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Some are. You should come to my class on the Friday before a big game and see how many students are trying to get the E to a D so they can play. Also, some parents will ground their kids if their grades are low enough. The ones who aren't in sports and have parents who just don't care often don't care about grades either but we can catch some of them with grades. I have no idea what to do with the rest of them. I WISH my school had detention for missing assignments.
Ivory, my school doesn't have that as a policy, but I do have it as a class consequence. Here's how I pitched it:
"I want to help students make successful choices for themselves, but when they don't do work, they don't pass. Now, obviously there are some students who don't do work because they make irresponsible choices, but some students don't because they might need that extra five minutes' worth of explanation. I'd like to give them that explanation and help them be successful. Can I count on your support if I start assigning detentions after school from X:00 to X:00? Of course, I'll call or make an attempt to contact parents to give them 24 hours' notice, but I need your support for further consequences if any students skip out on detention or don't take it seriously - maybe a required parent conference so we can all get together and help that student make wiser decisions?"
Worked for me. Is it extra time for me? Yup. Does my failure rate look pretty good this quarter? Yup. Did I have to inflate grades? Nope.
Are students learning that if they do a crummy piece of work in my class, it will result in at least a half-hour of extra school time for them in which they redo the crummy work they did poorly in the first place? Yep.
Do some of them get the extra instruction they need? Yep.
For the students who are failing, do the assigned and skipped detentions mount up paperwork that says, "Look, I took steps to intervene between this student and his repeated attempts to fail"? Yes. (I made special NCS forms for detention students that I have kept throughout the year as documentation.)
Ivory, my school doesn't have that as a policy, but I do have it as a class consequence. Here's how I pitched it:
Sounds similar to my policy. If I assign kiddos to Friday detention, I'm responsible for manning it. That means I don't get to leave until 6 pm on Friday, but it's SO WORTH IT. I actually get paid $20/hour to staff it, but better then that is that kids get work turned into me, either to avoid detention or, once in detention, because I'm sitting there babysitting them and helping them to understand the concepts. If they finish all their math work in the 3 hours, then they are welcome to do work for another class (because usually these are chronic offenders who are behind in multiple classes).
All "Friday" kids have to have had discussions with administration beforehand (to determine why they aren't doing work, and to attempt to scare them into doing it), have to have had parents contacted several times before (letting them know their student is falling behind so the Friday threat isn't a surprise), and finally have to have parental sign off and a parent pick them up at 6 pm, but it's been incredibly helpful in getting kids to get their work done.
I cap it at no more than 6 kids per week so that I can actually get around to help them. If there are only a couple kids, I can often get some work done myself once I get them started. The best part is, all kids in Friday are not allowed to talk to each other, at all...so it's quiet (and not a social outlet!)
Sounds similar to my policy. If I assign kiddos to Friday detention, I'm responsible for manning it. That means I don't get to leave until 6 pm on Friday, but it's SO WORTH IT. I actually get paid $20/hour to staff it, but better then that is that kids get work turned into me, either to avoid detention or, once in detention, because I'm sitting there babysitting them and helping them to understand the concepts. If they finish all their math work in the 3 hours, then they are welcome to do work for another class (because usually these are chronic offenders who are behind in multiple classes).
All "Friday" kids have to have had discussions with administration beforehand (to determine why they aren't doing work, and to attempt to scare them into doing it), have to have had parents contacted several times before (letting them know their student is falling behind so the Friday threat isn't a surprise), and finally have to have parental sign off and a parent pick them up at 6 pm, but it's been incredibly helpful in getting kids to get their work done.
I cap it at no more than 6 kids per week so that I can actually get around to help them. If there are only a couple kids, I can often get some work done myself once I get them started. The best part is, all kids in Friday are not allowed to talk to each other, at all...so it's quiet (and not a social outlet!)
If I were a teacher, I'd rather assign no homework if I don't get to grade it.
Homework reinforces what was taught earlier in the classroom and ensures the teacher that the students know what they are doing and can move on to the next lesson and schedule test. If I can't grade homework, I don't know what students have no idea what they are doing. So I'd rather just not assign it.
If I were a teacher, I'd rather assign no homework if I don't get to grade it.
Homework reinforces what was taught earlier in the classroom and ensures the teacher that the students know what they are doing and can move on to the next lesson and schedule test. If I can't grade homework, I don't know what students have no idea what they are doing. So I'd rather just not assign it.
I don't grade it for correctness. I expect my students to do that. Before a test, I tell them what I'm collecting and the answers had better be corrected.
If I were a teacher, I'd rather assign no homework if I don't get to grade it.
Homework reinforces what was taught earlier in the classroom and ensures the teacher that the students know what they are doing and can move on to the next lesson and schedule test. If I can't grade homework, I don't know what students have no idea what they are doing. So I'd rather just not assign it.
We don't grade it because you really don't know how much was done independently by the student. We can only use work completed in school towards the academic grade.
I personally don't give lots of homework. I think that there is a place for homework, but it should be used for practice. Homework is completely ineffective when it is being used for the purposes of problem solving. And it actually makes the student more stressed, more fatigued, and less mentally prepared for classroom learning. It's not a matter of sparing children hardship; it's the fact that mounds of homework aren't contributing to the mission.
I also think schools should reconsider the traditional classroom hours. Classes at 7:30 or even 8:30??? There's no point. Minds aren't awake at those early hours of the day. Some of my students come in late and then fall asleep, and I find it hard to be critical of them. I get it. Their brains simply aren't awake then (mine isn't either, truth to tell). Moreover, I think we should also have extended lunches from 12:30 to about 3:00 and restart schools at about 3 p.m. in the afternoon and go until about 5:30 or 6 p.m. Homework should be minimal. Meaningful tasks should be completed during those school hours.
Ivory, my school doesn't have that as a policy, but I do have it as a class consequence. Here's how I pitched it:
"I want to help students make successful choices for themselves, but when they don't do work, they don't pass. Now, obviously there are some students who don't do work because they make irresponsible choices, but some students don't because they might need that extra five minutes' worth of explanation. I'd like to give them that explanation and help them be successful. Can I count on your support if I start assigning detentions after school from X:00 to X:00? Of course, I'll call or make an attempt to contact parents to give them 24 hours' notice, but I need your support for further consequences if any students skip out on detention or don't take it seriously - maybe a required parent conference so we can all get together and help that student make wiser decisions?"
Worked for me. Is it extra time for me? Yup. Does my failure rate look pretty good this quarter? Yup. Did I have to inflate grades? Nope.
Are students learning that if they do a crummy piece of work in my class, it will result in at least a half-hour of extra school time for them in which they redo the crummy work they did poorly in the first place? Yep.
Do some of them get the extra instruction they need? Yep.
For the students who are failing, do the assigned and skipped detentions mount up paperwork that says, "Look, I took steps to intervene between this student and his repeated attempts to fail"? Yes. (I made special NCS forms for detention students that I have kept throughout the year as documentation.)
Hope that helps.
Just wanted to let you know that I talked to my vice principal and he said he'd support homework detention. I'm at the school until 4:30 most days anyway.
You should have seen the looks on my kids faces when I told them. I had kids who normally do nothing for me asking for my help!!! Apparently, they dislike me enough that they don't want to hang out with me after school, lol.
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Apparently, they dislike me enough that they don't want to hang out with me after school, lol.
