Re: Homework

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Re: Homework
By Lisa2

I'm a 4th grade teacher, and like many of you have found it difficult to decrease the amount of time it takes to check homework. A co-teacher and I put our heads together to try and ease this situation. Our students sit
in groups and we both check homework upon the beginning of each subject area in this way ... the easiest yet for the both of us.
Students are asked to take out homework at the beginning of each subject area. A monthly assigned student ("Homework Helper") in each group is then asked to check for complete or incomplete homework in their group. I keep a clipboard with a student checklist

upon it. (The checklist is set up weekly with student names on the left and the weekly dates at the top.) After a minute or so, I ask each "Homework Helper" for a report. If anyone has incomplete homework (in math for instance) I place an "M" next to the students name under that particular date. (E=English, R=Reading, Sp=Spelling, Sc=Sciene, SS=Social Studies, H= Health) At random I then pick a group to check myself. I quickly look over the homework for correctness and completion. This keeps the "Homework Helpers" honest as they never know which group I'll choose.

On the following Monday of each week, I then reward any group that has completed ALL homework from the week before. (Usually a certificate to take home to parents. This can be any reward you choose of course.) A simple bar graph could be created also as a group contest each week or month in your class.

You might be interested to know that the reason I mark the subject area of incomplete homework is because I send a "Last Week's Progress Report" home to parents every Monday. On this report is a checklist in which I mark off the number of homework assignments missed and in which subject area. Parents must sign and have their child return this report to me which I keep in my records. This record keeping (the checklist of incomplete homework) is also very resourceful when parent conferences take place.

By the way ... on that same checklist I record other codes for things (classwork completion, behavior, having proper materials, etc.)I check throughout the week. This clipboard is my companion throughout the day ... and the students know it records everything their parents would want to know about their student performance.

Hope this idea helps.