After three snow days we finally - finally! - went back to school on Wednesday.
Which was a really good thing because the teachers, at least, were getting stir-crazy.
Mrs. Eagle, Mrs. Hummingbird and I got together to do our lessons during morning planning and basically shifted three days, moved our test to Tuesday (which isn't ideal, but it's not like we have a choice), and then came up with three more days of a new unit. So, Wednesday was last week's Friday, Thursday (today) was Monday and tomorrow, (Friday) was Tuesday...Got that?
So even though it was Wednesday, and it felt like Monday, the kids had to turn in their weekly homework (due the previous Friday) and we had to go over our guided outline (also due the previous Friday).
Astounding how many kids honestly couldn't believe I actually wanted them to turn in their homework from last week.
"It's due today?" they'd ask. "Really?"
"Really," I'd tell them. "You had five extra days to get it done."
"Oh."
Many of my students in my Fifth Period Class From the Very Depths of Hell Itself not only didn't have their homework, but they didn't have their outline.
Now we have these fun little slips of paper titled, "My dog didn't eat my homework, because this is what really happened," where the kids fill in their name, the class, what the assignment was, and why it wasn't turned in. I love these things. The look on parents' faces when we slide them ever so carefully across the table during parent meetings is, well, priceless. Nothing like seeing "I didn't do it", "Lost it", "Didn't feel like doing it," and so forth in their darling's hand to kind of wake them up.
Some of the comments written down yesterday were even more amusing. For example:
"I was snowboarding and couldn't do it." (For five days? Five entire days!?)
"It got hit by a snowball and ruined." (You want me to believe you took it outside to work on?)
"I didn't know it was going to be due." (I loved that one.)
"I was too busy." (Doing what? For Five Days??)
Of course, being the little dreamers that they are, they asked if I'd give them an extra day to get it done."
"Hummmmm, No." I said. "No late work. You had five whole days to do it."
Any guesses on how many studied their vocabulary cards?
That's what I thought...
Showing posts with label homework. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homework. Show all posts
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Laying Down the Law
The Team decided after we returned from our Christmas break to really lay down the law on late work. We have kids (and parents) who beg and plead for us to accept late work and we did to a certain extent, often with penalties involved. However, none of the 8th grade teachers accept it, except in the cases of kids on IEP's who get extended time, so it's about time our critters start getting their work in on time so they'll be able to hit the ground running when they make it to eighth grade.
The results have been amazing.
It's been three weeks and I probably have the highest number of assignments turned in I've ever seen. Word got around really quick when we implemented this policy. A few kids whined and whimpered, but once their friends saw that we Really Truly Weren't Accepting Late Work, they got the message. Work is getting turned in. Granted, it's not always complete, but it's better than the big fat nothing we were used to seeing.
Amazingly enough, not a peep out of a parent. Usually when there's something to complain about, you from hear them.
I do have some exceptions. My special ed kids get extended time, and I've privately discussed extended time with some of my kids who I know have really bad home situations and can't get work done on time, through no fault of their own. (Kind of hard to get work done when you're living in a car.)
But on the whole, even these kids are getting their work in by the deadline.
You have high expectations and demand results and oftentimes you'll get them.
The results have been amazing.
It's been three weeks and I probably have the highest number of assignments turned in I've ever seen. Word got around really quick when we implemented this policy. A few kids whined and whimpered, but once their friends saw that we Really Truly Weren't Accepting Late Work, they got the message. Work is getting turned in. Granted, it's not always complete, but it's better than the big fat nothing we were used to seeing.
Amazingly enough, not a peep out of a parent. Usually when there's something to complain about, you from hear them.
I do have some exceptions. My special ed kids get extended time, and I've privately discussed extended time with some of my kids who I know have really bad home situations and can't get work done on time, through no fault of their own. (Kind of hard to get work done when you're living in a car.)
But on the whole, even these kids are getting their work in by the deadline.
You have high expectations and demand results and oftentimes you'll get them.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Avoiding the Inevitable
It's the last day of my Thanksgiving Break. Daddy is here, it's raining outside, and there's football on television.
And I have three periods of writing prompts which I should be grading.
But I don't really feel motivated to do so.
Sigh.
As much as I like to read, and write, I could never have been a language arts teacher. They have my utmost respect for slogging through essay after essay after essay. It's bad enough that we have to assign, and grade for content, one writing assignment every nine weeks. I could not have done it on a regular basis.
So I have these writing prompts dealing with pollination, some of which are quite good and some of which - let's be honest - are awful.
Putting a needle in your eye awful.
And I really need to get them graded. But honestly, I'd rather hang with Dad, knit and watch football.
What's a girl to do?
And I have three periods of writing prompts which I should be grading.
But I don't really feel motivated to do so.
Sigh.
As much as I like to read, and write, I could never have been a language arts teacher. They have my utmost respect for slogging through essay after essay after essay. It's bad enough that we have to assign, and grade for content, one writing assignment every nine weeks. I could not have done it on a regular basis.
So I have these writing prompts dealing with pollination, some of which are quite good and some of which - let's be honest - are awful.
