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Pick aclassWhat is your homework?Grading homeworkHomework during classtimeHappy?Speak now or forever holdyour peace!Algebra 2
I assigned ~5 problems of increasing difficultyfrom the book as independent practice (in class or at home) due two schooldays later. It should havetaken half hour max, but most of my studentstended to give up at the first difficulty.Check for completion. (Which connected to yes/noon yellow card as well as working toward ahomework pass in my class.) Went over answersas class. Was not factored into final grade thisyear.We met daily for 55 min.Homework review varied. They one my students preferred was meprojecting the problems on the board and one of them writing theanswers. I would work problems students had missed. I didn't likethis method as much because it took up to half the class period.Not really happy with this system. Completion ratesare low. Might consider trying to incorporate intograde, but I already feel that my school relies tooheavily on "packet completion."The junior/senior English teacher assigned weeklyhomework and one student requested that I try that. I just didn't fiure out how that would look.I need a way to allow students to practice on their own. Where's that magic button?
Algebra II
I chose the homework based on where we get withthe material, so it often gets modified at the end of class. I enter class with an idea of what thehomework will be, and sometimes I have to totallyrewrite it at the end of class depending on wherewe get to.Sometimes the homework is material I have comeup with, though sometimes (for drill work) I assignhomework from the textbook. Most problems areodd problems so students can check to see if theyare getting the problems right.I intend most students to spend 20-30 minutes onhomework.This is my biggest weakness. I don't have time tocollect and grade (even selectively) all homework.So I walk around while the class is working on awarm up problem, and check to see if a studenthas the homework and has attempted allproblems. I give that student 3 pts. The studentwho has done less work gets less. The studentwho has done no work gets 0 pts.On days when we have a lot to get through, or when I'm feeling behind, I don't check homework.Then I calculate their homework grade by: (# of ptsthey earned)/(# of pts possible)Homework counts for 25% of my students' grade.My class meets for 50 minutes, 4 times a week.I usually spend about 5-10 minutes going over homework, if thehomework was routine. Sometimes we spend 10-20 minutes goingover homework, if the homework was too hard for them.When class starts, I project the solutions to the homework on theSmartBoard. (For textbook homework, I project only the evensolutions because students are expected to check the oddsolutions.) Students check their answers. Then I ask students for questions they'd like to go over. I write those numbers down on theSmartBoard. When we have got a good number, we go over them.Usually it's me going over them at the board. If two questions aresimilar enough, I work one of them and say the other one is solvedin exactly the same manner.I'm not happy with it. I'm not happy with the fact that Imade homework 25% of their grade, but the way Igraded homework was just for an attempt. It was anartificial inflation of their true understanding.I think I should have had more expectations than justto attempt problems. Some students tried and in factdid get away with doing the bare minimum. I'm alsonot happy with being at the board explaining thehomework, and I'd rather call students to the board todo it. But even though I do that occasionally, I feel toomuch time pressure to get through thelesson/curriculum to do that all the time.Some ideas I'm mulling over for next year (clearlyI won't do all of them):(1) Homework quizzes [students keep a neatbinder w/all their homework. On any random day,I can say "turn to the homework assigned on April14th and copy down all your work and thesolution you have for problems 2 and 3." Thisway they are working for completeness andcorrectness, and ask questions, because ahomework problem might come up on thishomework quiz.(2) After students have checked their HWanswers, have students spend a few minutes atthe beginning of class talking with each other (ingroups of 3) about homework problems they hadtrouble with. Have some sort off way for them tobe accountable for the discussion.(3) Provide tiered homework, wish some requiredbasic problems, some required mediumproblems, and some optional challengeproblems.(4) Randomly collect homework and grade itthoroughly, to point out where students are notshowing enough work. To highlight myexpectations as to what is appropriate work andwhat is not.
