they are checking the homework by tom

Simple Past or Present Perfect Simple

Put the verbs into the correct tense (simple past or present perfect simple).

I (just / finish) my homework.
Mary (already / write) five letters.
Tom (move) to this town in 1994.
My friend (be) in Canada two years ago.
I (not / be) to Canada so far.
But I (already / travel) to London a couple of times.
Last week, Mary and Paul (go) to the cinema.
I can't take any pictures because I (not / buy) a new film yet.
(they / spend) their holiday in New Zealand last summer?
(you / ever / see) a whale?

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Teaching approaches: First lessons

1 Teaching approaches: First lessons
2 Teaching approaches: checking-homework Challenge
3 Teaching approaches: computer assisted language learning
4 Teaching approaches: content-based teaching
5 Teaching approaches: functional approaches in EFL/ ESOL
6 Teaching approaches: task-based learning
7 Teaching approaches: the communicative classroom
8 Teaching approaches: the grammar-translation method
9 Teaching approaches: the negotiated syllabus
10 Teaching approaches: total physical response
11 Teaching approaches: translation as a language learning tool
12 Teaching approaches: using L1 in class
13 Teaching approaches: What is "suggestopedia"?
14 Teaching approaches: what is audiolingualism?
15 Teaching approaches: what is the silent way?

Teaching approaches: checking-homework Challenge

By Jane Sjoberg

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These are just a few ideas of how to make the whole-class correction of homework less of a chore and more of an active challenge. The suggestions given are specifically geared to be used when correcting exercises set from a workbook or worksheet as homework but some ideas may also be used when giving feedback for tasks set in class.

Give students a chance to compare their answers in pairs. Students can then correct/ change/ complete their own answers before a whole class check. This puts students at the centre of the correction process from the start and asks them to reflect upon their own and each other’s answers with a greater degree of learner autonomy.
Take names out of a hat at random to nominate the students who are to supply answers (make sure this is done in a ‘fun’ way, explaining to students that they have an opportunity to PASS if their name is called).
Use a ball or a scrunched up ball of newspaper weighted with a thick rubber band (lightweight balls that don’t bounce are best – bouncy balls have a tendency to get lost in the darkest corners of the classroom) to throw at random around the class to see who gets to give their answer to questions. Whoever gets the ball throws it to the next student. Again, give students an opportunity to pass if necessary.
Alternate between asking for answers to be volunteered and calling on specific students to answer questions. Where the teacher is unfamiliar with the various ability groups in a class, nominating students can be a nightmare, especially if weaker or less confident learners are inadvertently asked to provide their answer to more complex questions. However, nominating is a way of ensuring the participation of those who are less likely to volunteer. Alternating between volunteers and nominated students solves this problem in part, but nominees should always be given the chance to pass if they prefer.
To ensure that all students participate in the correction process, pre-prepare a grid that includes the question numbers for the various exercises that are to be corrected. Leave a space next to each question number. At the beginning of the lesson, get students to put their name down to answer the various questions. Tell students that, even if they did not do the homework they can still try to answer a question of their choice but do not force students to put their names down. When all the students who wish to participate have put their names down for at least one question, take the list in and use it to call on the students to answer the questions in turn. This ensures that the students called upon will be answering questions they themselves feel confident about (or else questions for which they would prefer individual feedback). If this process is repeated over several lessons, it also gives the teacher a chance to see whether there are students who repeatedly prefer not to be involved in the homework correction process. These students and their individual problems regarding homework can then be dealt with on a one-to-one basis.
For fill-in-the-gaps exercises or simple one- or two-word answers present feedback in power point or on an OHP. Go through answers one by one giving time for students to check their own work. At the end of each exercise, stop and give students a chance to query, provide alternatives, or request further information regarding specific answers.
Ask the class to do a quick survey in groups ranking exercises from the most to least difficult, the most to least interesting, the most to least useful etc.. Use student feedback to decide which exercise to correct together first and then give exercises ranked by the majority as the least interesting/difficult on OHP/power point as above to speed up the correction process. This ensures that students will be more alert during the correction of what they perceived to be the most problematic areas of their homework. Homework ranking tasks also provide important feedback to the teacher who may use the data provided to check on the cause of problems areas at a later date. Students may perceive certain exercises as difficult for different reasons – length, typology, unclear instructions, vocabulary density of exercise, grammatical problems, uninteresting topic etc.. A further analysis of these issues may help the teacher to decide which exercises to set or dedicate more time to in the future. Remember to check your students’ ranking of difficult exercises after correction – what students may have originally perceived as problematic may not actually correspond to their own performance. This again may be something that can be discussed and analyzed further at a later date.
For teachers in a hurry to get correcting out of the way – simply vary the order in which exercises are corrected. This ensures that students are alert and are following the correction process.
Get students to check through answers in pairs by photocopying the key (readymade or produced by the teacher) or displaying answers on an OHP. Set aside time at the end of the lesson for individual students to discuss problem areas or organize a tutorial session where students can come and discuss problems individually with the teacher while the group works on another task/project work.
Change the time of the lesson in which homework is corrected. Most students expect homework corrections to come right at the beginning of a lesson and, let’s face it, it’s not the best or most enjoyable way to start off! Try checking homework as a way of ‘calming down’ after a boisterous group-work session or leave it till the end of the lesson. Incidentally, this also works with setting homework. Try varying the point of the lesson at which homework is set to ensure that all the students are paying attention!
Take in students’ workbooks occasionally or provide photocopies of exercises that can be handed in. Though this does add to the teacher’s workload, it is worth taking a look at how students deal with more mechanical exercises that differ from extended written work which necessarily requires individual marking and feedback. Taking a look at a workbook can provide an idea of problem areas for individual students, again with a view to diagnosing problem areas in structures/ vocabulary or assessing difficulties that may be based on other factors such as lack of interest in the topic, unclear instructions etc.. It may also allow the teacher to gain insight into how much (or how little) homework an individual student is regularly putting in. Following the teacher’s appraisal of the students’ workbooks individual tutorials may be arranged to discuss issues as appropriate.
Provide mini keys of individual exercises to distribute to pairs. Students then take it in turns to ‘play the teacher’ and check each other’s answers. Where more than two exercises need checking pairs can exchange keys and repeat the process as many times as necessary. The teacher can circulate and deal with queries as pairs are checking. However, remember to provide an opportunity for the discussion of problem areas at the end of the pair-work session or at the end of the lesson.
Most workbook exercises that need to be checked are not specifically designed to practise pronunciation. Where pronunciation exercises are set make sure that adequate time is given to teacher modelling and student production of target items. In the majority of cases, i.e. where structures, vocabulary and functions are being practised, vary the correction procedure by taking time out along the way to focus on pronunciation/ intonation issues. Even the most boring feedback sessions can be livened up by a rousing choral repetition session!
Spot check on lexis by occasionally eliciting synonyms/ antonyms/ similar expressions/ analogous idioms of items taken from the exercises being corrected. This also provides an added opportunity for those who did not do the homework to participate in the correction process and allows those who did not necessarily provide a correct answer in an exercise to regain their confidence in being able to answer extra questions. This technique is also useful for involving more competent or confident students. Spot check questions should therefore be carefully gauged to include the whole ability range. Extra questions can also include pronunciation issues by eliciting word stress, number of syllables, homophones etc. The teacher is obviously free to ask spot check questions at any point during the correction process. However, it may be worth just taking a quick look at the exercises that are to be corrected beforehand so that appropriate extra questions may be devised in advance.
Using photocopies or an OHP transparency, create a multiple choice answer key for a few exercises where three possible answers to each question are provided, only one of which is correct. Students then compare their own answers with the alternatives given. They then choose the answer that they consider correct (which may or may not correspond with their own original answer). This activity gives students a chance to rethink their own answers before the teacher finally provides the key. It also gives less confident students and those who may not have completed the task an opportunity to take part in the correction process.
Play the ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ game when correcting. In this case, students are placed in two teams. Students from each team are called upon alternately to provide answers to each question. Each team has a set number of ‘ask a friend’, ‘fifty-fifty’ and ‘pass’ cards which they can use at their discretion. (Numbers can be decided on the basis of how many students there are in each team. For a class of 12 students with teams of 6 players each, one card of each type should be ample. The ‘cards’ do not have to be made as such. They may be simply registered on the board for each team and rubbed off as they are used). For ‘ask-a-friend’ a student may ask another member of his/her team to provide the answer. For ‘fifty-fifty’ the teacher gives two alternative answers and the student must choose which he/she considers correct. (This may need some prior preparation, depending on the teacher’s ability to come up with sneaky alternatives!) If the student passes, the answer is given by the teacher and no points are scored. One word of warning – as this game has a strong competitive element, please make sure that an equal number of questions is given to each team and that a variety of exercises is ensured. It is a good idea to split individual exercises into two halves and give teams an equal number of questions each. If an exercise has an odd number of answers, the teacher can simply provide the answer to the first question as an example.
Finally, be upbeat about homework correction. Camp up the performance if necessary with a round of applause for correct answers. Sound effects for applause can be recorded or included in power point presentations or the students themselves can be encouraged to clap when correct answers are given. With younger students, take care that clapping does not turn to booing wrong answers, however. If this is a risk, you might consider a collective round of applause at the end of each exercise corrected. Also remember that homework feedback which involves student participation may be an intense source of satisfaction when students are able to provide the right answer but it can also be a source of embarrassment for those who are unable to do so. Make sure lots of praise and encouragement is given for answers that are even partly correct and, where possible, give positive feedback for areas that are not necessarily the focus of the exercise (such as good pronunciation in the case of grammatical errors or wrong answers in comprehension exercises).

