ASCD 2009 Annual Conference

1

Decriminalizing homework

ASCD 2009 Annual Conference

Orlando, Florida

Presented by

Dr. Cathy Vatterott

Associate Professor of Education

University of Missouri-St. Louis

One University Boulevard

St. Louis, Missouri63121

(314) 516-5863

When weallow students to fail by not doing homework,

we short-circuit our long-term goals

*What we want is to develop and refine intellectual skills—

butwhen students don’t do homework, they may not perfect math skills, may not read as well, or may lack depth of knowledge for future learning.

*What we want is to develop independent learners—

but when students don’t do homework, they may fail to develop independent strategies and may not experience the sense of efficacy that comes from completing work independently.

*What we want is to nurture within students an identity of a successful learner—

butwhen students don’t do homework they may have trouble keeping up in class, may receive failing grades, and may lose confidence in their ability to learn.

SIX STEPS TO EFFECTIVE HOMEWORK

Designing quality tasks

Differentiating homework tasks

Moving from grading to checking--Focusing on feedback

Decriminalizing grading

Using completion strategies

Establishing support programs

DESIGNING QUALITY HOMEWORK TASKS

• have a clear academic purpose (not busy work)
• are customized to promote ownership (personal)
• instill a sense of competence (doable)
• are “aesthetically pleasing”(well-organized, easy to understand, pleasant)

Homework should not be used for new learning

Homework that cannot be done without help is not good homework!

Purposes of homework

Practice, checking for understanding, pre-learning, or processing

purpose of homework  type of homework task

Quality homework tasks promote ownership when they:

• Allow for choices
• Offer students an opportunity to personalize their work
• Allow students to share information about themselves or their lives
• Tap emotions, feelings, or opinions about a subject
• Allow students to create products or presentations (Vatterott, 2007)

“I never heard of a child not doing his work. It’s our work he’s not doing.”

Homework examples

• Write an op-ed piece defending a war, a theory, a method, a character, an author, etc
• Create your own galaxy, rhythm pattern, poem, game, etc. (requires a rubric)
• Create a lesson plan to teach______to students in a lower grade.
• List the 3 most interesting things about the chapter.
• Draw a graphic summary of the chapter.
• Create a concept map of the chapter.
• Do 5 math problems, explain the steps.
• Have practice problems lag a few days behind to make sure of understanding.
• Choose any 10 problems of the 30 problems(differentiate).
• Bring three questions about the topic for discussion.

• Design your own method for learning multiplication tables that they then share with others—cards, writing, reading, drawing pictures, creating a song, rap, or poem
• Write a story or newspaper article showing you know the meaning of the 15 vocabulary words for the week.

• Create a jeopardy game that covers the main ideas of the chapter

Differentiating homework tasks

The 10-minute rule

Maximum of 10 minutes per grade level per night(6th grade=60 minutes)

(recommended by the PTA and the NEA)

(recommended time to be spent on all subjects combined)

[the 10-minute rule is consistent with the research]

How much is too much? Depends on the student

Common sense

If we know students differ in readiness,

why would we give everyone the same assignment?

If we know students differ in working speed,

why would we expect slower students to spend more time instead of giving them less work?

If we know students have responsibilities and activities after school,

why would we give students an assignment at 3 pm and expect it back at 8 am the next day?

Principles of differentiating homework

• Diagnosing readiness—what level of work can they do?

• Standards-based—which concepts do they need to work on?

• Fewer concepts for struggling learners—how can we show them they can be successful with independent work?

• Prioritizing of subjects for some students—what are the most critical subjects for future success?

WAYS TO DIFFERENTIATE HOMEWORK

• Difficulty/amount of work
• Amount of structure/scaffolding
• Learning style/Interest

Difficulty/amount of work

• “What level of work can the student successfully complete?”

• Simpler reading or more concrete tasks
• Adapted reading packets (that come with the text)
• Optional challenge questions
• Amount of writing required
• Time “Do what you can in 20 minutes, draw a line, work longer if you like”.
• “Fifty minutes is fifty minutes”. Parent note: “We spent our 50 minutes on science and math and had no time for reading tonight.”