Putting a needle in your eye awful.
And I really need to get them graded. But honestly, I'd rather hang with Dad, knit and watch football.
What's a girl to do?
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
It's Gnomes, I Tell You...Or Maybe Elves
No, I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth.
Actually it was Fall Break (YIPPPEEE!)which was wonderful, but then coming back is just, well, a bit of a let down. See, I had to finalize grades for report cards which go out on Friday. And, out of 97 kids, 50 passed.
Yes, nearly 50% failed science. Amazing. However, I'm not alone. All the other 7th grade teachers had similar results. These kids just won't turn in work. If it's anything that leaves the room - homework, class work that isn't finished, a model, a project, anything - it will not be turned in.
I had one student, Elf Boy, who's a small kid, really sweet, and according to his records, is smart as a whip. But he's failing every single stinking class because he won't turn in work. His mother, whom I've emailed, called, you name it, is kind of vague about things like getting him into an after school tutoring program ("Well, uh, I don't know, maybe it would help," and comments like, "Oh, I only check my email about once a month, or so.") In any case, Mrs. Band is having fits because he's a good band kid and parents claim that they're going to pull him out of band if he doesn't bring his grades up.
As an aside, I don't believe that for a minute. They won't do a thing to help bring his grades up - meet with teachers, check grades on PowerSchool, check agendas - so I'm guessing this is some idle threat. So far, that's exactly what it is. No parent down in guidance demanding that Elf Boy quit band. In fact, what we're hearing is a giant bit of nothing. Parents aren't telling Mrs. Band this, Elf Boy is telling Mrs. Band that parents are telling him this. It's just bizarre.
In any case, I've spent a few of my free planning periods trying to get Elf Boy caught up on some of the larger assignments, which he finally did, but it wasn't enough to earn him anywhere close to passing. I did get to talk to him a few times about what happens to all the work that he claims to have done, but never turned in.
"I honestly do all of my work," he said to me. "But it disappears."
"Do you put it in your binder in the homework sections?" I ask him as we have the kids set up on a program similar to AVID where The Binder Holds All.
"No, not everything. A lot of it like my cell model I put on my dresser before I go to bed."
"And it's not there in the morning?" I ask him.
"No, every morning when I wake up everything I've put there is gone." His big round eyes are looking at me with dead seriousness at this point.
"Gone?" I ask.
"Gone," he confirms. "Every day."
"Without fail?"
He nods his head.
"So who's taking it?" I ask him as the stares at me. I'm thinking I'm going to hear a story now about Evil Sibling who's destroying his life by stealing all his work.
"I think it's gnomes," he says.
He is serious.
"Or maybe elves," he responds. "I'm not quite sure which."
"Have you considered an Orc?" I ask, the Sarcastic Bird taking flight.
"No, I don't think it's an Orc," he answers. "I'm thinking it's elves."
Oh. Good. Gracious.
Actually it was Fall Break (YIPPPEEE!)which was wonderful, but then coming back is just, well, a bit of a let down. See, I had to finalize grades for report cards which go out on Friday. And, out of 97 kids, 50 passed.
Yes, nearly 50% failed science. Amazing. However, I'm not alone. All the other 7th grade teachers had similar results. These kids just won't turn in work. If it's anything that leaves the room - homework, class work that isn't finished, a model, a project, anything - it will not be turned in.
I had one student, Elf Boy, who's a small kid, really sweet, and according to his records, is smart as a whip. But he's failing every single stinking class because he won't turn in work. His mother, whom I've emailed, called, you name it, is kind of vague about things like getting him into an after school tutoring program ("Well, uh, I don't know, maybe it would help," and comments like, "Oh, I only check my email about once a month, or so.") In any case, Mrs. Band is having fits because he's a good band kid and parents claim that they're going to pull him out of band if he doesn't bring his grades up.
As an aside, I don't believe that for a minute. They won't do a thing to help bring his grades up - meet with teachers, check grades on PowerSchool, check agendas - so I'm guessing this is some idle threat. So far, that's exactly what it is. No parent down in guidance demanding that Elf Boy quit band. In fact, what we're hearing is a giant bit of nothing. Parents aren't telling Mrs. Band this, Elf Boy is telling Mrs. Band that parents are telling him this. It's just bizarre.
In any case, I've spent a few of my free planning periods trying to get Elf Boy caught up on some of the larger assignments, which he finally did, but it wasn't enough to earn him anywhere close to passing. I did get to talk to him a few times about what happens to all the work that he claims to have done, but never turned in.
"I honestly do all of my work," he said to me. "But it disappears."
"Do you put it in your binder in the homework sections?" I ask him as we have the kids set up on a program similar to AVID where The Binder Holds All.
"No, not everything. A lot of it like my cell model I put on my dresser before I go to bed."
"And it's not there in the morning?" I ask him.
"No, every morning when I wake up everything I've put there is gone." His big round eyes are looking at me with dead seriousness at this point.
"Gone?" I ask.
"Gone," he confirms. "Every day."