PreCalculus
a selection of 5 to 10 problems from the text... itshould take the kids about a half hour four points, based on how much effort they put intoit... I just glance at it and make a judgement call...Ihave them compare and discuss for a few minutesand then we review any unanswered questions...department policy is that it is 20% of total grade5 times a week for 40 minutes... I spend anywhere from 10 to 20minutes going over homework... I have the students review thehomework and any questions they can't answer themselves, I goover for them.I dislike it. I can see the value in homework, but therehas to be a better way. Copying is a huge problem aswell as the time spent going over problems. The onlyreason it works in this class is because in our school,these are the advanced kids. They care.I used to think homework is a vital part of math,but this year, in my lowest level Algebra 2 class Idid not give them homework during the fourthmarking period. I told them that they needed toshow me they could do it and if they could, thenthat person would have no homework. I wouldgive them classtime to practice and then check itoff when they were done. We were doing thehardest part of the course and the major assessment scores rose! I am seriouslyreconsidering the impact that homework has onlearnin.
alg 1throughprecalculus
(disclaimer: don't know how successful this is, buthere it is) After I know what the objective in theclass is, I look through the text to see if there areabout 10 problems that nicely cover the obj in avariety of difficulty levels. If there are not enoughproblems, I'll cobble together a worksheet fromvarious sources that do what I want. Sometimes I'llmake the problems into a puzzle sheet, so that thekids will have immediate feedback. I think the kidsspend 1/2 hour a night on hwk (or more likely slapit together the day it's due). I think more than 10problems or so belabors the point. If they'repracticing wrong, it's bad, and if they're practicingright, it's enough.I grade homework on completion and some extras.At the start of class I put answers on the overheadand they correct their own homework IN ADIFFERENT COLOR. I allow for questions.Hopefully, this takes 5 or so minutes. They sit ingroups of 4-6 and pass their papers to one personin the group, and I collect it. Here's the hwk grade:100% - mostly done, corrected, corrected in adifferent color, title to indicate where problemswere from, name, date.I take off about 5% for every piece that's missingfrom this list.If it's late it's docked on a sliding scale.Homework is usually 25% of their total grade.I've done the same method whether it was block or traditional. NowI'm on block and we meet every other day for 1.5 hours. We go over hwk for about 5-8 minutes at the beginning of class.I'm mostly happy. I'm not happy with their sloppilydoing the homework the previous period on the dayit's due. I'm not happy that some students then tosstheir homework away when they get it back. I willreflect on these things to try to "fix" them.I think hwk is necessary. You can't be a good"player" without practicing. The purpose of hwk isto make mistakes and think about concepts andhone your skills.Ms. Cookie (math teacher mambo)
geometry
I assign from the textbook. However, I do notchoose evens, or odds. I assign problems that willgive them practice. I usually give two or three of the type C (hardest) problems. My students spend30 to 45 minutes on HW when assigned. (Threeor four times a week.)All homework is completed in a spiral notebook. Iput the answers on the white board, and while theyare grading their own work, I make a note as towho has the HW. Each assignment is worth 2points. HW is no more than 15% of the grade. Itmay be less.Class meets for 42 minutes, HW is usually discussed in the first 15minutes. Once in awhile, it may take the entire period. Studentswill also stop by before school to ask questions about HW. Once inawhile, students start on HW in class.Once in awhile, I forget to check to see who has theHW completed. Also, I have caught kids trying topawn off previous homework as the current one. Iam happy with my system, and do not like HW to bea major part of the grade. (Quizzes can be redone,test grades are final)The purpose of HW is to practice what is learnedin class. I teach gifted and talented students, somy method works well for them. I also give achapter syllabus with HW listed at the beginningof each unit. If students miss one or twoassignments, it doesn't hurt their grade.
Algebra II
We're on block schedule. So I teach 3 days aweek. They get homework after each class. Thequickest kids actually finish it in class. I'll behonest... I haven't assigned any problems from thetextbook all year. I've given them my ownworksheets.I correct homework daily, but they have up until theday of the chapter test to turn it in.My class meets 3 times a week because of block schedule. 1 hr and 40 min each class. We rarely spend over 5 minutes going over hw.It's worked OK for Algebra II. It would never work for Algebra I . I have to collect theirs every day.