Remember: students quickly tune in to the mood of their teacher. If the teacher presents homework correction as a valid and interesting part of the learning process it will be infectious and homework corrections need never be boring again!

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Teaching approaches: computer assisted language learning

Teaching approaches: content-based teaching, teaching approaches: functional approaches in efl/ esol.

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Teaching approaches: task-based learning

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Teaching approaches: the communicative classroom

Teaching approaches: the grammar-translation method, teaching approaches: the negotiated syllabus, teaching approaches: total physical response, teaching approaches: translation as a language learning tool, teaching approaches: using l1 in class, teaching approaches: what is "suggestopedia", teaching approaches: what is audiolingualism, teaching approaches: what is the silent way, related articles, first steps into …classroom technologies.

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15 Ideas for Checking Answers

Checking answers (to homework, as well as exercises done during the lesson) is a part of class often described by teachers and students as boring, slow and not all that engaging for anyone. Naturally, we check these answers for a variety of reasons, such as for marking, for noting student progress, and in order to check if the students have understood the language point in question. However, in my experience both as a teacher and as an observer, the time spent checking answers in class is often the part of the lesson where a lot of time is spent that is of no benefit to any of the learners. In short, the teacher is checking answers just because it is expected that the teacher will check the answers.

I don’t want to get too deep into methodology here, but rather to dispel the notion that it is our duty as teachers to check every answer to every exercise the students have done, and also to offer a few suggestions as to how we can make this whole process more engaging and beneficial for the learners.

1. Let the learners compare their answers first.

Speaking from experience as a language learner, I always appreciated the opportunity to have a look at my partner’s answers to make sure I wasn’t completely off the mark (and so didn’t have to worry so much about making a fool of myself when called upon). By letting the students compare their answers, it means they’ll have more confidence in them (and so they will be more likely to volunteer them) and also gives them an opportunity for the learners to use English to explain why they chose answer A instead of B, etc.

This is, for me, the golden rule of checking answers in class: we want to get the learners to use English in their discussions / comparisons of their answers. In general, students are often resistant to this at first, but if we can get them use to it then comparing answers later becomes an opportunity for the students to speak and use many of the language structures they’ve learned in class (e.g. modals: “the answer must be A”).

2. Alternate between asking for volunteers and nominating students to give the answer.

We’ve all taught classes with students who dominate question / answer time. This is a way to simply get more (if not all) of the students involved in the process of checking answers.

3. Random Order

Instead of just going through the questions linearly (i.e. 1,2,3,4,5), elicit the answers to the questions randomly. This will hopefully keep the students alert, and helps prevent them from simply anticipating what question they are likely to get.