"Without fail?"
He nods his head.
"So who's taking it?" I ask him as the stares at me. I'm thinking I'm going to hear a story now about Evil Sibling who's destroying his life by stealing all his work.
"I think it's gnomes," he says.
He is serious.
"Or maybe elves," he responds. "I'm not quite sure which."
"Have you considered an Orc?" I ask, the Sarcastic Bird taking flight.
"No, I don't think it's an Orc," he answers. "I'm thinking it's elves."
Oh. Good. Gracious.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Accountability
The Team came back from Fall Break, rested, rejuvenated, and refreshed, only to notice that, one week into the new grading period, our kiddos were doing pretty much nothing. They weren't doing homework and even some of them couldn't manage to turn in in-class assignments.
My homework turn in percentage the past few years has been really high. For one, I assign it on Monday and it's due on Friday. I usually give the students a choice on which assignments they want to do (I'll list four, they do two). The homework itself is practice for what we've done in class, but if they have questions on it, I do have homework helpers that they can use during am homeroom, pm homeroom, or check out to take home - some of my special education students get the helpers stapled into their agendas or emailed home to their parents. It essentially gives the answers to the homework, so even if a kid is completely clueless, if he or she copies down the correct information, at least it was in front of them for that one time. (That idea isn't original - it came from an NMSA conference I went to a few years ago.) However, even with choices, even with four days to do the assignments, and even with the answers right there in front of them, they didn't bother to turn any work in - this is a huge change from previous years when I had nearly all my kids turning in work.
I wasn't alone. All the teachers in the seventh grade have the same problem, and even some of the eighth graders are exhibiting vast degrees of laziness. One of the eighth grade teams has implemented a homework clinic during lunch where the kids who owed work had to eat in a teacher's classroom and work on their homework at the same time. This seems to work pretty well as the kids started turning in work, rather than miss their social time, and at the same time their test scores and grades started to improve (especially in Math.)
Our Mr. Math was at another school last year that really targeted these kids who turn out to be, for the most part, our at-risk population. We took a little of what he did at his old school, a little what the 8th graders were doing, and came up with the Friday Homework Clinic.
By Monday afternoon, the teachers on my team have emailed me the names of all the kids with missing work for this grading period. I can cut and paste all this into an Excel spreadsheet (PowerSchool, our new grading program, makes this soooo easy), sort the kids by name, and have a print out of who owes what work.
On Tuesday morning I hand out to the kids a slip of paper with all their missing assignments listed. They have until Thursday afternoon to get this work made up and turned in, otherwise, they miss their first period elective class on Friday. Instead of doing art, or PE, or band, or computers, they are assigned to one of our rooms where they have to sit and work. We try to assign the kids to the teacher they need the most help with (for example if most of the work they owe is Math, Mr. Math gets them). This way they can get more individual attention. (I also make sure all my teammates have a copy of my Homework Helpers so that is available to help the kids as well).
The first week we did this, out of 120 kids, we had 88 who initially had to attend the clinic.
By Friday morning that number was down to about 68.
They were not happy. At all. However, they did turn in a lot of work. For some kids this was the first work we'd seen out of them all year. When I went home and graded papers this weekend, I couldn't believe how many students had managed to not only turn in their missing assignments, but managed to pull their grades up as well.
The Principal, by the way, absolutely loves that we're doing this. I got her blessing before we started. As she says, we have absolutely got to get these kids growing academically, and if it means having high expectations and accountability, so be it.
This week our number of kids missing assignments is 73. Of that number, about 20 of them are kids who owe one assignment and can, quite honestly, get that turned in before the Thursday deadline. That would give us about 53. That's still a high number, but better than the week before. It may take a few weeks for some of them to realize that we're serious.
At it costs us is a bit of time, and losing one planning period (we get two) to help work with these kids.
It's worth it.
My homework turn in percentage the past few years has been really high. For one, I assign it on Monday and it's due on Friday. I usually give the students a choice on which assignments they want to do (I'll list four, they do two). The homework itself is practice for what we've done in class, but if they have questions on it, I do have homework helpers that they can use during am homeroom, pm homeroom, or check out to take home - some of my special education students get the helpers stapled into their agendas or emailed home to their parents. It essentially gives the answers to the homework, so even if a kid is completely clueless, if he or she copies down the correct information, at least it was in front of them for that one time. (That idea isn't original - it came from an NMSA conference I went to a few years ago.) However, even with choices, even with four days to do the assignments, and even with the answers right there in front of them, they didn't bother to turn any work in - this is a huge change from previous years when I had nearly all my kids turning in work.
I wasn't alone. All the teachers in the seventh grade have the same problem, and even some of the eighth graders are exhibiting vast degrees of laziness. One of the eighth grade teams has implemented a homework clinic during lunch where the kids who owed work had to eat in a teacher's classroom and work on their homework at the same time. This seems to work pretty well as the kids started turning in work, rather than miss their social time, and at the same time their test scores and grades started to improve (especially in Math.)
