Stop Bringing Home Homework to Correct: Two Years Later

Nearly 2 years ago I wrote a post about a new system for homework.  My principal told us: "Stop correcting homework!"  I wrote about what I imagined the pros and cons to checking homework would be, but of course I did what I was told; I started checking homework instead of calling one group at a time to hand it in so I could schlep it home.  The new home routine for my fourth graders goes like this:

• First thing in the morning, kids put their homework on their desk.  They keep a bookmark (Post It) on the page in their workbook so I could flip to it as they did their morning work.
• I glance over the work and draw a smiley face at the top to signify it's been looked at.  If I notice errors related to following the directions I mention it then and there and ask, "Do you think you can fix it?"  Or if I'm noticing several kids with the same error I'll get together a small group to reteach.
• I walk around with a clipboard to keep track of who is absent, does not have their homework, or did the wrong page. 
• One thing that has stayed the same in my 8 years, before and after this switch, is I collect assignment books of any student who doesn't have their homework.  I write a quick note to the parent such as "Johnny told me he left his homework on the kitchen table and he will bring it tomorrow."
• I still give kids a "pass" if they forget once in a week's time (they still get the note in the agenda).  However if they miss 2 they have the naturally occurring consequence of missing Morning Meeting and/or recess to complete it.  They can rejoin the activity if they put in effort and complete it in time.

I've been using this system for the past 2 years so I'm due for an update to this post! Obviously, from a purely selfish point of view, it's been great not bringing home piles of papers.  It has freed me up to focus more on how to be a better teacher!

• I have been creating checklists and curriculum maps to stay on track with the Common Core. 
• I've been reading more professional resources (for example, persuasive writing is more of a focus in fourth grade so I've been brushing up on how to teach it). 
• I've created more engaging activities for my students to use in class (I have lots of math games and task cards for topics covered by the Math in Focus program that we adopted 2 years ago).
• I feel more free to "recharge my batteries" one day per weekend to go do something fun with my husband instead of playing catch up on piles of papers.

As for how it's impacting the kids, I feel that there have been a lot of positives in addition to those above.

• By having homework on their desks instead of handed in, those who have their homework are more...visible.  What I mean is, it's more of a norm for students to see others with their homework on their desk and talking to me about how they did, what was challenging, and how to fix it.  More kids are apt to be part of this norm, especially those in grades 4 and 5 who are at the stage in their social development when they are starting to notice and care about social norms.
• It's not just a routine to either bring up papers or not; it's part of the teaching and learning process between student and teacher.  Because let's face it; not too many 10 year olds get their homework back and read over the problems they get wrong in order to work out what they need help with!  Instead, if I notice glaring errors, I will stop to point it out and in some cases I can say, "Do you know how to fix it" and they can! 
• If a group of kids get something wrong, I might need to change my lesson for the day to reteach before I can build on the concept they missed.  Back when I'd stick the pile in my bag to look at that night (or the next day, longer) I wouldn't have known; I'd have plowed ahead and the kids fall farther and farther behind.
• Kids can go home more empowered.  For parents who have homework concerns, they can either hear from their child about the immediate feedback they've got or they'll see your corrections.  If you need more help with communicating your homework expectations to parents I have homework policies available.

The only real drawback which has lessened over time is the amount of time it takes to check each student.  My "shortcut" to the system is to check one student per group and have them "look over" each other's assignments and share strategies they used to get their answers.  Obviously there are pros and cons to that system too, and the success varies greatly depending on how well your students work together.  Let's just say I used it very sparingly this year!  For classes like mine this year it's a good opportunity to practice cooperative work, although it's not a substitute for reteaching. 

So overall, I think this homework system has worked BETTER than the old system.  It's not perfect, but if there was a perfect system everyone would be using it.  If you haven't tried it before, I recommend you STOP CORRECTING HOMEWORK!