4. Let the students decide which questions to answer

A variation of the above- nominate a student and let them decide which question to answer. This is good for weaker students, as it allows them to answer questions that they are more confident they have correct.

5. ‘Randomly’ call on students with correct answers

For activities done in class, you can walk around the class, monitoring and offering help, then ‘randomly’ call on the students who have the correct answers. This, again, is nice for giving students confidence in speaking and offering up their answers in class.

6. Let students nominate each other

Easy and fun to do- nominate the first student, then allow this student to choose who will answer the next question. Variations of this include using a ball in class (the student throws the ball to the student they want to answer next).

7. Read out the questions randomly at normal speed.

After the learners have completed the exercises and compared their answers, you can give the learners a bit of authentic listening practice by reading out the questions randomly, but at your normal speed. This makes the process at bit more different (naturally) for the learners, but if done regularly could help them become more aware of features of natural speech, such as weak forms, connected speech, etc.

8. Hold off on confirming if an answer is correct or incorrect

I think it’s a teacher’s instinct to tell a student if their answer is correct or incorrect straightaway, but discussion in class among the students can be generated by simply waiting a bit (thus giving the other students a chance to agree or disagree) or by nominating another student in the class and asking “do you agree?.”

9. Just give the students the answers

When I first started teaching, I considered this to be the ‘lazy-way’ to check answers, but it’s what I do most of the time now. Simply give the students the answers on a handout or put it on the blackboard or OHP, and give the students time to check their answers and ask questions. If there are no questions, then move on.

When I taught in a private language school (where marks were not given) I would often give the students the answers to the homework and set aside a few minutes at the start of class for questions or problems with the homework.

10. Put the answers on the board or OHP in the wrong order

When dealing with a relatively low number of multiple-choice questions (I certainly wouldn’t do this with 50 answers)to check , you can simply put the answers (not the numbers of course) on the board in a random order and let the students work out in groups. If you wanted to turn this into a full-speaking activity then you could also put a few functional phrases (such as modals “Number 5 could be A” or even basic conditional structures “If 5 is A, then 6 must be C” etc. )on the board for the students to use in their groups as they work out which answer goes with which question.

11. Easy-First Game

A Variation of number 4 above. Put the groups into teams. The teams first compare their answers, then, in turn, each team gets to choose one of the questions to answer. If they answer correctly, they get a point, if they answer incorrectly then the next team has an opportunity to answer.

12. Snake game

Put numbers of questions on board in rows and/or columns as shown below. You could even put the numbers randomly if you want.

Again, the students work in teams. This time, the goal of the game is for each team to have the longest ‘snake.’ So, for example, in the first round a team answers number 1 correctly. In the next round, if they answered number 2 or 6 or 7 correctly (the snake can only move 1 space vertically or diagonally) then these two numbers would be connected.

This game is nice with competitive groups as a bit of strategy is involved in blocking the other teams movement, etc.

The problem, for me, is often keeping track of which snake belongs to which team. Either different color markers or assigning a different shape (circle, square, triangle) to each team helps keep everything clear.

Again, encourage the students to use English when they’re talking in their groups.

13. Using a copy of a listening tapescript

If checking the answers to a listening task (or reading task), allow the students to read (or read while they listen again) and find / mark the passages in the listening where the answers are. Following this, the students can compare their answers and, in theory, should be able to explain why the answer they’ve chosen is correct.

A variation of this is to give the students the correct answers and have the students use the text / tapescript to explain why the answers are correct.

14. Exploit the vocabulary in the questions / answers

Ask the students if they know a synonym or antonym of one of the words in the question / answer, or with higher level groups, ask if anyone can rephrase the question or answer in a different way but with the same meaning.

15. Working with mistakes

While part of the job does entail testing the students from time to time, most of the tasks we do in the classroom are not meant to be tests. As such, mistakes shouldn’t be viewed in a negative light, e.g. that the learners have failed to master a particular language point, but instead are a natural part of the learning process.

So anytime we can get the learners to reflect on their mistakes and examine why they got a particular exercise wrong (e.g. due to a difference between their L1 and English, or are they possibly confusing two different structures that are similar in appearance, such as “Used to” and “be used to”, etc), we’re not only helping them notice and internalize the language point in question and approach similar tasks more effectively in the future, but also giving them the tools to become more reflective, autonomous, successful language learners.

Homework: A New User's Guide

Cory Turner

If you made it past the headline, you're likely a student, concerned parent, teacher or, like me, a nerd nostalgist who enjoys basking in the distant glow of Homework Triumphs Past (second-grade report on Custer's Last Stand, nailed it!).

Whoever you are, you're surely hoping for some clarity in the loud, perennial debate over whether U.S. students are justifiably exhausted and nervous from too much homework — even though some international comparisons suggest they're sitting comfortably at the average.

Well, here goes. I've mapped out six, research-based polestars that should help guide you to some reasonable conclusions about homework.

How much homework do U.S. students get?

The best answer comes from something called the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP . In 2012, students in three different age groups — 9, 13 and 17 — were asked, "How much time did you spend on homework yesterday?" The vast majority of 9-year-olds (79 percent) and 13-year-olds (65 percent) and still a majority of 17-year-olds (53 percent) all reported doing an hour or less of homework the day before.

Another study from the National Center for Education Statistics found that high school students who reported doing homework outside of school did, on average, about seven hours a week.

If you're hungry for more data on this — and some perspective — check out this exhaustive report put together last year by researcher Tom Loveless at the Brookings Institution.

An hour or less a day? But we hear so many horror stories! Why?

The fact is, some students do have a ton of homework. In high school we see a kind of student divergence — between those who choose or find themselves tracked into less-rigorous coursework and those who enroll in honors classes or multiple Advanced Placement courses. And the latter students are getting a lot of homework. In that 2012 NAEP survey, 13 percent of 17-year-olds reported doing more than two hours of homework the previous night. That's not a lot of students, but they're clearly doing a lot of work.

Source: Met Life Survey of the American Teacher, The Homework Experience, 2007. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

That also tracks with a famous survey from 2007 — from MetLife — that asked parents what they think of their kids' homework load. Sixty percent said it was just right. Twenty-five percent said their kids are getting too little. Just 15 percent of parents said their kids have too much homework.