Our Mr. Math was at another school last year that really targeted these kids who turn out to be, for the most part, our at-risk population. We took a little of what he did at his old school, a little what the 8th graders were doing, and came up with the Friday Homework Clinic.
By Monday afternoon, the teachers on my team have emailed me the names of all the kids with missing work for this grading period. I can cut and paste all this into an Excel spreadsheet (PowerSchool, our new grading program, makes this soooo easy), sort the kids by name, and have a print out of who owes what work.
On Tuesday morning I hand out to the kids a slip of paper with all their missing assignments listed. They have until Thursday afternoon to get this work made up and turned in, otherwise, they miss their first period elective class on Friday. Instead of doing art, or PE, or band, or computers, they are assigned to one of our rooms where they have to sit and work. We try to assign the kids to the teacher they need the most help with (for example if most of the work they owe is Math, Mr. Math gets them). This way they can get more individual attention. (I also make sure all my teammates have a copy of my Homework Helpers so that is available to help the kids as well).
The first week we did this, out of 120 kids, we had 88 who initially had to attend the clinic.
By Friday morning that number was down to about 68.
They were not happy. At all. However, they did turn in a lot of work. For some kids this was the first work we'd seen out of them all year. When I went home and graded papers this weekend, I couldn't believe how many students had managed to not only turn in their missing assignments, but managed to pull their grades up as well.
The Principal, by the way, absolutely loves that we're doing this. I got her blessing before we started. As she says, we have absolutely got to get these kids growing academically, and if it means having high expectations and accountability, so be it.
This week our number of kids missing assignments is 73. Of that number, about 20 of them are kids who owe one assignment and can, quite honestly, get that turned in before the Thursday deadline. That would give us about 53. That's still a high number, but better than the week before. It may take a few weeks for some of them to realize that we're serious.
At it costs us is a bit of time, and losing one planning period (we get two) to help work with these kids.
It's worth it.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The Weird Homework Thing We Do...
I've alluded to this in some previous posts, and finally have time to sit down and share what Mrs. Eagle, Mrs. Robin and I do to encourage homework turn in. (Well, actually I need to fold laundry and clean up the kitchen, but this is more fun.)
First the background. Nearly two years ago The Principal took nine of us to the National Middle School Association national convention. This was an awesome experience as it gave us a chance to meet with other middle school teachers from all over the country, attend workshops, and get some great ideas. The District is in the process of looking at, and reforming, middle schools, and those of us that went were part of The Principal's Breaking Ranks team.
One of the workshops that Mrs. Eagle and I attended was on increasing student motivation. As anyone who has ever taught middle school knows, these kids can be slugs. We had a lot of problems with kids turning in work, especially homework, and were looking at some innovative ways to motivate them. (I wish I could remember who the presenter was, but alas, I don't.) The presenter put forth a lot of good ideas, but the one that resonated with us was something we call the Homework Helper. He said that the number one reason kids don't do homework is because they don't understand it.
His solution is to give the kids the answers to the homework.
Okay, I know what you're thinking because you could have heard a pin drop in that room as we all looked at each other and went, "What????" Homework is, after all, practice. If a kid doesn't get it, and does the homework wrong (if he does it at all), then he's repeating the wrong thing. He's learning and remembering something that is wrong. However, if you give the kid a key to check the work, then they're doing it correctly, and learning it correctly.
So Mrs. Eagle and I kicked this idea around for a while. Many of our kids don't do homework for reasons that have a lot to do with the poverty they live in. Every year we do this neat parent letter about giving your child a place to study that's quiet, well lit, and all that, but in reality a lot of our students are sleeping on the sofa in Mom's Boyfriend of the Week's apartment, living in homes without electricity because it got cut off for non payment, or go home to households where the yelling and screaming is paramount. Some just wander the streets until it's dark because it beats being home. And some are responsible for baby sitting hordes of little siblings and cousins and whatnot when they get home so homework is the last thing on their minds.
So....what to do?
We did several things.
The first involves choice. Middle Schoolers often feel that they don't have many choices in their lives so we decided to give them some. On Monday, we assign four homework assignments. We mix them up a bit. We'll have a more math-oriented assignment that appeals to the kids that like math, an assignment that's more reading and answering for kids that do better there, and sometimes a drawing/labeling exercise for the more artistic. The kids get to choose which two they want to do and then have all week to do it. Homework is due on Friday.
The second thing we do is provide the Homework Helper. The Homework Helper is the answer key to that week's homework. We put it out on Tuesday, and only make ten copies which are numbered and put in sheet protectors. I have them in a rack on the supply and materials table. The students are welcome to use them during homeroom, or any time we have a few minutes in class, or they can check them out for one night, to be returned during homeroom.
As we explain to the students, there's three types of students. First you have the kids who are going to do their homework anyway and who won't even bother to look at a Homework Helper. Second, you have the kids who will do most of their homework but struggle with a few questions and will use the Homework Helper to check his or her work. And lastly, you have the kid who has never turned in any homework - ever - and who will simply copy it and turn it in. The way we look at it, at least they're copying the right information, they're writing it down, they're looking at it, they're being exposed to it. And they'll get the points for turning in their homework. (For the record, homework isn't a huge point-earner in our gradebooks...only about 10 points a week.) This is also a big help for my special education kids.