Hon. Alg. 2Trig
Worksheet. A couple minutes. Completion only. HW is 20% of their final grade.every day, for 45 minutes. 10 minutes spent going over HW andchecking it. Kids ask questions about difficult problems.Hate it. Not sure how to improve it, though.Page 1
Algebra II
I don't necessarily think I'm successful with thismethod. I use the same problem bank as our testquestions, using a program called ExamView.Change up the numbers, and make them all openresponse problems.It exposes them to the types of questions that'sgoing to be asked on the tests, though it doesn'treally promote their understanding, but rather their ability recall a "process" on how to solve a specificproblem. But their test scores are higher now :X.I provide students with the answers on the back of their homework and leave it up to them to checktheir own work and ask questions for the ones theywere unable to get on their own during class time.If its complete and on time, they get full credit. Idon't check if its right or wrong. If its incomplete,they get it back (although I'm really bad atchecking this).Block scheduling, we meet 3 times per week. Monday/Wednesdayfor 1hr 35 min and Friday for 55 min.Homework is due either every other day or at least once per week.Spend about 10 minutes taking questions on homework on the "inbetween" days that it is due, then it is due the following class at thebeginning of the period. Sometimes I forget though (because I don'tusually write it on the agenda...which I guess I should), so I go over homework questions at the beginning of the class.If an assignment is assigned, I often give them about 15 minutes toget started on the assignment and get initial questions out of theway.Students turn in homeworks to a box and I enter them into thegradebook as I get the chance.Not at all. I feel like the students don't get enoughfeedback because I don't spend enough time in classgoing over it. Nor do I have enough time to giveindividual feedback.Students aren't accountable for their homework beingturned in. Partially my fault for being lazy and notgrading them right away, but just not finding the timein class to be able to hold them and know who turnedit in.Homework should be additional individualpractice. It should not be graded right or wrong,but students should get feedback on whether or not they are doing the mathematics correctly.If it were my choice, I wouldn't grade homeworkor even count it as credit.. It should besomething that the students do if the need theadditional practice. If they are proficient, it won'thelp them to do it 20 more times. And if theydon't understand it, it won't help if they do it 20times wrong, or copy it from a friend to get thecredit.However, how do you keep students accountablefor their own individual practice as neededwithout overstretching your time to meet witheach one individually as they need time? I don'tknow what I'm talking about.
Algebra 1(middleschoolhonor'sclass
HOmework is given on a sheet (tons of copying)but it is only 4 questions: 1 standardized testquestion, 3 open response, 3 of the questions aredirectly from classnotes and 1 is an extenstionproblem. My students reported to spending 15minutes to 1 hour on the work.I glance at the homework. Homework is gradedwith a check - attempted, check minus - one or more not attempted, zero - not done. Homeworkgrades are 10% of final grade. The bigger portionof their grades are projects, quizzes and tests.We meet 5 days for 56 minutes. We spend about 10 - 20 minutesgoing over homework. I glance at the homework (while they aredoing bell work) and individually ask students to present their answers (we have a document camera) - Students who are askedto share work have correct and incorrect answers (good mistakesmade).I "did" homework like this for about 6 weeks. Itworked pretty good.Homework is to see if students can apply whatwe did in class on their own without me. and tosee if they can make that big jump from "regular problems" to applying the concept of what we didto a new problem.
Math C30(Saskatchewan,Canada)
My homework is a variety of questions at differentdifficulty levels. It is practice. It also functions aspart of the pool of possible exam questions.Students spend a varying amount of time on it,from very little (0-15min) (very good students andvery poor students) to quite a bit (~1hr)(these arethe diligent workers in the class).When grading homework (which I very rarely do),it is a cursory glance to see if they attempted thepractice problems. It is given credit under theassignments portion of the class.I have 50 minute classes, and spend the first 10 minutes going over questions from the homework. I am rigid about the 10 minutes. Thisusually means 2 or 3 questions can be covered, so students mustchoose wisely. Any further questions must be asked outside of instructional time. During class, I try to give 10-15 minutes of time towork at practice towards the end of class. If I miss 3 or 4 classes ina row, I may give a period to practice skills.I am happy with my homework system. The onus ison students to complete homework, and I am notmarking constantly. If a student does poorly on anassignment or a test, I only have to ask, "How muchpractice did you do?" 19 times out of 20, the studentrealizes that they didn't do very much homework.Homework is suggested practice in my classes.Math is a lot like sports, some people don't needas much practice as others to be equally skilled.Also like sports, I find that the ones who practicethe most are the really gifted or the ones whoknow they are weak. The mediocre middle tendsto practice the least.
