![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
et tempus fugit!
I had decided to have a strict homework policy this year. Keep in mind that I teach middle school at a title 1 school, 70% on the free/reduced lunch. These are not academically prepared kids.
Here's the deal and those of you who are new teachers will need to think this through. What's truly important to you? I personally hate homework passes because to me, if I assigned it, there was a reason and a need. Repetition is the mother of memory (did I read that in Wheelock?) (repetitio est mater memoriae?), therefore ANY assignment I give out, any worksheet, any practice quiz, any conjugation drill is not unimportant. No freebees.
In the past, I have always allowed late work up until the end of the 6 weeks. That means that I am often grading late work at the last minute before grades are due. THIS IS NOT IDEAL. But it was always with the idea that I will always encourage the finishing of work.
But I was going to toss this, have a stricter homework policy, and put the onus on the students. It won't be up to ME to keep track of late work (so to speak), but up to the student. I will have a sign that will list work assigned, the day it was assigned, the day it was due, and (originally) the last day I would accept it late (though each day late is with a 10 pt penalty). So this is how it was going to work: absent students would have any handouts/worksheets distributed placed in their folder by their row leader. Also placed in their folders is a small slip of paper that the row leader (centurio hodiernus) fills out that indicates whether they have new handouts/worksheets to look at, another assignment and to see the assignment sheet, or missed a test or quiz. Upon return the absent student then has both a reminder of work missed PLUS access to a list of work missed.
SO THEY DON'T HAVE TO BUG ME.
So far, so good, right? School/district policy is 5 days grace w/o penalty.
But for those who are late turning in work who were there I wanted to do a three day penalty, with -10 pts per day. No work accepted after day three. Too strict? Well, students also have 3 bathroom permits per six weeks that can also be late work passes--that is, work can be turned in without penalty. So, most won't suffer the penalties.
Now... here's the problem. What about the kids that would rather take a zero than be bothered to do the work? (There are more and more of these every year.) One of the new teachers (theatre teacher) said she has a NO ZERO POLICY. Within 5 days she hunts the students down and insists they come in at lunch to finish/do an assignment.
So now I'm rethinking. The only way I could REINFORCE that I think ALL of my assignments are important, especially if done in the manner intended, is if I somehow manage a NO ZERO POLICY.
So how do I reword what I have? I think ... I think I will require that anyone missing work will have to PHONE HOME PERSONALLY, explain that work hasn't been turned in/made up, and that they must bring a sack lunch (or have a sack lunch delivered by the cafeteria the next day) so they can stay in my room the whole of lunch to finish the work for as many days as it takes.
Here's the catch: this now puts the burden back onto me to grade EVERYTHING in a timely fashion. Quizzes and Tests, because they are weighted so much more than other things, I grade within 24-48 hours. But homework? Sometimes it takes a long time.
And this year I'm going from 3 classes (parttime 60% on a 7 period day) last year to 5 classes (80%? on an 8 period day) this year. Four preps. And I have children of my own.
I'm HOPING that the threat that students will HAVE to phone home AND miss an ENTIRE lunch to finish work the next day will be enough of a deterent.
HERE'S THE THING: This is SOOOOO worth my wasting HOURS on because if I have a good PLAN--a plan that's ENFORCEABLE, a plan that emphasizes that my assignments aren't busy work but have purpose, a plan that says I WON'T LET YOU GIVE UP ON YOURSELF--students will succeed, will be motivated to work, and will be high achievers. And I will be a happier, less stressed teacher.
But working on this is draining because it feels tedious, and I know the decisions I am reaching mean I have to redo other documents. And I'm running out of time. Sigh.
Tomorrow we can work on setting up our room. I need to write out a thank you note to the custodians who kindly moved a bunch of boxes of my books from my old room. In fact, I better write a thank you to the person who boxed the books who now has my room. I felt half guilty for asking for help, but then I remembered--AND THIS IS WELL WORTH LEARNING--that it is ALWAYS ok to ask for help. When people CAN help, they WILL help. I really didn't think that the custodians would have had time to deal with my boxes, but I'm so glad they did. I only have a few more things to move over.
So now I must prioritize. Unpacking boxes of books CAN WAIT. I need to set up my desks with pen pockets (library pockets), tape on labels, (surely I mentioned all the labels I've made for the room in Latin?), and decide where things will be posted in the room--agenda, officiI, tabula pEnsOrum, emergency evacuation info, grades, student work, PLUS what posters and maps are critical....
It's time to go to sleep and stop worrying. And you must stop worrying because otherwise you will never rest.
