Tag Archives: homework
Help the Poorly Organized Student. Please.
I’m the poorly organized student’s mom. Let me tell you: the poorly organized student needs all the help she can get. Don’t get me wrong: I think the poorly organized student needs to be responsible for her homework. She needs to write down assignments in her student planner. She needs to put completed homework in her folder and take it to school. She needs to clean out that locker and she needs to stop leaving socks all over the living room. Continue reading
I Am Thankful for My Challenging Students
Dr. Allen Mendler recently visited Inside the School to record some online professional development seminars. During one of his seminars, Mendler said something that I couldn’t help but write down. Mendler said that he witnessed this kind of conversation between a teacher and a challenging student:
TEACHER: I just want to tell you that I’m really glad you’re in my class. I know that it’s not your favorite place to be, but I’m trying hard to make sure that I’m the right teacher for you. I’ve tried many strategies to teach you, but so far they haven’t been working very well. I’ll keep trying more so that you can learn. I want to thank you for being a part of my class. You are making me a better teacher.
Let’s be honest: you are making me a better teacher isn’t what I would say when talking to a challenging student.
But it should be, because it’s true. Continue reading
The Homework Question: Use Class Time or Not?
Among teachers, you’ll find two camps: those who believe that students should complete homework exclusively at home and those who give students some class time to begin working on assignments. I’ve been a member of both camps, so I know the arguments for both.
Camp 1: Homework is for home. When our high school moved to the block schedule, my colleagues grumbled about the lost instructional time. Even though the classes were longer, the actual minutes for instruction decreased by two weeks. Teachers who taught three novels each semester found themselves choosing between the Odyssey and Animal Farm. Instead of spending three weeks on Shakespeare, they crammed five acts into two weeks. Teachers were concerned about how reducing the curriculum would affect students’ test scores. After all, the tests’ scope hadn’t decreased just because the high school’s bell schedule changed.
How to Encourage Challenging Students to Turn in Homework
Alicia was a student of mine. She was a smart girl with a giant chip on her shoulder. The kid could write, though. Once you got past the angsty teen stuff, her poetry was inventive and full of symbolism. Despite her best bluster, we became reluctant allies. She liked that I read her work and I liked that she worked.
We still had trouble when it came to Alicia turning in assignments. She wasn’t a fan of the day-to-day reading and writing expectations I had for my sophomore English students. She had no interest in reading nonfiction and less interest in creating plot diagrams. Continue reading
10 Alternative Assessments for Homework
Homework is a dreaded word for many of our students. To them, homework means endless problem sets, memorizing vocabulary, or filling in the blanks. It’s hard for many kids to find a quiet place at home for homework or even a quiet place on the bus ride to the JV basketball game.
Extending classroom learning outside the school walls is a great idea; it reinforces objectives and makes for better classroom discussions. But the same ol’ read-and-respond assignments get dull. It’s good for everyone to mix up the assessments. After all, the brain loves novelty.
Continue reading
Online Student Records Help Parents Monitor Student Progress
In my last year of teaching, it was a budget year with teacher pay and benefits, school spending for buses, theater, sports, and maintenance all up for review. Our superintendent had budgeted a sizable amount of money to online student record access for parents. At the time, it seemed to me like a frivolous use of taxpayer dollars. It’s not like we didn’t send out progress and grade reports. How many parents had I called because their son or daughter had been missing class and hadn’t turned in work? Countless. Continue reading
Assigning Appropriate Homework in Math Classes
What is the point of homework? I am currently covering a class that is reviewing for the semester final. They are distracted by life, as high school students often are, and are discussing math homework. One student described a system where the teacher rolls two dice. If the total is under 7, the teacher collects the homework. If the total is 7 or 11, all students get full credit. For all other totals, the teacher doesn’t collect the homework. His friend said that his math teacher just walks around and gives credit for completion. Continue reading