What we've seen is that kids who have never turned in homework are now turning in homework. And when they get their progress reports and see the lack of zeros and see the fact that they are actually, most likely, passing, they begin to realize that doing homework does pay off. We started this program last year, mid-year, and saw our homework turn in increase to about 95%. Previously we were at about 50%.
My favorite part, however, is how this plays in parent conferences. I always take a copy of a homework helper to a parent conference, especially if the kid is still one of the few who won't be bothered (and they are still out there). I will point out the lack of homework on the progress report, and explain as I hand the parent the Homework Helper that there's really no excuse for that as the Homework Helper is available in class, and can also be checked out overnight. It's pretty powerful when the parents realize that there really is no excuse for not having the work done and turned in.
So that's what we do. It seems weird, it's definitely not for everyone, but it's working for us. I can't tell you if it's improved comprehension or retention of the material as we've been doing this all year with this group of students. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that, at the least, it's helping some of them develop some work ethic. A lot of my students at the beginning of the year weren't turning in much work at all, but once they got the hang of the Homework Helper, they started to turn in work. Many of these same kids aren't relying on the Homework Helper any more, but are attempting to do the work on their own. I consider that somewhat of a victory.
First the background. Nearly two years ago The Principal took nine of us to the National Middle School Association national convention. This was an awesome experience as it gave us a chance to meet with other middle school teachers from all over the country, attend workshops, and get some great ideas. The District is in the process of looking at, and reforming, middle schools, and those of us that went were part of The Principal's Breaking Ranks team.
One of the workshops that Mrs. Eagle and I attended was on increasing student motivation. As anyone who has ever taught middle school knows, these kids can be slugs. We had a lot of problems with kids turning in work, especially homework, and were looking at some innovative ways to motivate them. (I wish I could remember who the presenter was, but alas, I don't.) The presenter put forth a lot of good ideas, but the one that resonated with us was something we call the Homework Helper. He said that the number one reason kids don't do homework is because they don't understand it.
His solution is to give the kids the answers to the homework.
Okay, I know what you're thinking because you could have heard a pin drop in that room as we all looked at each other and went, "What????" Homework is, after all, practice. If a kid doesn't get it, and does the homework wrong (if he does it at all), then he's repeating the wrong thing. He's learning and remembering something that is wrong. However, if you give the kid a key to check the work, then they're doing it correctly, and learning it correctly.
So Mrs. Eagle and I kicked this idea around for a while. Many of our kids don't do homework for reasons that have a lot to do with the poverty they live in. Every year we do this neat parent letter about giving your child a place to study that's quiet, well lit, and all that, but in reality a lot of our students are sleeping on the sofa in Mom's Boyfriend of the Week's apartment, living in homes without electricity because it got cut off for non payment, or go home to households where the yelling and screaming is paramount. Some just wander the streets until it's dark because it beats being home. And some are responsible for baby sitting hordes of little siblings and cousins and whatnot when they get home so homework is the last thing on their minds.
So....what to do?
We did several things.
The first involves choice. Middle Schoolers often feel that they don't have many choices in their lives so we decided to give them some. On Monday, we assign four homework assignments. We mix them up a bit. We'll have a more math-oriented assignment that appeals to the kids that like math, an assignment that's more reading and answering for kids that do better there, and sometimes a drawing/labeling exercise for the more artistic. The kids get to choose which two they want to do and then have all week to do it. Homework is due on Friday.
The second thing we do is provide the Homework Helper. The Homework Helper is the answer key to that week's homework. We put it out on Tuesday, and only make ten copies which are numbered and put in sheet protectors. I have them in a rack on the supply and materials table. The students are welcome to use them during homeroom, or any time we have a few minutes in class, or they can check them out for one night, to be returned during homeroom.
As we explain to the students, there's three types of students. First you have the kids who are going to do their homework anyway and who won't even bother to look at a Homework Helper. Second, you have the kids who will do most of their homework but struggle with a few questions and will use the Homework Helper to check his or her work. And lastly, you have the kid who has never turned in any homework - ever - and who will simply copy it and turn it in. The way we look at it, at least they're copying the right information, they're writing it down, they're looking at it, they're being exposed to it. And they'll get the points for turning in their homework. (For the record, homework isn't a huge point-earner in our gradebooks...only about 10 points a week.) This is also a big help for my special education kids.
What we've seen is that kids who have never turned in homework are now turning in homework. And when they get their progress reports and see the lack of zeros and see the fact that they are actually, most likely, passing, they begin to realize that doing homework does pay off. We started this program last year, mid-year, and saw our homework turn in increase to about 95%. Previously we were at about 50%.
My favorite part, however, is how this plays in parent conferences. I always take a copy of a homework helper to a parent conference, especially if the kid is still one of the few who won't be bothered (and they are still out there). I will point out the lack of homework on the progress report, and explain as I hand the parent the Homework Helper that there's really no excuse for that as the Homework Helper is available in class, and can also be checked out overnight. It's pretty powerful when the parents realize that there really is no excuse for not having the work done and turned in.