Research also suggests that the students doing the most work have something else in common: income. "I think that the debate over homework in some ways is a social class issue," says Janine Bempechat, professor of human development at Wheelock College. "There's no question that in affluent communities, children are really over-taxed, over-burdened with homework."

But the vast majority of students do not seem to have inordinate workloads. And the ones who do are generally volunteering for the tough stuff. That doesn't make it easier, but it does make it a choice.

Do we know how much homework students in other countries are doing?

Sort of. Caveats abound here. Education systems and perceptions of what is and isn't homework can vary remarkably overseas. So any comparison is, to a degree, apples-to-oranges (or, at least, apples-to-pears). A 2012 report from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development pegged the U.S. homework load for 15-year-olds at around six hours per week. That's just above the study's average. It found that students in Hong Kong are also doing about six hours a week. Much of Europe checks in between four and five hours a week. In Japan, it's four hours. And Korea's near the bottom, at three hours.

Source: OECD, PISA 2012 Database, Table IV.3.48. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

How much homework is too much?

Better yet, how much is just right? Harris Cooper at Duke University has done some of the best work on homework. He and his team reviewed dozens of studies, from 1987 to 2003, looking for consensus on what works and what doesn't. A common rule of thumb, he says, is what's called the 10-minute rule. Take the child's grade and multiply by 10. So first-graders should have roughly 10 minutes of homework a night, 40 minutes for fourth-graders, on up to two hours for seniors in high school. A lot of of schools use this. Even the National PTA officially endorses it.

Homework clearly improves student performance, right?

Not necessarily. It depends on the age of the child. Looking over the research, there's little to no evidence that homework improves student achievement in elementary school. Then again, the many experts I spoke with all said the same thing: The point of homework in those primary grades isn't entirely academic. It's about teaching things like time-management and self-direction.

But, by high school the evidence shifts. Harris Cooper's massive review found, in middle and high school, a positive correlation between homework and student achievement on unit tests. It seems to help. But more is not always better. Cooper points out that, depending on the subject and the age of the student, there is a law of diminishing returns. Again, he recommends the 10-minute rule.

What kinds of homework seem to be most effective?

This is where things get really interesting. Because homework should be about learning, right? To understand what kinds of homework best help kids learn, we really need to talk about memory and the brain.

Let's start with something called the spacing effect . Say a child has to do a vocabulary worksheet. The next week, it's a new worksheet with different words and so on. Well, research shows that the brain is better at remembering when we repeat with consistency, not when we study in long, isolated chunks of time. Do a little bit of vocabulary each night, repeating the same words night after night.

Similarly, a professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, Henry "Roddy" Roediger III , recommends that teachers give students plenty of little quizzes, which he says strengthen the brain's ability to remember. Don't fret. They can be low-stakes or no-stakes, says Roediger: It's the steady recall and repetition that matter. He also recommends, as homework, that students try testing themselves instead of simply re-reading the text or class notes.

There's also something known as interleaving . This is big in the debate over math homework. Many of us — myself included — learned math by focusing on one concept at a time, doing a worksheet to practice that concept, then moving on.

Well, there's evidence that students learn more when homework requires them to choose among multiple strategies — new and old — when solving problems. In other words, kids learn when they have to draw not just from what they learned in class that day but that week, that month, that year.

One last note: Experts agree that homework should generally be about reinforcing what students learned in class (this is especially true in math). Sometimes it can — and should — be used to introduce new material, but here's where so many horror stories begin.

Tom Loveless, a former teacher, offers this advice: "I don't think teachers should ever send brand-new material that puts the parent in the position of a teacher. That's a disaster. My own personal philosophy was: Homework is best if it's material that requires more practice but they've already received initial instruction."

Or, in the words of the National PTA: "Homework that cannot be done without help is not good homework."

Our Mission

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5 Ways to Make Homework More Meaningful

Use these insights from educators—and research—to create homework practices that work for everyone.

Homework tends to be a polarizing topic. While many teachers advocate for its complete elimination, others argue that it provides students with the extra practice they need to solidify their learning and teach them work habits—like managing time and meeting deadlines—that have lifelong benefits.

We recently reached out to teachers in our audience to identify practices that can help educators plot a middle path.

On Facebook , elementary school teacher John Thomas responded that the best homework is often no-strings-attached encouragement to read or play academically adjacent games with family members. “I encourage reading every night,” Thomas said, but he doesn’t use logs or other means of getting students to track their completion. “Just encouragement and book bags with self selected books students take home for enjoyment.”

Thomas said he also suggests to parents and students that they can play around with “math and science tools” such as “calculators, tape measures, protractors, rulers, money, tangrams, and building blocks.” Math-based games like Yahtzee or dominoes can also serve as enriching—and fun—practice of skills they’re learning.

At the middle and high school level, homework generally increases, and that can be demotivating for teachers, who feel obliged to review or even grade halfhearted submissions. Student morale is at stake, too: “Most [students] don’t complete it anyway,” said high school teacher Krystn Stretzinger Charlie on Facebook . “It ends up hurting them more than it helps.”

So how do teachers decide when to—and when not to—assign homework, and how do they ensure that the homework they assign feels meaningful, productive, and even motivating to students?

1. Less is More

A 2017 study analyzed the homework assignments of more than 20,000 middle and high school students and found that teachers are often a bad judge of how long homework will take.

According to researchers, students spend as much as 85 minutes or as little as 30 minutes on homework that teachers imagined would take students one hour to complete. The researchers concluded that by assigning too much homework , teachers actually increased inequalities between students in exchange for “minimal gains in achievement.” Too much homework can overwhelm students who “have more gaps in their knowledge,” the researchers said, and creates situations where homework becomes so time-consuming and frustrating that it turns students off to classwork more broadly.

To counteract this, middle school math teacher Crystal Frommert said she focuses on quality over quantity. Frommert cited the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics , which recommends only assigning “what’s necessary to augment instruction” and adds that if teachers can “get sufficient information by assigning only five problems, then don’t assign fifty.”

Instead of sending students home with worksheets and long problem sets from textbooks that often repeat the same concepts, Frommert recommended assigning part of a page, or even a few specific problems—and explaining to students why these handpicked problems will be helpful practice. When students know there’s thought behind the problems they’re asked to solve at home, “they pay more attention to the condensed assignment because it was tailored for them,” Frommert said.