r.AdvancedFunctions(aprerequisite for Calculus/Vectors inour
Homework is assigned mostly every night, usuallyfrom a textbook (now that we have one). I wouldbet that students spend, on average, 45 minutes anight working on their homework.We are not allowed to evaluate homework as it isseen as formative. I never collect it. It does notfactor into their final grade at all.Homework tak-up is also my nemesis. In this class, I postedsolutions to the more basic knowledge-type questions that studentswere supposed to self-check and then come to me after school if problems were still there.I spend approximately 20-30 minutes every day at the beginning of class taking up some of the more complex problems from theprevious night's assignment. I usually have my laptop/lcd on so wecan look at multiple representations(graph/equation/table/etc.)quickly. It usually ends up being meleading the conversation which I am not happy with.I want the time to be spent with students as theleaders. When I have tried this previously, time hasbecome an issue. I am happy with the multiplerepresentations aspect of my homework take-upbecause I can often ask more probing questionsaround the topic that perhaps weren't addressed inthe problem itself. Also helps visual learners and allstudents make deeper connections.I want to work on assigning fewer drill-typeproblems and more problems that are rich andchallenge students to connect. I am alsointerested in checking out some on-line forum toaddress homework but not quite sure how it willwork. I worry about having the time to check thecorrectness of posted work. Then I wonder if Icould use a wiki and incoporate some sort of evaulation like what I am seeing other teachersdo for on-line, end of year review tasks. Thanksfor bringing this issue to the forefront.
5th gradegeneralmath
A page of practice that goes along with the lessonof the day. A short page of review skill that keepthe skills fresh in their minds.These are provide by the textbook company, butI'm not always happy with them. I would like thetime to try to come up with better practice. Theyprobably spend 20 minutes a night on this.I do not assign it every night, but there is usuallysomething.I work hard at the beginning to set up a culture of responsibility for themselves. They areresponsible for making sure they understand, for asking questions, for asking for more practice or another example.When we come into class, we check the answerstogether. I will solve a problem or two on theboard that I have learned over the years isconfusing. Other than that, I expect them to askfor clarification if a problem is wrong.They "grade" their own. If it's wrong, they areexpected to take a minute right then to figure outwhy it was wrong. Usually it's a silly mistake. If not, they bookmark it to ask questions during our next work time.I don't give any grades. I don't assess it. The finaltest/quiz is their grade. The homework is just themfiguring out how to do the skills. They know theywon't be graded on it. They know they won't bepenalized for getting it wrong. They know that thewhole point of the homework is to figure this mathstuff out. If they get it wrong, they know theyhaven't mastered it and need to get help.Class is an hour every day.We spend about 10 minutes going over homework. I project theanswers, they check. Sometimes I collect the homework beforegoing over it, because I want to see their performance. Usually thehomework I collect is for a brand new skill.I circle the problems that are wrong, give it back to them, and tellthem to figure out why it was wrong. As I said, it's usually a sillymistake. But if it's not, they rework it until it's right with help fromme. I try to follow up with more practice problems so they can makesure the skill got cemented.Very happy. My goal is to get them to master theskills. What we do between introduction day and testday is just practice and teaching to get them there.Homework is just a step in the path. I don't reallycare how they walked, or jumped, or skipped. All Icare about is that they get to the end of the path.Usually, we all get to the end of the path mostlysuccessful. When a student doesn't, I find time to goback and work with them. By giving them practicehomework, or meeting with them during lunch or stopping by their desk with a spontaneous practiceproblem. So homework is not some separatething...it's just a different way to practice and learn.I think that I shared all of this in the aboveresponses. :)