So that's what we do. It seems weird, it's definitely not for everyone, but it's working for us. I can't tell you if it's improved comprehension or retention of the material as we've been doing this all year with this group of students. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that, at the least, it's helping some of them develop some work ethic. A lot of my students at the beginning of the year weren't turning in much work at all, but once they got the hang of the Homework Helper, they started to turn in work. Many of these same kids aren't relying on the Homework Helper any more, but are attempting to do the work on their own. I consider that somewhat of a victory.
Monday, March 03, 2008
You Mean We Don't Have Forever?
During second period today I received an email from Guidance with the report card schedule on it. It turns out that my grades for this nine week grading period are due Thursday.
I went to the homework board and wrote in big, huge script..."All missing work is due no later than this Wednesday."
"This Wednesday?" a tiny voice squeaked.
"Yup, this Wednesday. I have to get your grades finalized. That means Thursday morning won't cut it."
The look of panic on some of their faces was pretty evident. I have a lot of kids who haven't turned in work, ranging from homework, to vocabulary, to 100 point assignments. Some because they don't care, a few because they've been absent and aren't in any hurry to make up work, and others just because they're disorganized and confused. Last week I printed off progress reports for kids in danger of failing and highlighted their missing work.
Any guesses how much work came flying in after that little exercise in paper-wasting???
Yeah, a big fat zero.
Today, however, was different. I had kids coming up all day asking if they owed me anything, kids digging through binders checking for lost and missing assignments, a few cleaning out lockers to find worksheets never turned in.
By the end of the day the late work showing up in the homework basket was piling up.
Nothing like a deadline to put the fear of God in them.
I went to the homework board and wrote in big, huge script..."All missing work is due no later than this Wednesday."
"This Wednesday?" a tiny voice squeaked.
"Yup, this Wednesday. I have to get your grades finalized. That means Thursday morning won't cut it."
The look of panic on some of their faces was pretty evident. I have a lot of kids who haven't turned in work, ranging from homework, to vocabulary, to 100 point assignments. Some because they don't care, a few because they've been absent and aren't in any hurry to make up work, and others just because they're disorganized and confused. Last week I printed off progress reports for kids in danger of failing and highlighted their missing work.
Any guesses how much work came flying in after that little exercise in paper-wasting???
Yeah, a big fat zero.
Today, however, was different. I had kids coming up all day asking if they owed me anything, kids digging through binders checking for lost and missing assignments, a few cleaning out lockers to find worksheets never turned in.
By the end of the day the late work showing up in the homework basket was piling up.
Nothing like a deadline to put the fear of God in them.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Good News, Bad News
I had to be out of the building on Friday, along with The Principal, the Guidance Goober, Mrs. Eagle, Mrs. Bunny, and Mrs. Art, and a few others on the middle school reform team. We had to do one of our meetings downtown, with the other middle school teams, to see how we were implementing some of our new strategies to help our at-risk population.
Mrs. Eagle and I didn't really want to let our homework sit there over the weekend - we both like to get it graded and back as soon as we can - so we went back to The Building late that afternoon to pick it up and see what comments our substitutes had left us.
My note said, "You have the most wonderful classes. They were all well mannered and well-behaved. It was a joy to teach them."
Delightful! Perhaps my "Don't embarrass yourself, me, or your school by acting badly" lecture worked.
The bad news was, as I've gone through the homework this weekend, a lot of them didn't turn it in. This tends to happen when I have a substitute on homework turn in days. I don't know what it is that causes them to forget to turn in homework on the days I'm not there. We do it every single Friday. However, part of me suspects it's because I'm not there reminding them every 8 seconds that they need to turn in their homework. Who knows?
But the note did make my day.
Mrs. Eagle and I didn't really want to let our homework sit there over the weekend - we both like to get it graded and back as soon as we can - so we went back to The Building late that afternoon to pick it up and see what comments our substitutes had left us.
My note said, "You have the most wonderful classes. They were all well mannered and well-behaved. It was a joy to teach them."
Delightful! Perhaps my "Don't embarrass yourself, me, or your school by acting badly" lecture worked.
The bad news was, as I've gone through the homework this weekend, a lot of them didn't turn it in. This tends to happen when I have a substitute on homework turn in days. I don't know what it is that causes them to forget to turn in homework on the days I'm not there. We do it every single Friday. However, part of me suspects it's because I'm not there reminding them every 8 seconds that they need to turn in their homework. Who knows?
But the note did make my day.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Throwing Down the Gauntlet
One of the big topics of conversation a few weeks ago at our in-service was ways to motivate our kids. A lot of our students come from families where education is not a priority. Many of my parents are high school drop outs themselves. A lot of these kids (and parents) just don't see the point of doing well in school so, consequently, they don't. They're more interested in becoming football players, hip hop artists, or rock stars. (Or drug dealers...)