Many teachers have discovered that the homework completion rate skyrockets when they simply give less work!

Structure/scaffolding

• Create a graphic organizer vs fill in a graphic organizer
• Amount of writing required
• Word banks/answer banks

Learning style/Interest

• Create own method to study—outline, cards, pictures
• Method of showing learning(written, typed, verbal, pictures)
• Format choices: talk show, commercial, short story

When differentiating for slower learners, ask:

• “Are we doing the most efficient thing?”
• “Have we accurately diagnosed the student’s readiness and learning strengths?”
• “Does the student need a more structured task?”

What differentiated homework looks like

Moving from grading to checking—focusing on feedback

Checking is diagnostic—teacher is an advocate

Grading is evaluative—teacher is a judge(Guskey)

Grades are not necessary for learning, but feedback is

The goals of feedback are

• To improve learning and to improve performance on summative assessments
• To promote student ownership of learning and self-assessment

Everything does not need a number!

How much time do we spend adding up points and recording numbers?

(Once you put a number on it, it can be compared to other students)

Formative feedback, summative grading

• Short trials to check for understanding, Practice comes later
• Intermittent feedback on long term projects
• More one-on-one feedback with students as others are working
• More paired work, help your neighbor, study buddies
• Front-load grading by using rubrics that students get at the beginning
• Limit the number of grades in the gradebook/subjective is okay!
• Grades are temporary--Students correct mistakes after feedback

Quality Feedback is:

• Formative---assessment for learning takes place during learning.

• Corrective—provides specific information to the student about how to reach the learning target.

• Interactive-- requires dialogue between teacher and student(written or verbal) or student and student

• Not part of the grade—“We don’t keep score during practice”

Teacher quote: “If I don’t grade it, they won’t do it”

Because we allow them not to do it. This is learned behavior and can be unlearned. This is a teacher expectation issue.

The attitudinal change is that homework is for feedback about their understanding,not gotcha, not grading.

Should all homework be graded? No

Should all homework receive feedback? Yes

Is the teacher the only one who can give feedback? No

Efficient ways of providing feedback

Quick visual check—two piles: got it/didn’t get it(no marks)

Student self check

Quick self-check—students write one of three symbols at top of homework indicating:

got it/understood ! /happy face/ green sticker

sort of got it/not sure ? / neutral face/yellow sticker

didn’t get it/totally lost #&/frowning face/red sticker

Students check keys, use rubrics

Students meet in groups, compare answers, ask each other questions, report back to teachers

Use Abbreviations SYW show your work

Make a list of common comments for a specific project

(check comments like a rubric)

Many students don’t know how to self-assess because assessment has always been “done to “ them. They need ungraded, non-threatening practice to get used to the concept.

Decriminalizing grading

Things to think about

~~Work ethic + behaviorism = using grades to reward virtue and punish vice

(often to the detriment of learning and motivation)

~~Giving a zero for incomplete work is not “holding them accountable”.

Accountability is making them finish the work.

~~We think we’re teaching them responsibility,

but are we teaching them math?

~~What if grades reflected what students really learned,

not which work they chose or were able to complete?

~~If poor children are disproportionately failing due to homework,

are they being punished for their home environment?

U.S. teachers lead 50 countries in the grading of homework. Almost 70% of U.S. teachers use homework to calculate student grades, compared to 28% in Canada, and 14% in Japan (Baker and LeTendre, 2005).

Grades should reflect learning,

not work habits and personal responsibility.

Losing the reward/punishment mentality

The grade/learning mismatch

~A’s on tests but fails because of assignments not turned in.

~A’s for course because all homework is completed, but testing way below grade level.

If you feel you must grade homework:

*First, do no harm—don’t kill motivation or course grade by being too punitive

*Preferably, don’t grade at all, but require completion so you can assess learning.