Algebra 1
One problem per night. Back when I wasambitious, I would include a practice and achallenge problem. Nowadays it's just a practice.I grade for attempt. I give credit to wrong answersand right answers alike. I just need a jump-off point for discussion with my students. I give their homework a stamp at the same time I give their opener a stamp. One problem means I can have abrief conversation with each student about their work without wasting class time.Our class meets three times a week. We go over the one homeworkproblem right after the opener. Then it's done. Homework review,next to disciplinary conflicts, has been the most efficient way I knowto waste classroom time and sink classroom morale. I couldprobably unpack that assertion over ten pages but for the sake of time I'll leave it there. Keep that stuff short, swift.I'm happy. I'm tempted to make homework a larger percent of the class grade to compel morecompletion but I'm really not certain that increasinghomework completion will increase overall studentachievement. I have a lot of doubt about that.Page 2
Algebra II
I choose four to five problems from the textbook.My feeling is that if the assignment is very short,they should be embarassed not to complete it.I collect it at random. I give the students one extracredit point for completion. Since I grade on apoint system, this ends up being very little extracredit, but they have not figured that out yet.My class meets five days a week for 90 minutes each day. I spend15 minutes daily going over homework. I normally ask them if theyhave any questions over the homework and if no one does, I moveon to the next lesson. It is the student's responsibility to askquestions.It is the best system I have used over the years, but itis not perfect. Most of the students start out strongcompleting the homework but taper off as the year progresses.I think that homework should take very little timeoutside of class. If a student of mine spendsmore than 20 minutes on homework, I tell themto stop working.
MathReview
We have workbooks that are too long with toomany problems. I choose specific kinds of problems for students to work before the nextclass. I don't really know how much time mystudents spend on their homework.Suggestion: Pick HW problems strategically. Donot assign too many problems. Work several inclass. Have students create an "exit card" withone problem each day that demonstrates whether they have mastered a specific kind of problem or concept.For my Math Review students who are collegefreshmen, homework is only about 10-15% of their grade. I do collect it. I do grade it. However, I amchanging my method this fall.Suggestion: the "exit card" I mentioned above willbe graded. However, if the student does notdemonstrate mastery, then I will have them showme their homework and make suggestions for thekinds of problems they need to focus on with their tutor.I have students only two 50-minute "hours" a week with one hour of "office hours". However, my students have several hours a week of laboratory time when they can work one-on-one with a tutor. Ispend approximately 20 minutes of every class period on"homework" and approximately 20 minutes of every class periodpresenting the next concept being reviewed. Five minutes gettingset up and ready to go; five minutes of closure.I have not been happy assigning many, many pagesof homework and then having to grade it. It istedious and I'm not sure it demonstrates anythingexcept my endurance and their persistence. I wantto make my HW more "targeted", and I'm working onthat plan now (during summer) when I can try outsome different schemes.In mathematics, homework is everything. If youdon't use it, you lose it. So there is someadvantage to repetitious problem-solving.However, over an entire semester, it can getreally old. Therefore, a more "targeted"approach, I believe, will allow me to measuremastery, but also dig deeper when I find thatmastery has not occurred. I can go slower withcertain students and faster with others until I hitthat place where everyone grinds to a screechinghalt. This happened last fall. I got though 5workbooks (there are 10 total) before everystudent began to have serious problems. Weonly reviewed two more workbooks before theend of the semester, but the last six weeks wereWorkbooks 6 and 7 (factoring,multiplying/dividing polynomials). That was lastyear's Armageddon. I'm curious to see how far we get this coming fall.