Grading Homework in Class

On one of the teaching forums I visit, we've been discussing tricks we use to cope with piles and piles of papers that our students complete and then wonder, "How did I do?"  And while I did a blog last year on the pros and cons of grading homework vs. checking homework and having students correct it, I just had to share this top tip.

First of all, understand that my fourth graders just can't help themselves.  When I have them correct each other's papers they constantly look over at their own paper to see if they got things right or wrong, and want to debate about every point (and several neglect the paper they are supposed to correct since they are so busy monitoring their own).  And yes, there is a time and place for discussing that sort of thing, but with this particular weekly assignment (reading responses in paragraph form) it was turning into a real time-suck.  

So a couple weeks ago I grabbed the papers from each kid's desk and then randomly handed them to a different kid on the other side of the classroom.  The first time I told them, "I've given you the WRONG paper back to correct."  I told them to keep it a secret.  Of course that was so that they wouldn't be able to look at their own paper and they could focus on the one in front of them.  

Even though they soon figured out my ploy and that the secret wasn't a fun mystery, it's been working better than trading with someone at their own group.  They even sort of look forward to finding out who had them after.  In fact today one of them said to me, "Are we doing the mystery person correcting again?"  I said yes and he said, "Woo hoo, it's like Secret Santa.  But with papers!"

Journeys Reading Vocabulary Homework

One of the best parts of the Journeys reading program in 4th grade (besides the stories/articles are all really engaging) is the vocabulary.  The words are mostly "Tier 2," they're repeated in multiple contexts in different texts students encounter as the week unfolds, they have great activity cards, and the questions in the teachers book are great.  The way I use their resources are:

1. Read aloud that short text in the TM before the selection in the student books.  I even let my students have their books open in their lap to the page with all the "answers" on it.  I pause when I finish a sentence with a vocabulary word in it, and say, "your vocabulary word is ______."  Then the kids show me one of 3 signs I taught them.  They shrug if they, "never heard the word."  They stroke their chin if they, "heard the word, but can't really explain what it means."  And they point to their temple as if to say, "I know this word, I can tell you about it!" 

I call on kids who think they can explain it, and if they are close but not quite I'll call on another child and ask, "Can you add to the definition?"  In the end if I need to clarify I will.

2.  The words appear in the anthology and leveled readers, so kids get lots of exposure to the words in multiple contexts, which helps so much.

3.  I use the cards that come with the series.  I have the children sit in a circle, and pair highly verbal students with lower ones.  I hand out a card to each pair, and they have 2-3 minutes to talk about the photo and contextual sentence, as well as ask each other the questions on the back.  I set a timer to go off when time is up, and then the children pass their card clockwise.  This continues until every pair has seen all 10 cards.  I stay in the center of the circle to man the timer and also to provide guidance (or a substitute partner if someone has to use the restroom!). 

4.  I administer the vocabulary portion of the weekly quizzes.

So really, the only missing piece in this puzzle was homework.  There just isn't much (or any?) in the students' workbook.  I don't understand why this piece is missing!  Sure, I could assign the old, "write a sentence for each vocabulary word" standby assignment.  And then I'll get such gems as:

1.      I know how to spell original.

2.      I know what original is.

3.      I don't know what original means.

4.      Do you know what original means?

I was a kid once.  I INVENTED those sentences.  I learned percents by figuring "if I have 20 words, I can get away with 4 crummy sentences.  Which 4 do I least want to come up with a good sentence for?"

So with these other great activities at their disposal, I decided that those questions that appear only in the TM don't need to be used as discussion points, they would work great for homework practice.  By creating a template worksheet that includes a big text box in the middle for photocopying those questions, I get WAY better sentences now than I did before.  

I even get the added bonus of teaching and re-teaching the skill of rephrasing the question in the form of an statement.  I hope this template provides a nice addition to your vocabulary instruction if you are using Journeys.  This Journeys vocabulary template is available for free in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. If you use Journeys, I hope you find it useful!