Huh?
These kids were blown away.
However, as an educator, my feeling is this approach has been long overdue and I haven't been doing my students a service these past eleven years by grading something that truly is... well - formative.
Why do I assign homework? What am I hoping to accomplish? The ultimate goal is for students to walk into the classroom the next day with a base of knowledge for that day's discussion. In addition, the hope is that they will have questions from the reading that can be answered through our lecture/activity/etc. the day the homework is due. Traditionally, I have assigned a reading and a number of vocabulary words to be defined as well as around three basic comprehension questions. The students come in the next day, I would go around the room to check in the homework, and put the grade in the grade book. While I was spot-checking for accuracy, with 150 students over 5 periods, I was also basically looking for completion. I wasn't alone in this, teachers have been doing this for generations.
Now - why the change? I felt guilty. I felt painfully guilty. Quite frankly, I felt guilty for giving kids summative points on something that is basically practice. I was assessing them on something brand new and not taught yet. I did feel that this homework was important. I have worked for years on getting rid of "busy work" from any projects I might assign. However, reading comprehension is critical. Some kids learn best by lecture, others by film, and still others by group discussion/projects/etc. However, there are some that like to curl up with a book and glean their knowledge from that. Isn't that a basic element of differentiation?
How to change a culture...(mid-year no less...)
I didn't want to wait until next school year to correct my error from past years. I'm blogging about pedagogical best practice, but not infusing it into my classroom? I couldn't continue to be a hypocrite. However - how do you intrinsically motivate students to do the homework if it's not being graded? That's the big one.
I posted a blog entry back in November about allowing for test-retakes. This is a major cornerstone in my pedagogy. After discussion my plan with numerous administrators and colleagues, I came up with the following approach. Allow kids to simply not do the homework. There are some that just do not learn anything from it. I'll recognize that. So - the homework is simply a waste of time and "busy work." However, there are also going to be those that do not do the homework and will bomb the test as a result. Where is the safety net there? To earn the opportunity to retake the test, they have to show me all of the completed assignments - vocab and reading comprehension questions. In addition, anecdotally, I am tracking who is not doing their homework and also how those individuals do on the test.
Our first test of the new semester showed a wide gap. It was painfully obvious to all of us (teacher AND students) that those who consistently did their homework performed well on the first unit assessment. It was a wake-up call. The students who struggled on their assessment now need to go through all of the steps to retake the test (see the November 5th blog entry). In addition, they need to show me those homework assignments. All of that work is rolling in now and kids are taking a new ownership on their studies. In addition, kids who weren't doing the nightly homework from the first unit or doing it regularly now.
Bits and Pieces
- When kids come in to class when a homework assignment is due, I immediately put them in small groups to discuss their answers to the comprehension questions AND quiz each other on the vocabulary words.
- Once completed with that (about 5-7 minutes) I have the students return to their seats and they know that they are all fair game to be called upon. I keep a seating chart by me and I check off the students who are able to answer questions about the reading and make another mark for those who are not able to answer. I then review that chart regularly and take those students aside who are struggling to find out why the work isn't being done.
- I work hard to tier the comprehension questions based on Bloom. That way there are simple recall questions, as well as ones that reflect true synthesis.
- Kids are now putting more effort into test preparation, portfolio submissions, and class projects. Why? Simply put, they are worth more. By eliminating the homework grade, other categories are weighted more now.
- I try to give a little bit of work time in class for kids to get a start on the homework. I have found that kids are more likely to do their homework if they get a start on it in class and can see that the work isn't insurmountable.
Next Time...
I apologize for not posting in the past few months. The Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season is very busy for our family. In addition, the end of the semester and the start of a new one are painfully busy. We are now three weeks into the new semester, our chess team (which I coach) season is winding down, and we're about a three weeks away from the track & field season (which I also help coach). Seemed like a good time to post a blog entry.
I have a couple of idea in which I am working on for future posts. I'm listing them here so I can remember to post them later on! :)
- The Unit Syllabus: Giving Students Ownership
- Coach Extracurricular Activities: Why it Actually COMPLEMENTS What You're Doing in the Classroom.
Until next time - I look forward to your comments and retweets! :)
