Homework
The homework that is given out by my cooperating teacher (CT) usually is between 5-10 problems. Never more than 10 problems. My CT says she would rather have quality problems than a large quantity of problems. Whenever I present a question or a problem for the class to do while planning a lesson my CT usual asks what the goal is in asking that question or problem. So if there isn't a reason for encouraging learning or advancing the knowledge in doing something why would we do that. I think that goes along with homework too. When putting an assignment together if there isn't any reason for doing any of the problems, why do them?
When going over homework the district only allows for it do be reviewed the last 10 minutes of class. In the class that I am in we usually take 5 minutes max at the end of class. During these 5 minutes my CT posts on the TV the answers to the homework and the students will check the questions that they got wrong on just 5 of the questions. It usually goes pretty smoothly. Then after the fact either me or the CT will go back into the homework and check for work shown. They receive 0-3 points based on how much and the quality of the work shown. Then they also get 0-2 points based on how many answers they got correct on the five problems chosen by my CT.
2 pt if you miss 0-1
1 pt if you miss 2-4
0 pt if you miss 5
My CT said she would like to assign homework everyday but thats not realistic for the students that we have. So it is assigned about 3 times a week. We typically do not go over any of the problems in class we just show the students the answers. I wish we could go over the homework and take time seeing where the students may have made mistakes. I think we would have more success with lessons after the fact if we corrected mistakes right away. Because of the lack of time we have to get through everything we do not have time to go through it all. The majority of the students do not get done with the homework either so it would be pointless to go over mistakes if the students have not even attempted it yet. Also because of the time crunch that we are under we are not able to have research projects or term papers.
I plan on having some of the same homework structure that my CT uses. Have quality homework over a large quantity of homework. But I would like to have some incentive on getting homework done so maybe more students would get it done on time. Then we could go over mistakes before the next assignment was started.
When going over homework the district only allows for it do be reviewed the last 10 minutes of class. In the class that I am in we usually take 5 minutes max at the end of class. During these 5 minutes my CT posts on the TV the answers to the homework and the students will check the questions that they got wrong on just 5 of the questions. It usually goes pretty smoothly. Then after the fact either me or the CT will go back into the homework and check for work shown. They receive 0-3 points based on how much and the quality of the work shown. Then they also get 0-2 points based on how many answers they got correct on the five problems chosen by my CT.
2 pt if you miss 0-1
1 pt if you miss 2-4
0 pt if you miss 5
My CT said she would like to assign homework everyday but thats not realistic for the students that we have. So it is assigned about 3 times a week. We typically do not go over any of the problems in class we just show the students the answers. I wish we could go over the homework and take time seeing where the students may have made mistakes. I think we would have more success with lessons after the fact if we corrected mistakes right away. Because of the lack of time we have to get through everything we do not have time to go through it all. The majority of the students do not get done with the homework either so it would be pointless to go over mistakes if the students have not even attempted it yet. Also because of the time crunch that we are under we are not able to have research projects or term papers.
I plan on having some of the same homework structure that my CT uses. Have quality homework over a large quantity of homework. But I would like to have some incentive on getting homework done so maybe more students would get it done on time. Then we could go over mistakes before the next assignment was started.
I totally agree with your assessment of what to put on the homework. If a question doesn't help achieve a goal and is more or less "busy work" why assign it. Quality work and thought seems to be way more valuable than just repetition and that seems to be a take away you've had from this. I think the grading scale is interesting and I'd love to here what ideas you have on how to make it more important to students. With so much of grading now being prescribed by districts, how can you make formative homework assignments that may not impact the overall grade that much matter to students? Tough question but one it sounds like you're asking already.
ReplyDelete"With so much of grading now being prescribed" I found this wording interesting because it is true for everyone now at this point. We can assign problems but we can make it worth much of their grade so the students don't find it worth the effort so I think Mr. Shraders CT is really trying to work with what he is given by doing "quality" homework as opposed to "busy" homework.
DeleteYour thoughts on using homework as a learning tool seem insightful. It sounds like the time factor is a major reason for structuring homework in this way. If the student population was more likely to be reliable with homework, would that change its role in your classroom?
ReplyDeleteThis blog has a couple topics that could be explored in greater depth. It sounds like you already are exploring the purposes and uses of homework. The time factor determined by the district also seems like a useful one to explore. Are you able to ask your CT more about this? What would be their ideal homework scenario and why? What will you try to implement in student teaching or your own classroom to increase student learning from homework?
All these questions you are exploring are going to help increase your thoughtfulness as a teacher.