they practice and complete their assignments, and you get detailed reports and recommendations for each of them.

 

Do try it out, and let me know if you have any questions!

 

Dan Sherman

http://www.tenmarks.com/