Some of the better, and more successful, ideas that were presented had an element of competition involved. I love this idea because real life is, after all, competitive. I spent fifteen years in the corporate sector and I saw competition that makes reality TV seem downright tame. I worry when I see educational experts (and teachers) doing their very best to remove competition from kids' lives because that's going to ensure that they won't have the skills to deal with competition and failure. Both of which are very, very real.
So Mrs. Eagle, Mrs. Robin and I were knocking around some ideas the other day to come up with ways to motivate our kids and we realized that, for the first time, our class periods were all very similar. Usually one team was designated as the inclusion team so they got a lot of the spec ed kids, one team got all the band kids (which tend to be better students), and another team got the trouble makers. This year, however, with all the seventh graders on the same schedule, things were more evenly distributed. And even stranger, all our first period classes were very similar, all our second periods were very similar, and so forth and so on.
And we got to thinking...why not let each of the three seventh grade class periods compete against each other to see which of them ends up with the highest grade point average at the end of the grading period?
I presented the idea to the kids and they absolutely loved the idea. They weren't even all that concerned about what the prize would be, although they suggested a pizza party to the winning classes. (Which was kind of what we were thinking although we'll need to find a way to pay for it...fundraiser anyone?) They just loved the idea of beating the other teams and having bragging rights. Adding pizza to the mix just made it better.
So we put together some charts to track the weekly class averages and I posted the current week's results on my whiteboard.
And my fifth period class has an average grade of 68%.
70% is passing.
My fifth period, which has my biggest group of behavior problems and which is my loudest and most talkative class, was stunned.
"We suck," they said.
"I'm not going to disagree," I responded. "Although I might have phrased that a bit differently."
"That's embarrassing," they said.
"This is stupid," Sickly Girl said. "I'm getting an A this nine weeks. I got an A all year in sixth grade and the only reason I'm not getting an A now is I'm not doing anything and I got an F!"
Many heads nod in agreement. "Yeah, we can do better," a few others said. "We just need to study and do our work, and it's really not that hard."
"And shut up!" Hip Hop Boy declared. A stunning declaration considering that this child speaks at a yell most of the time.
"Well," I told them. "It's up to you. You decide where you want to be on this board. Winning or Losing."
"We want to win!" they scream. "We want pizza!"
The result? Kids who have never, ever turned in a single homework assignment all year....turned it in early this week. Even Shrek Boy.
Perhaps a little competition is all they needed...
Update!!!! This week's class average has risen!!! They are now at 70.2%!!!
Some of the better, and more successful, ideas that were presented had an element of competition involved. I love this idea because real life is, after all, competitive. I spent fifteen years in the corporate sector and I saw competition that makes reality TV seem downright tame. I worry when I see educational experts (and teachers) doing their very best to remove competition from kids' lives because that's going to ensure that they won't have the skills to deal with competition and failure. Both of which are very, very real.
So Mrs. Eagle, Mrs. Robin and I were knocking around some ideas the other day to come up with ways to motivate our kids and we realized that, for the first time, our class periods were all very similar. Usually one team was designated as the inclusion team so they got a lot of the spec ed kids, one team got all the band kids (which tend to be better students), and another team got the trouble makers. This year, however, with all the seventh graders on the same schedule, things were more evenly distributed. And even stranger, all our first period classes were very similar, all our second periods were very similar, and so forth and so on.
And we got to thinking...why not let each of the three seventh grade class periods compete against each other to see which of them ends up with the highest grade point average at the end of the grading period?
I presented the idea to the kids and they absolutely loved the idea. They weren't even all that concerned about what the prize would be, although they suggested a pizza party to the winning classes. (Which was kind of what we were thinking although we'll need to find a way to pay for it...fundraiser anyone?) They just loved the idea of beating the other teams and having bragging rights. Adding pizza to the mix just made it better.
So we put together some charts to track the weekly class averages and I posted the current week's results on my whiteboard.
And my fifth period class has an average grade of 68%.
70% is passing.
My fifth period, which has my biggest group of behavior problems and which is my loudest and most talkative class, was stunned.
"We suck," they said.
"I'm not going to disagree," I responded. "Although I might have phrased that a bit differently."
"That's embarrassing," they said.
"This is stupid," Sickly Girl said. "I'm getting an A this nine weeks. I got an A all year in sixth grade and the only reason I'm not getting an A now is I'm not doing anything and I got an F!"
Many heads nod in agreement. "Yeah, we can do better," a few others said. "We just need to study and do our work, and it's really not that hard."
"And shut up!" Hip Hop Boy declared. A stunning declaration considering that this child speaks at a yell most of the time.
"Well," I told them. "It's up to you. You decide where you want to be on this board. Winning or Losing."
"We want to win!" they scream. "We want pizza!"
The result? Kids who have never, ever turned in a single homework assignment all year....turned it in early this week. Even Shrek Boy.
Perhaps a little competition is all they needed...
Update!!!! This week's class average has risen!!! They are now at 70.2%!!!
Friday, September 28, 2007
What? You Mean We Actually Get an Aide?