On Instagram , high school teacher Jacob Palmer said that every now and then he condenses homework down to just one problem that is particularly engaging and challenging: “The depth and exploration that can come from one single problem can be richer than 20 routine problems.”

2. Add Choice to the Equation

Former educator and coach Mike Anderson said teachers can differentiate homework assignments without placing unrealistic demands on their workload by offering students some discretion in the work they complete and explicitly teaching them “how to choose appropriately challenging work for themselves.”

Instead of assigning the same 20 problems or response questions on a given textbook page to all students, for example, Anderson suggested asking students to refer to the list of questions and choose and complete a designated number of them (three to five, for example) that give students “a little bit of a challenge but that [they] can still solve independently.”

To teach students how to choose well, Anderson has students practice choosing homework questions in class before the end of the day, brainstorming in groups and sharing their thoughts about what a good homework question should accomplish. The other part, of course, involves offering students good choices: “Make sure that options for homework focus on the skills being practiced and are open-ended enough for all students to be successful,” he said.

Once students have developed a better understanding of the purpose of challenging themselves to practice and grow as learners, Anderson also periodically asks them to come up with their own ideas for problems or other activities they can use to reinforce learning at home. A simple question, such as “What are some ideas for how you might practice this skill at home?” can be enough to get students sharing ideas, he said.

Jill Kibler, a former high school science teacher, told Edutopia on Facebook that she implemented homework choice in her classroom by allowing students to decide how much of the work they’ve recently turned in that they’d like to redo as homework: “Students had one grading cycle (about seven school days) to redo the work they wanted to improve,” she said.

3. Break the Mold

According to high school English teacher Kate Dusto, the work that students produce at home doesn’t have to come in the traditional formats of written responses to a problem. On Instagram , Dusto told Edutopia that homework can often be made more interesting—and engaging—by allowing students to show evidence of their learning in creative ways.

“Offer choices for how they show their learning,” Dusto said. “Record audio or video? Type or use speech to text? Draw or handwrite and then upload a picture?” The possibilities are endless.

Former educator and author Jay McTighe noted that visual representations such as graphic organizers and concept maps are particularly useful for students attempting to organize new information and solidify their understanding of abstract concepts. For example, students might be asked to “draw a visual web of factors affecting plant growth” in biology class or map out the plot, characters, themes, and settings of a novel or play they’re reading to visualize relationships between different elements of the story and deepen their comprehension of it.

Simple written responses to summarize new learning can also be made more interesting by varying the format, McTighe said. For example, ask students to compose a tweet in 280 characters or less to answer a question like “What is the big idea that you have learned about _____?” or even record a short audio podcast or video podcast explaining “key concepts from one or more lessons.”

4. Make Homework Voluntary

When elementary school teacher Jacqueline Worthley Fiorentino stopped assigning mandatory homework to her second-grade students and suggested voluntary activities instead, she found that something surprising happened: “They started doing more work at home.”

Some of the simple, voluntary activities she presented students with included encouraging at-home reading (without mandating how much time they should spend reading); sending home weekly spelling words and math facts that will be covered in class but that should also be mastered by the end of the week: “It will be up to each child to figure out the best way to learn to spell the words correctly or to master the math facts,” she said; and creating voluntary lesson extensions such as pointing students to outside resources—texts, videos or films, webpages, or even online or in-person exhibits—to “expand their knowledge on a topic covered in class.”

Anderson said that for older students, teachers can sometimes make whatever homework they assign a voluntary choice. “Do all students need to practice a skill? If not, you might keep homework invitational,” he said, adding that teachers can tell students, “If you think a little more practice tonight would help you solidify your learning, here are some examples you might try.”

On Facebook , Natisha Wilson, a K–12 gifted students coordinator for an Ohio school district, said that when students are working on a challenging question in class, she’ll give them the option to “take it home and figure it out” if they’re unable to complete it before the end of the period. Often students take her up on this, she said, because many of them “can’t stand not knowing the answer.”

5. Grade for Completion—or Don’t Grade at All

Former teacher Rick Wormeli argued that work on homework assignments isn’t “evidence of final level of proficiency”; rather, it’s practice that provides teachers with “feedback and informs where we go next in instruction.”

Grading homework for completion—or not grading at all, Wormeli said—can help students focus on the real task at hand of consolidating understanding and self-monitoring their learning. “When early attempts at mastery are not used against them, and accountability comes in the form of actually learning content, adolescents flourish.”

High school science teacher John Scali agreed , confirming that grading for “completion and timeliness” rather than for “correctness” makes students “more likely to do the work, especially if it ties directly into what we are doing in class the next day” without worrying about being “100% correct.” On Instagram , middle school math teacher Traci Hawks noted that any assignments that are completed and show work—even if the answer is wrong—gets a 100 from her.

But Frommert said that even grading for completion can be time-consuming for teachers and fraught for students if they don’t have home environments that are supportive of homework or if they have jobs or other after-school activities.

Instead of traditional grading, she suggested alternatives to holding students accountable for homework, such as student presentations or even group discussions and debates as a way to check for understanding. For example, students can debate which method is best to solve a problem or discuss their prospective solutions in small groups. “Communicating their mathematical thinking deepens their understanding,” Frommert said.

teacherhead

Zest for learning… into the rainforest of teaching.

Check for Understanding… why it matters and how to do it. #rEDSurrey21

This post gives the key points from my ResearchEd Surrey talk at Farnham Heath End School. Firstly, I explored the challenge for teachers in teaching a group of people all at once, with reference to Willingham’s ideas about memory and understanding. When children don’t understand – there are numerous possible reasons: lack of prior knowledge, insufficient fluency, problems with sustaining mental attention. Teachers need to be conscious of the potential for this to be happening across the class:

Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black has this great insight in their classic work Inside the Black Box. When teachers only select students who volunteer and are worried about getting through the material, they tend to ask less demanding questions in order to keep going forwards:

That’s a significant challenge to teachers. Are you making the decision to move on whilst being ‘out of touch with the understanding of most of the class?’ It’s so important to be responsive, ready to move back as well as forward if needed. Rosenshine has a useful set of guidance, comparing more and less effective teachers, stressing the dual purpose of checking students’ learning.

