Do any teachers give no "effort" grade at all as part of their overall grade? For instance, depending on the course, 15% to 25% of the total grade comes from homework completed. There is no way that I can grade 135 homework assignments daily, so I walk around the room or collect homework and find the percent of the problems that were attempted. Only rarely do I actually grade the homework as being correct or incorrect.
The reason I check homework at all is because I understand its importance in helping the students learn. And on those occasions when I do not check their homework, I get lots of angry kids wondering out loud why they bother doing it at all. I can certainly mention how doing their homework helped them learn material that they didn't know before (a good reason) or that it will help them prepare for a test (a not so good reason), but it won't matter to them. They're angry for doing something for nothing.
But when it comes right down to it, I'm supposed to give them a grade on how well they have learned the math objectives. And homework is about the least reliable way of doing so. If I'm catching cheaters almost every quiz day (still at the end of the third quarter they are cheating off people next to them with different forms of the quizzes!) I know full well that they are cheating on the homework. I have kids who get single digits in percentage terms on quizzes even though I see that their homework is done well. Even kids I help - where I explain by asking questions of the kids themselves - cannot show me that they can do it on their own.
In an ideal world, kids would practice on their own until they know the material. Obviously, we don't live in a world like that. But if I'm to evaluate kids, giving them classwork or homework grades seems to skew the data in favor of kids that try harder. That's fine for an effort grade, but a lazy kid that gets 80% of the material and a hard-working kid that gets 80% of the material really should see the same number (or letter) on their report card.
So another teacher came in and we discussed this for awhile. My take is that if homework isn't graded and considered part of a student's grade, then most kids will rarely do it - and that will cause them to learn less. If I'm going to get them to learn more math, then grading homework is part of that solution. It just causes the reporting of grades to favor kids who work harder.
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I was one of those smart kids who didn't do my homework. I was grateful for the teachers who would grade me on tests and quizzes instead.
Even if you're brilliant and stay in school forever, you'll eventually run into topics you have to work to succeed at. It's good to learn how to do that early. I wish I had, though my teachers certainly weren't responsible for my failures.
And in real life, working is necessary for success at anything. At my job, they really don't care that I know how to do my work - they care that I actually do it.
I grade homework on completion- I walk around the room and give them full marks if they are done, a zero if they are not. They get half credit for showing it to me, completed, later. We go over the assignment together in class, they are to make corrections on their own paper. So, they get credit for doing it, but don't get penalized for mistakes. The way I figure it, it's practice, and they are allowed to make mistakes when they practice.
We're expected to set homework twice weekly (to kids under 16; the "sixth form" are a different situation) and actually grade at least one of those; that's all down on paper as departmental policy. We do it in various ways; some of us mark homework books from scratch. One of us reads out answers, kids mark their own, write in corrections and "count the ticks" and he collects in the books to note grades and write comments. One of us marks and notes grades on one homework, and reads answers for them to mark their own on the other. One of us manages to mark everthing they do, in class or at home; I do not understand how.
Things are different here (I'm in England) in that, for internally-generated reports (all they have until the age of 16) we assign a letter grade (based mostly on tests) and a numerical effort grade (2 for good, 1 for exceptional, 4 for "this kid is going to do terribly compared to their potential", 5 for "I either have not met him or wish I hadn't"), which is entirely subjective. The exams that matter, in later years, are all externally set and marked.
However, the coming thing here seems to be the idea that homework is of limited usefulness and in general a lot of it is only set because parents think it ought to be (I agree with this). Some schools have completely abandoned it (I don't with this - quite).
I am still struggling with this. At the beginning of the year I checked for completion, but then I felt like some of them were just writing down something to get credit. I recently started collecting everything. Aside from the fact that I was buried in grading, I don't feel like the quality of homework is better. Nor are they learning more. Nor do I want to punish them for making mistakes when learning a new skill/idea.
Even if I don't collect and grade each problem, I know what they know and don't know from the discussions we have and the work they put on the board.
I don't know - I'm still trying to figure this out.
I also grade on completion - I walk around and look while the kids check their answers on the projector, then we go over questions. A parent told me on Friday that that was the "lazy" way to do it, and I should be collecting and grading it all. She told me that it wasn't the student's responsibility to check their work (!), it was the teacher's. Then she found out that I have over 100 students. I also told her the same thing Mrs. T said above - it's practice, and I don't want to penalize for not "getting" it the first time around.
I know it's not the perfect way to do things, but I think I can tell by a glance (and by the questions that the kids ask) if they know what they're doing.
Of course copying is an issue... but I think it would still be an issue if I collected every assignment!
I use a variety of grading strategies that include completion grades, picking up and grading, trade and grade, grade their own, and recently added to my strategies, the homework quiz (where half the credit is based on following VERY strict directions).
I've found that this encourages the students to do the very best that they can as they are unsure HOW they will be assessed on it. I don't announce what I will be doing in advance, and I don't always do the same thing for every period.
I've used this strategy for about 3 years and I feel that the kids respond best to it.
** Can't remember my password..
Mathematical Mary
If a student really wants to put forward effort, he can come in during lunch, before school or after class. I tell them this explicity.
I occasionally play a game my own middle school math teacher called "chase the rabbit." The first student in the first row begins calling out answers. As long as he is correct, he keeps going. When he misses, the kid behind him gets a turn to try until someone gets it right and so on. Whoever says the final correct answer gets bonus points. It keeps down cheating,allows me to go over the answers in a way they will pay attention to (I skip you if you don't know what number we're on). I agree, though, that mixing your strategies is the best...so they never know what's coming.