Our school this year is blessed, for the first time, with an aide for each team. That's nine new aides hired this year and some of us are still pinching ourselves to make sure it's real. I guess they're lucky we aren't pinching the aides just to make sure we aren't hallucinating. We used to go to these silly workshops where they would teach us "how to work with your aide" and we all used to roll our eyes and snort, "what freaking aide?" under our breath. But now, amazingly enough, we have real honest to goodness aides.
Our Aide, Mr. Title, has been around the building a few years, mainly as a long-term substitute. He's a delightful young man with INFINITE patience. You have to have infinite patience to deal with some of the characters he spends most of his day working with. He spends his day focusing on a core group of kids that have been targeted as our most at-risk. Most of these kids were non-academically promoted last year and are, yet again, struggling this year. They aren't special education, but have other issues - usually a lack of motivation and a home life that isn't the most supportive (just to be nice).
Mr. Title usually comes to my fifth period class. My fifth period class is one of my smallest, with 19 kids (I know, that's another story - our class sizes have dropped), but it's definitely my lowest. I just input grades yesterday and noticed that my highest grade for 5th period is a C. I have eleven students failing that class. In the five years I have been at The School, I have never had a class that consistently low (and the one special education student in that class is one of my top students). I am giving modified tests and quizzes to over half the kids in this class and they're still failing.
Mr. Title has, at times, shown a few cracks in his armor of Infinite Patience. For example, the Big Homework Issue. Out of the nine kids on the team that have his study skills class later in the day, only one of them turned in homework last week. The other eight laid a big ol' goose egg. Again.
Now this year, I have most of my kids turning in homework. In fact, so few of them are NOT turning in homework that both Mr. Social Studies and I actually have the time to email or call the parents of the few who consistently don't perform in this area. Homework for the seventh grade science teachers is so easy it's ridiculous. They get four assignments on Monday, chose which two they want to do, and turn them in on Friday. It gets even easier...we actually have available on the work table, in sheet protectors, the keys to the homework so that kids can check their work - and gasp! copy - if need be. (The reasoning behind this is another post I'll do soon). So, in reality, there's no reason why anyone should not be turning in homework.
Unless you're nothing but an unmotivated slug.
Mr. Title checked with me again today about whether or not his eight slugs managed to get their homework turned in from the previous week (I said I'd take partial credit). When I told him that not one had bothered, he looked like he was going to bang his head into the closest wall.
"Good gracious, your homework is so easy it's insane! How can they not be turning it in?"
Ah, the million dollar question, isn't it?
Interestingly enough, I've already taken most of these students to the support team and one thing I found in the files was that nearly all of them had family histories of drug and alcohol problems and/or parents who's highest educational level attained was either ninth or tenth grade.
A connection?
Our Aide, Mr. Title, has been around the building a few years, mainly as a long-term substitute. He's a delightful young man with INFINITE patience. You have to have infinite patience to deal with some of the characters he spends most of his day working with. He spends his day focusing on a core group of kids that have been targeted as our most at-risk. Most of these kids were non-academically promoted last year and are, yet again, struggling this year. They aren't special education, but have other issues - usually a lack of motivation and a home life that isn't the most supportive (just to be nice).
Mr. Title usually comes to my fifth period class. My fifth period class is one of my smallest, with 19 kids (I know, that's another story - our class sizes have dropped), but it's definitely my lowest. I just input grades yesterday and noticed that my highest grade for 5th period is a C. I have eleven students failing that class. In the five years I have been at The School, I have never had a class that consistently low (and the one special education student in that class is one of my top students). I am giving modified tests and quizzes to over half the kids in this class and they're still failing.
Mr. Title has, at times, shown a few cracks in his armor of Infinite Patience. For example, the Big Homework Issue. Out of the nine kids on the team that have his study skills class later in the day, only one of them turned in homework last week. The other eight laid a big ol' goose egg. Again.
Now this year, I have most of my kids turning in homework. In fact, so few of them are NOT turning in homework that both Mr. Social Studies and I actually have the time to email or call the parents of the few who consistently don't perform in this area. Homework for the seventh grade science teachers is so easy it's ridiculous. They get four assignments on Monday, chose which two they want to do, and turn them in on Friday. It gets even easier...we actually have available on the work table, in sheet protectors, the keys to the homework so that kids can check their work - and gasp! copy - if need be. (The reasoning behind this is another post I'll do soon). So, in reality, there's no reason why anyone should not be turning in homework.
Unless you're nothing but an unmotivated slug.
Mr. Title checked with me again today about whether or not his eight slugs managed to get their homework turned in from the previous week (I said I'd take partial credit). When I told him that not one had bothered, he looked like he was going to bang his head into the closest wall.
"Good gracious, your homework is so easy it's insane! How can they not be turning it in?"
Ah, the million dollar question, isn't it?
Interestingly enough, I've already taken most of these students to the support team and one thing I found in the files was that nearly all of them had family histories of drug and alcohol problems and/or parents who's highest educational level attained was either ninth or tenth grade.
A connection?
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