He tells us how not to check for understanding – ie by simply asking ‘have you understood?’ This tells us almost nothing – as students rarely so no or could be wrong in saying yes. But, most importantly, there are always degrees of understanding. Instead of asking if, we should ask what student have understood. Rosenshine gives us a nice list of ways teachers can check for understanding.:

In the flow of instructional teaching, checking for understanding is supported by a range of questioning techniques, all underpinned by cold calling – so that every student engages in thinking and is ready to respond. It can be important to switch between cold calling, asking individuals – and pair-share, where everyone has a change to air their thoughts and rehearse their explanations. This gives the teacher a better sampling of the level of understanding across the class.

We covered many of the ideas in Cold Calling and Cold Call Variations, In our Walkthrus materials, we have a walkthru for Checking for Understanding:

The main decision-making for a teacher is how to respond in light of the information from these exchanges. Re-teaching requires being ready with additional examples and/or the nimble subject knowledge needed to generate new questions and explanations spontaneously. Deferring to another time can be a good decision – often students just need longer to make sense of things and you might choose to return to the ideas next lesson or next week.. to allow time for more ideas to weave together in students’ minds.

Checking for understanding is exemplified by some ideas related to deliberate vocabulary development as described in this post. We need to connect need words to ideas and meaning students already have.

Building Word Confidence: Everyone read, say, understand, use, practise.

A very common phenomenon in many lessons is that students encounter new words. The way we approach this ought to be something teachers think about explicitly so that effective strategies are used. I’ve seen explicit vocabulary development done extremely well but, quite often, I find that it’s approached in a rather shallow manner: new words are…

Thanks to everyone who came to my session.

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"If he were to do" vs. "if he did"

What is the difference in the meaning of following sentences?

If Tom were to do my homework, I would watch a film. If Tom did my homework, I would watch a film.

I know that both of these questions express unlikely or imagined condition. I'm not sure but I think. There's is difference in the meaning between two sentences. Here is my opinion:

In the first sentence, the speaker thinks that it's impossible for Tom to do his homework or Tom isn't able to do his homework or Tom is a baby. So, the speaker is imagining a impossible thing.

In the second sentence, the speaker thinks it's a bit possible for Tom to do his homework.Tom is the speaker's friend and Tom is able to his homework but he isn't willing to do. So, the speaker is expressing his imagination and saying "If Tom did my homework I'd watch a film".

For more clearification of my openion i would say: I'm not sure but I'm just guessing the possible meaning of those sentences like this:

both sentences are all about imagination but first sentence indicates impossible imagination and second expresses unlikely but expected imagination. AM i correct?

Am I correct in my opinion ? If not, what is the correct meaning? Please explain it in details.

conditional-constructions
subjunctives

No, It's not. It may look similar but not the same or duplicate. Unlike previous question, i'm here included my own openion and asking differently – yubraj Commented May 21, 2016 at 23:57
It is a duplicate because you are asking about the exact same two constructions: a first conditional using the simple past tense in the if-clause and a first conditional using were to + infinitive form of that same verb in the if-clause . If you want to include your own opinion, you can just edit your previous question. – Alan Carmack Commented May 22, 2016 at 1:36
I will write an answer to the earlier question. But if I wrote an answer to this one also, it would be the same. – Alan Carmack Commented May 22, 2016 at 1:44
@yubrajsharma Would you be willing to edit both questions a little bit, to clarify the difference in what you are asking about in each one? Sometimes it is difficult for native speakers to understand what a non-native speaker is asking about, because the native speakers don't share the same grammatical concepts as the non-native. Sometimes, a difference that seems obvious and important to a person from one language seems so unimportant to a person from another language that they neglect it. Even among speakers of the same language, grammar is often hard to talk about clearly! :) – Ben Kovitz Commented May 22, 2016 at 4:29
Ok, i got it, i'm going to edit, thank you for suggestion – yubraj Commented May 22, 2016 at 5:58

3 Answers 3

There is little or no difference in meaning between the two sentences. There is a tiny difference in emphasis, which is hard to explain. It has to do with the way you clarify or remove ambiguity in English by adding redundancy, also illustrated here .

Hypothetical possibility with present tense

In both sentences, "his doing my homework" is a hypothetical possibility. A consequence of that possibility, indicated by would , is that the speaker would watch a film.

English provides a variety of ways to indicate a hypothetical possibility. The simplest is just to precede the clause describing the possibility with the word if . You could say:

If he does my homework, I would watch a film.

However, in this form, the meaning of the present tense is not clear. Does it mean "right now"? No, that's not how the present tense is normally used in English. Does it mean "in general"—that is, "if he often, frequently, usually does my homework…" or "if it is his responsibility to do my homework…"? This is how the present tense is most commonly used in English, but it's probably not the intended meaning in this sentence, since "I would watch a film" suggests that the speaker is talking about only one occasion. However, would can also mean a habitual, recurring action. The little English grammatical words tend to be very ambiguous!

So, in English, we often add clarity by repeating or echoing the same meaning in multiple ways. This helps reduce the ambiguity of each individual word or grammatical choice, especially regarding what the speaker means about the time of an event, whether the event is real or hypothetical, what the consequence is and when it occurs, whether the hypothesis is normal or unusual or an offer in a negotiation, etc.

Past tense to indicate future possibility

To avoid the ambiguity described above, it's common in English to describe a hypothetical future possibility by putting it into the past tense, like this:

If he did my homework, I would watch a film.

Another typical example:

If you visited me next July, we could watch the fireworks together.

You might think that using the past tense to indicate a hypothetical future possibility is ripe for confusion, and you would be right. For example, "If he did my homework, I would watch a film" could also mean a past possibility and a present consequence: if he already finished doing my homework, then I would watch a film right now.

So, when using the past tense to indicate a future possibility, people often add additional words to reinforce the interpretation that the sentence is about the future. For example, the sentence with "visited" has the adverbial phrase "next July", which makes fully clear that that the sentence is about a future possibility.