*Give credit for completion only, not correctness or accuracy

*Count homework 10% of the grade or less

*Have lenient late policies

Separating learning and work habits

A 100(content)/20(work habits) grade

Psychological effects of grading on motivation

The importance of “winning streaks” (Stiggins)

“Students decide whether the learning is worth the risk and effort required to acquire it. They decide if they believe they are smart enough to learn it.”(Stiggins, 2005, p. 18)

“The Homework Trap” (Goldberg, 2007)

Incomplete workpoor gradespoor attitudes

predictable avoidance /resentment

“ When students fail to complete homework, we tend to approach it more like discipline than learning. That is, remedies for students who don’t do their homework tend to focus on punitive solutions as the key to changing behavior—consequences like points off, failing grades, or missing recess or lunch to complete homework.” (Vatterott, in press)

LATE POLICIES AND GRADING

Is the climate one of learning or compliance?

~”We are faced with the irony that a policy that may be grounded in the belief of holding students accountable(giving zeros) actually allows some student to escape accountability for learning”(O’Connor, 2007, p. 86)

What % of your students got D’s and F’s?

What % fail because of homework?

What do the D’s and F’s represent?

The learning goal for homework is to GET IT DONE,

better late than never.

Work done deserves some credit—

Make a generous time limit (like two weeks)

(The goal is for the student to do the work—not to punish them for not following the rules)

Laura Eberle, 9th grade science teacher--Homework Grading Policy

Full stamp=10 pts Completed and turned in on time, full credit

(This connects the purpose of the homework to the assessments)

Do we save them from themselves or do we shoot ourselves in the foot?

*Makeup work *Redo’s *Birddogging

~~Instead of trying to teach kids responsibility,

what if we force them to practice responsibility?

Using completion strategies

Diagnosing WHY the homework is not getting done

5 REASONS WHY HOMEWORK IS NOT GETTING DONE

• Academic—work is too hard or too lengthy for the student’s working speed
• Organizational— getting it home /Getting it done/getting it back
• Motivational—burnout, overload, too much failure, frustration with tasks
• Situational—unable to work at home, too many other activities
• Personal—depression, anxiety, family problems, etc.

(Teachers need to lay back when necessary, respect kid’s emotional needs.)

Completion Strategies--Put a check by the ones you could try

_____Give less homework

_____Make homework for feedback only

_____Explain to students the learning purpose of each homework assignment.

_____Provide a copy of the textbook for students to keep at home.

_____Make sure the student has written down the homework assignment.

_____Have a written copy of the assignment for some students.

_____Assign students “homework buddies” to work together or call for help.

Set a maximum amount of time the student should work on each assignment

Prioritize assignments in case the student does not have time to complete all homework.

_____Give students more than one day to complete assignments

_____Give all assignments for the next week on Friday, due next Friday.

_____Give intermittent due dates for parts of long term projects.

Allow parents or students to call the teacher at home when necessary.

Give parents guidance on how to help with homework and how much to help.

Provide a cover sheet that encourages parents to communicate about homework in writing to the teacher.

The Homework Chain

(Taylor, 2007)

Which links are weak or broken?

[ ] (1) Realize an assignment is being given

[ ] (2) Understand the assignment

[ ] (3) Record the assignment accurately

[ ] (4) Understand how to perform the assignment correctly

[ ] (5) Check to bring correct books home

[ ] (6) Arrive home with materials and the homework assignment

[ ] (7) Begin the homework time

[ ] (8) Complete all homework

[ ] (9) Check that it is complete, accurate, and neat

[ ](10) Set completed homework in a special place

[ ](11) Take completed homework to school

[ ](12) Arrive at class with completed homework

[ ](13) Turn completed homework in on time

Home study plan

We all have ways we like to work. These questions will help you figure out the best way to do homework. Circle the answer that is most like you. (For pre-readers, read questions and have students draw their answers)

1.My favorite position to do homework is

at a desk

sitting on the floor

standing

laying down

1. It is easiest for me to pay attention to homework

In a quiet place

With noise or music in the background

1. When I am working on homework

I need to have something to eat or drink

I don’t need to have drinks or food

1. When I have more than one thing to do

I like to do the easiest thing first