I had decided to have a strict homework policy this year. Keep in mind that I teach middle school at a title 1 school, 70% on the free/reduced lunch. These are not academically prepared kids.
Here's the deal and those of you who are new teachers will need to think this through. What's truly important to you? I personally hate homework passes because to me, if I assigned it, there was a reason and a need. Repetition is the mother of memory (did I read that in Wheelock?) (repetitio est mater memoriae?), therefore ANY assignment I give out, any worksheet, any practice quiz, any conjugation drill is not unimportant. No freebees.
In the past, I have always allowed late work up until the end of the 6 weeks. That means that I am often grading late work at the last minute before grades are due. THIS IS NOT IDEAL. But it was always with the idea that I will always encourage the finishing of work.
But I was going to toss this, have a stricter homework policy, and put the onus on the students. It won't be up to ME to keep track of late work (so to speak), but up to the student. I will have a sign that will list work assigned, the day it was assigned, the day it was due, and (originally) the last day I would accept it late (though each day late is with a 10 pt penalty). So this is how it was going to work: absent students would have any handouts/worksheets distributed placed in their folder by their row leader. Also placed in their folders is a small slip of paper that the row leader (centurio hodiernus) fills out that indicates whether they have new handouts/worksheets to look at, another assignment and to see the assignment sheet, or missed a test or quiz. Upon return the absent student then has both a reminder of work missed PLUS access to a list of work missed.
SO THEY DON'T HAVE TO BUG ME.
So far, so good, right? School/district policy is 5 days grace w/o penalty.
But for those who are late turning in work who were there I wanted to do a three day penalty, with -10 pts per day. No work accepted after day three. Too strict? Well, students also have 3 bathroom permits per six weeks that can also be late work passes--that is, work can be turned in without penalty. So, most won't suffer the penalties.
Now... here's the problem. What about the kids that would rather take a zero than be bothered to do the work? (There are more and more of these every year.) One of the new teachers (theatre teacher) said she has a NO ZERO POLICY. Within 5 days she hunts the students down and insists they come in at lunch to finish/do an assignment.
So now I'm rethinking. The only way I could REINFORCE that I think ALL of my assignments are important, especially if done in the manner intended, is if I somehow manage a NO ZERO POLICY.
So how do I reword what I have? I think ... I think I will require that anyone missing work will have to PHONE HOME PERSONALLY, explain that work hasn't been turned in/made up, and that they must bring a sack lunch (or have a sack lunch delivered by the cafeteria the next day) so they can stay in my room the whole of lunch to finish the work for as many days as it takes.
Here's the catch: this now puts the burden back onto me to grade EVERYTHING in a timely fashion. Quizzes and Tests, because they are weighted so much more than other things, I grade within 24-48 hours. But homework? Sometimes it takes a long time.
And this year I'm going from 3 classes (parttime 60% on a 7 period day) last year to 5 classes (80%? on an 8 period day) this year. Four preps. And I have children of my own.
I'm HOPING that the threat that students will HAVE to phone home AND miss an ENTIRE lunch to finish work the next day will be enough of a deterent.
HERE'S THE THING: This is SOOOOO worth my wasting HOURS on because if I have a good PLAN--a plan that's ENFORCEABLE, a plan that emphasizes that my assignments aren't busy work but have purpose, a plan that says I WON'T LET YOU GIVE UP ON YOURSELF--students will succeed, will be motivated to work, and will be high achievers. And I will be a happier, less stressed teacher.
But working on this is draining because it feels tedious, and I know the decisions I am reaching mean I have to redo other documents. And I'm running out of time. Sigh.
Tomorrow we can work on setting up our room. I need to write out a thank you note to the custodians who kindly moved a bunch of boxes of my books from my old room. In fact, I better write a thank you to the person who boxed the books who now has my room. I felt half guilty for asking for help, but then I remembered--AND THIS IS WELL WORTH LEARNING--that it is ALWAYS ok to ask for help. When people CAN help, they WILL help. I really didn't think that the custodians would have had time to deal with my boxes, but I'm so glad they did. I only have a few more things to move over.
So now I must prioritize. Unpacking boxes of books CAN WAIT. I need to set up my desks with pen pockets (library pockets), tape on labels, (surely I mentioned all the labels I've made for the room in Latin?), and decide where things will be posted in the room--agenda, officiI, tabula pEnsOrum, emergency evacuation info, grades, student work, PLUS what posters and maps are critical....
It's time to go to sleep and stop worrying. And you must stop worrying because otherwise you will never rest.