Subjunctive mood

The sentence about homework does not have an adverbial phrase to make the time explicit. So, to be perfectly clear that you are using the past tense for a future possibility, you might use the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive mood means hypothetical possibility! The subjunctive mood is rare in English, and often the form of the verb doesn't unambiguously indicate the subjunctive mood, but with the verb "to be" and subject "I", the subjunctive mood is completely unambiguous, since "were" can't make grammatical sense in any other interpretation:

If he were to do my homework, I would watch a film.

Infinitive verb form

The reason for the infinitive to do is because the infinitive form of a verb avoids attaching it to a particular time. (For more about that, see this answer .) The past subjunctive were , combined with if , adds somewhat more redundancy to indicate that the sentence is talking about a hypothetical future possibility and its consequence.

Because the sentence talks about homework and watching a film, it sounds like the speaker is referring to hypothetical events that would occur this evening. So, you don't really need the subjunctive mood to be clear about what time is being talked about. The sentence with did is clear enough.

Using the infinitive to do instead of the finite did creates a slightly more abstracted feeling about the possibility. Using the past subjunctive were where it's not necessary adds to that feeling of abstract possibility. As I said, the difference in meaning is just a tiny shade of emphasis. But you can learn a lot about English grammar by understanding why the switch from did to were to do creates that tiny shade of difference!

But how to use subjunctive with were ? So what's the difference between those two sentences? I want to learn about subjunctive – yubraj Commented May 20, 2016 at 9:40
@yubrajsharma The subjunctive mood in English is a pretty broad topic, too big for a single question on StackOverflow and much too big for one comment. Very briefly: "Were" is the past-tense form of the subjunctive mood of "be", in all persons and numbers. It's usually ambiguous because in the plural it has the same form as the indicative mood: "If you were here…" and "If they were here…" are the same in both subjunctive and indicative. You can try reading here for more information, but it's very advanced and tricky English grammar. – Ben Kovitz Commented May 20, 2016 at 17:21
I think there's something wrong with your answer.you've written 'If he does my homework, I would watch a film" In the second clause(main clause) there's the use of 'would' whereas there is the use of 'does' in if clause. It's strange for me. Is it grammatical or it makes sense? – yubraj Commented May 22, 2016 at 0:05
I also want to know other schoolr's openion on this answer – yubraj Commented May 22, 2016 at 0:07
@yubrajsharma If he does my homework, I would watch a film is not a standard pattern and few would say it. It is mixing two different conditionals. The two standard constructions are If he does my homework, I will watch a film and If he did my homework, I would watch a film . – Alan Carmack Commented May 22, 2016 at 1:48

Both the sentences are conditional type 2, indicative of a hypothetical or contrafactual situation in the present or future.. In other words, in both the sentences, the if-clause takes the past subjunctive. However, the meaning of were + to do is ambiguous; it's used to convey different senses. For example:

If he were to do my homework = If he did my homework, if he intended to do my homework, or if he were supposed/expected/directed/instructed/obliged to do my homework.

I think because of the ambiguity of the subjunctive were to do, the use of the past tense did is more common to express the same meaning of doing something in the present or future.

What do you mean by 'op'? In which situation' were to' is used or in which situation we have to use 'were to '? Could you please edit your answer to make it detailed? – yubraj Commented May 21, 2016 at 6:20
1 @yubrajsharma, you are OP (original poster). – Khan Commented May 21, 2016 at 6:46
My question is Am i correct or not in my openion? If not what's the correct meaning and differences ? – yubraj Commented May 22, 2016 at 9:42
Both the sentences indicate an unreal situation. If Tom were to do my homework or if Tom did my homework mean that Tom doesn't really do my homework but I am imagining that he does or l will do my homework. However, in regard to his ability, you can say 'if Tom were able to do my homework, I would watch a film'. – Khan Commented May 22, 2016 at 12:32
1 If there's no differences between them, Lets conclude they'r same, – yubraj Commented May 23, 2016 at 0:15

They're both in the subjunctive mood. The first one is sometimes called the "future subjunctive" in English and the second one is usually called the past subjunctive:

"If Tom were to do my homework, I would watch a film."

("were to do" is the future subjunctive of the verb "to do")

"If Tom did my homework, I would watch a film."

("did" is the past subjunctive of the verb "to do")

I am probably going to get some flak from the modern grammarians on this forum for my use of terms like "past subjunctive" for "did" in no. 2 and God forbid I even utter the term "future subjunctive" because many modern grammarians don't believe that English has a "future indicative" let alone a "future subjunctive", but guess what, boys? I just uttered it. Now, I shall start with the ever-so-slight difference between the two statements at hand:

No. 1 uses the future subjunctive of the verb "to do". The future subjunctive is very formal and the rule for it has exceptions, so what I tell you here is going to be how it's used 99% of the time rather than all of the time. For the other 1%, it is used politely to talk about a condition in the future, whether that condition be counterfactual or not. Anyway, the future subjunctive appears a lot in formal English essays, papers, or dissertations, but it is heard in conversation here and there as well. It is used to talk about an event in the future that is "very" unlikely, if not impossible, to occur.

Unlike No. 2, which uses the past subjunctive, No. 1 could be talking about a condition that is counterfactual in the distant future ; no. 2 does not talk about the distant future; no. 2 is using the past subjunctive, which talks about a condition that is counterfactual either in the present or near future . For instance:

"If I were to visit the planet Pluto, I would pack a lot of warm clothes."

In my imaginary world, one day I shall visit Pluto and I will have to pack warm clothes.

"If I were to be crowned King of England, I would rule with an iron fist."

In my imaginary world, one day I shall be crowned king and I will rule with an iron fist.

"If one were to look closely at the two examples above, he could easily see the subtlety of the future subjunctive."

Remember that 1% I told you about; here it is. This is an example of politeness using the future subjunctive and it is often found in formal essays and papers. I have written this before in many formal essays in high school and college over the years. I am politely trying to direct the reader's attention to something. It's more polite than the imperative,

"Look closely at the two examples."

If I were to have used the past subjunctive "looked" in the situation above, it wouldn't sound so polite as it does with the future subjunctive (This is an example of the future perfect subjunctive, which expresses courteousness herein). Usually, we use the past subjunctive in counterfactual conditions, but it can be used for politeness in some cases like the future subjunctive; however, the future subjunctive is far more polite and its meaning is clearer. For instance, last week, my grandfather and I were talking about his getting eye surgery to correct his blindness in his one bad eye and I said,

"That would be great if you had your sight back."

