If you haven't read *Fair isn't Always Equal* by Wormeli, you should do so. There is a section devoted to HW.
My HW is to read a certain number of minutes each night- 30 minutes, 4 times per week. They record it on a log, and the log is due once every 3 weeks. Once every marking period, they have to do a book report project where they pick a project from a list of 9 ideas. They can't do a project they alredy have done, however. The project is based on the book they are reading out of class for HW. The ones that read all the time have no trouble doing it. The ones that don't read: some fudge the logs and it shows through the projects, but most don't even bother to fill out the logs nor do they bother to do the project. I devote 1 class each week to nothing but SSR, so I know they are reading SOMETHING for at least 45 minutes each week. I also have a class library they can pick a book if they "forget" theirs at home. The students that don't read sometimes pick a different book each week and never get past page 10. Needless to say, their projects suck. I think my HW is fair and consistent. There is lots of room for creativity and differentiation. Hwever, I still have some students that just don't do it. I don't have a perfect answer, but that is what I do. I also welcome any suggestions from anyone who can help me revamp my projects to have more participation. Ashli On Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 10:00 AM, Deann Kaduce <[email protected]> wrote: > To All: > I am contemplating how I can best revamp my homework policy. I haven't > received very good results from the methods I've used. In the past, I > assigned different types of LA assignments based on which day of the week it > was. The assignment was due the next day, except for Social Studies, which > I also teach, was a week long assignment of a project-based type item. I > would check in homework based on student name on a list. Only the students > who like doing homework, or who have support at home would do the > assignment. Then everyday I had a huge stack of papers to grade that I > invariably became lost in and late in grading, so that neither I nor the > students received timely feedback from their work. > I'd like to change this cycle of poor performance on my part. Grading > is always going to be a trial for me, because it's the part of teaching I > enjoy the least. I would like to make it more manageable, though. Does > anyone have some management advice? > > Thanks, > > DeAnn Kaduce, > Teacher > Kansas City, MO School District > > Stop planning for teaching and start planning for learning. > > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