P.S. The next time we play, we start with the kid behind the kid who got bonus points last time.
I consider homework "practice." It's only worth 10% of their grade. Classwork is another 15% - it's based on participation in activites we do as a class. The other 75% is tests/quizzes.
At least 2/3 of my homework assignments are credit/no credit - especially if it pertains to a new concept. Occasionally I'll throw up the answers and let the kids correct it, just so they can gauge how much of it they really know, but it goes in the grade book based on completeness, not correctness. I only do this because the kids get pissy if they don't have an exact idea of whether or not they did it "right."
Hope this helps!
I only do this because the kids get pissy if they don't have an exact idea of whether or not they did it "right."
I don't blame them! What's the point of practicing a skill, if you don't know whether you're practicing it "right" or "wrong"?
My math teachers use to always discuss the homework the next day in class. They'd assign students to put solutions up on the board. When I had teachers with an "enlightened" attitude toward homework they would tell us to do as many of the problems as we needed to make sure we got it, making sure to try the hardest ones (this was in honors classes). When it came time to put the homework up on the board, if you hadn't done the one you were assigned, you had to do it on the spot. AFAIK we weren't graded on homework at all, and it was never collected and graded. However, I think there was generally some kind of penalty for being caught without it done (or not being able to do it on the spot, for those teachers who allowed that) but I don't really recall what it was. I think it was generally detention or being given extra problems to complete and hand in.
I am a math teacher as well, and I was just introduced to your site from a fellow math teacher. What I do is the first day we go over something, I give them the book assignment and if they have questions on it, the next day we go over those questions. They turn it in, and I give them points based on whether or not they attempted it and got it done, because you're right, giving them credit based on how well they did when they are first learning it is not fair. Then, I hand out a worksheet on it, and this is what I take a grade on how well they did. It seems to be working out so far.
Math teacher from Sweden here. Our grade system is abit different from yours but the problem with doing homework is the same. I don’t let homework influence grades since I don’t know who did the work. But I have been know to make test using exactly the same problems on the test as the ones given as homework. I try to not use this method much but if I have a class where a big number of students don’t do their homework I do it.
I do try to grade the homework with comments as quick feedback. I also use the homework to give me an idea what my students know so I can plan my lessons better for them.
/Per
What I do is have the kids correct their assignments everyday themselves. I glance at them to make sure they are not giving them selves 100% when they did it wrong, but overall most are pretty honest. Thats 7th grade for you though. I also take ALL their test questions from the homework so if they are not doing their homework or cheating they do poorly on the tests. Homework = 30%, Test 60% and projects = 10%. That way if I do have a smart kid who doesn't do their homework, they can still get a 70%.
In a perfect world I wouldn't collect or grade homework. In my class it is credit/no credit. The cheating here is pretty bad and I don't want to put too much emphasis on something that could easily be copied. I don't even care if they do the homework. If I have a student that is a quiet solid student and he doesn't do his homework, but gets A's and B's on the test (either because he is re-taking the test or just smart) I give them a homework waiver to take home and have his parents and him sign letting him not do the homework and have his grade based upon tests only.
We still go over the homework and answer any questions students may have. The biggest problem I face is students not asking questions.
Isn't that the way college is anyway?
I love the homework quiz. It's pretty quick and easy, AND they get some feedback on whether they are learning the material correctly.
I had my students in groups of 4 (I chose the groups). Students would go over their homework together and turn in one paper with the answers for the group. I watched a lot of them discuss why their answers were right and why someone else's answers were wrong. Usually if someone was not pulling their weight, peer pressure took care of the problem. If it happened too often, I would pull out all the freeloaders and put them in their own group.
One other thing I do is give my students a daily quiz- 5 points. It is usually over what we did in class the day before, so students are held accountable and I get a quick idea of who "gets" it and who doesn't.
I teach English, and most of the homework I give involves finishing up assignments begun in class. I give time every day for writing journals, for example, but if that's not enough, it's for homework. I believe in giving some form of credit for everything that's assigned, though, even if it's just a small completion grade. Sometimes, I'll give points for completing the assignment (checking when it's due) and points for correcting their errors (after we've gone over it).
If you're not going to grade it, don't assign it.
I can really understand the kid that does the work, thinks they understand it but doesn't and the only way they have of learning that they don't actually know the material is if you hand back corrected homework.
If you're assigning so much you can't grade it, how about taking the approach of giving them less, but checking it all?
I always used to dream of being a teacher and using my own personal system:
1) Homework is assigned, and randomly graded for correctness. the point of homework is to help you learn the material.
2) Quizzes are given frequently--possibly even twice a week. The point of quizzes is to test your knowledge of the material.
3) If you can maintain a high enough grade on the quizzes, you have proven that you can acquire knowledge without doing repetitive work, and you don't have to do your homework.
If you get three quizzes in a row with an A- or better, you are then homework-free. As soon as you get a quiz grade below ____ (an A- is probably appropriate) then you're back on homework again, until you get another 3 quizzes at A- or better.
Benefits:
1) motivates smart kids to actually study for quizzes
2) keeps students from hating you for assigning busywork. As a smart kid, I despised teachers who couldn't distinguish between different students, and/or who could provide a defensible justification for why they were asking me to do something.
and best of all,
3) lessens the homework load to grade, which means you can actually grade and correct more homework for the slower kids.
Very similar to you. However, I never check the assignment the day before a test. And like Per, I put a homework question or two on the test.
An assignment has to be non-routine for me to actually grade it.
Great topic!
Jonathan
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