Algebra
I make all my homework problems. Sometimes Itake some from a textbook, but mostly they are myown. It's a lot more work, but I am able to tie thehomework to what I want to teach with laser precision. Also my students don't use a textbook,which is a story for another place and time.I give students a sheet of questions at the end of most classes. Some of these are marked asrequired, but most are not. Aside from therequired questions, they have to do a certainnumber of additional problems of their own choice.The questions are grouped by difficulty so studentschoose the problems that are appropriate for them.Fewer students choose the hard problems than I'dlike, but enough do that it's worthwhile. The ideais actually to leave a good chunk of questionsundone to come back to when its time for review.I usually aim for students to spend between fifteenand twenty minutes on homework, but I think Iovershoot often and the average around thirty.Partly, this is their fault though; the number of questions they must do beyond the required proble . .I very very seldom actually grade homework; onlyif it's an interesting assignment and I need moreinformation about what they know. I rely onquizzes for assessment, mainly. However, at thebeginning of class I walk around the room andcheck that students have done enough problems.This is also an incentive to come to class on time,otherwise they'll miss this check and won't receivecredit for their homework. This, along with anyactual homework grades, counts for 10% of their homework grade. (I used to have homework countas 60% of their grade! I'm a recent convert. Inclasses where the problems are more in depth, Ihave homework count for more.)At the beginning of class, students receive the answers to therequired questions from last nights homework. They check theseover and talk to their friends for help if they don't understand wherethey went wrong while I am checking everyone's homework. If there are some common misunderstandings, I may address thembefore starting the lesson, but I refuse to let this homeworkcheck/review process take more than fifteen minutes. My classmeets for 45 minutes, just four times a week, so I really can't spareit. Students can to come to me during lunch or free periods if theyneed to go over it more, but I really encourage them to help eachother first.This system is a huge improvement over my previoussystem of spending every class going over assignments only half the class understood. I think itworks well provided you are comfortable with rather shallow homework assignments that you won't needto reveiw. The only problem is that it is quite a bit of work, but once I have been doing this for a year, Ishould have a library of questions I can reuse insteadof "reinventing the wheel" every day.I used to think homework should challenge allstudents and extend the lesson, but I've come tosee it more as an opportunity for individualpractice and review, though it can still be a greatway to give advanced students somethingmeatier to chew on. I don't think homeworkshould be a huge part of as student's grade asthey need a safe place to make mistakes as theylearn, but it does need to count for something, if only to motivate them to try it. My only trulypassionate feeling about homework is that if you're going to assign it, it should be worthwhileto the student to do it. This is rarelyaccomplished by textbook problems, in myexperience!
Alg II/Trig
Textbook: reading section, 5 - 10 practice newstuff, ~5 reviewHomework is %15 of final grade. Assigned daily,collected M, W, F, with a few exceptions. Wereview it in class before collecting it, and I try toscan and post answer keys on my website.Students help me grade them during lunch (for which they get "service credit"), checking them for completeness and accuracy.5 times a week, 47 minutes. HW review at most 3 days a week,often just twice a week. Roughly 20 minutes each time.Much happier with current system than old one (dailyhw review, checking HW in class). Problems: gettingthem graded and returned in timely manner, HWcopying, students not completing HW. Not sure howto get students to improve skills likeneatness/organization.They need practice! And some challenge. Littlemath was learned without pounding a headagainst a wall for an extended period.
Geometry,Alg II
One class uses a conventional text book and theother uses a book written by two math departmentmembers. The thing that works is that studentshave answers for the problems assigned and arerequired to do the homework, check the homeworkand come to class already knowing what theydon't understand. The burden is on them to figureout what they need help with. I do check to makesure they have done and checked eachassignment, but it is not a culture of me correctinghomework to give credit for correct answers. Theyget credit for doing the HW and checking it. Thisworks really well with my students, who for themost part of academically inclined (independentschool). This is a new job for me and the first year I have used this method. Having taught for 26years, I can say this method really works! Th kidsspend 30-45 minutes on HW.see abovegrades of 0-3. Most get a 3, some a 2, 1 if horribleand 0 if not done at all. If it is completed late(except for absence) they can earn up to 2 pts.Not graded on how correct it is, but on if they havecompleted and checked it.meet 200 minutes a week/4 classes total, one is a long block.spend the first few minutes going over HW questions anywherefrom 30 minutes to none at all if everyone is all set.I ask kids to let me know what they have questions on and put themon my document viewer.I am thrilled this this system. I also collect hw muchmore in the beginning of the year and less so as theyget into the habit. Any homework I collect has alreaybeen corrected by the students.Those who use the geometry workbook never pass inhomework, I walk around and look at what they havedone at the start of class.to practice what they have learnedto help them assess if they know what they areexpected to knowPage 3
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Homework Survey PDF
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| Upload Date: | 06/19/2009 |
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