(past subjunctive use of politeness)

However, I could have said this a nimiety of ways:

"That would be great if you [should] have your sight back."

(A mixture of past subjunctive "would" with present subjunctive "[should] have": a little less polite than the above one)

"That will be great if you [should] have your sight back."

(archaic present subjunctive: not so polite [it could read "if he have"])

"That would be great if you were to have your sight back."

(future subjunctive: very polite)

We know that "were + infinitive" equals the future subjunctive because there is no present subjunctive possibility; that is, one cannot say or write "be + infinitive" .

Here's a paradigm of the verb "to be" in the subjunctive so that you can see some of the different forms although I don't list every possible schema because passive voices in the subjunctive are possible in some instances, not to mention continuous constructions.

"If that be the case, I shall eat my hat."

" Be that the case, I shall eat my hat."

(present subjunctive [archaic]: Modern English "is" or "should be" [inversion used in second example])

"If that should be the case, I shall eat my hat."

" Should that be the case, I shall eat my hat."

(present subjunctive replaced by using "should" before the verb [inversion used in second example])

"If that were the case, I should eat my hat."

" Were that the case, I should eat my hat."

(past subjunctive [inversion used in second example])

"If that were to be the case, I should eat my hat."

" Were that to be the case, I should eat my hat."

(future subjunctive [inversion used in second example])

"If that had been the case, I should have eaten my hat."

" Had that been the case, I should have eaten my hat."

(past perfect subjunctive [inversion used in second example])

It is essential that that have been the case at some point.

(present perfect subjunctive: [I show it like this because it is so rare in "if clauses" even in archaic English])

"If that were to have been the case, I should have eaten my hat."

" Were that to have been the case, I should have eaten my hat."

(future perfect subjunctive: [equivalent to the past perfect subjunctive in meaning, but more emphasis on the counterfactual reality of the past situation; inversion used in second example])

I hope that might have helped out those who have been struggling with this difficult concept. In the end, there's very little difference between the future subjunctive and past subjunctive, especially in the original example above. In the original example above regarding Tom and his homework, I would say no. 1 is more unlikely or more polite, depending on the context clues, than no. 2 is.

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Checking in Homework....20 minutes I could do without

30 comments

I want to know what infractions might have occurred and what consequences are the result

If you mean, what happens if they don't do their homework, well two things. One, my school has a Study Hall that the students go to complete their homework during recess. (they eat their breakfast and complete their work). Secondly, there is a fine of $10 Classroom Economy dollars for 3 missing assignments. My students love their money and do not want to part with it...so the rate of non-completion is really very low. :)

Trying to think of how I could adapt this for K... You have my wheels turning!! PS I'm having a giveaway and would love to have you join! Blessings, Jessica Stanford Mrs. Stanford's Class Blog

In my classroom, I use a similiar system for homework checks. Our team has one teacher that stays in from recess daily and the students with incomplete homework stay in to complete their homework. They come outside after their homework is complete. It doesn't take too many times of staying in for them to get their homework done at home.

What a awesome idea! I'm all for a little more responsibility for them and a little extra time for me! Laura Will Grade For Coffee

Great idea! Thanks for sharing :)

I have "Academic Assistants" at each table who do the job, much as your Table Captains do. Rather than just a check mark, though, they write a C for complete, and I (capital i) for incomplete assignments, and a large circle for missing work. I give 3 points for complete work, 2 for incomplete, 0 for missing work, and 1 for work made up later. The average is their "completes homework on time" grade. We don't have an easy system for staying in at recess to do the work, but I'd love to figure one out. Can you write more about how your classroom economy works (or point me to where you've discussed it before I found this wonderful blog)? What kinds of things do you "sell" and where do you get them? How does the whole thing work? It seems like a great idea, and I'd love to know how to implement something like it.

I love this idea and I'm intrigued. Can you explain what the H/W/P means on your check sheet? (I think that's what it says!) How do you choose your Table Captains? I'm assuming your groups stay together long enough that you aren't repicking captains too much. I'd want it to be my most trustworthy kids, not just any person from that table!

I too am wondering about the H/W/P? Any answer on this yet?

The Table Captains are chosen every month, so they have a bit of time to work. Also, about the 3rd month into school, all of the kids could do the job. They really do pay attention to how to do the job. (and I am responsible for actually choosing the Table Captains, so I make sure my kids are trustworthy. I did have one student try to cheat it, and the disappointment I showed him/the whole class was enough to never have that happen again) As for the HWP...that just means "Homework Pass" So the student who has that by his name used a pass that night for homework.

This looks like a fantastic system. I like how you "charge" for three missing assignments, too! Definitely pinning for next year! Elizabeth Fun in Room 4B

Sounds like a great idea! I always enjoy your blog. April @ The Idea Backpack

I have a classroom job- one of my kids is the Homework Checker for the whole class and checks off if it's been turned in, or draws a circle if it hasn't. That way, if it's turned in late, they can add the check- but I can still see that it was late. Thanks for sharing the way you do it! :) Jenny Luckeyfrog's Lilypad

You are right-homework checking can take up precious classroom time! :) This past year I just stopped assigning it-I taught 6th grade. 1/3 of the class wasn't doing it, and it was taking up time to check it and go over it. :) I love your system that you came up with! Shannon http://www.irunreadteach.wordpress.com

I have tried 4 different ways of collecting homework this year alone - and like you I have found it to be extremely time consuming. I really like the idea of table captains doing this. I'm very excited to try it this way next year. I will also be implementing the classroom economy and between the two, I hope to have a great homework year!

I love this idea! It does eat up a bit of my morning. I am going to have to get over not having control and focus on whats more important. Thanks for the word doc!

I love this form. Is there anyway to add more lines? I would like to create this document with a list of 20 students. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Once you've downloaded the document make a copy, just in case. To insert lines, place your cursor in one of the rows, right click, choose insert, and then the location (above/below) of where you would like a line added. It will also be asking you if you are wanting to add addition columns. Hope that helps.

thats such a good idea to have students check it... if it werent for my teachers assistant id never check it !! im your newest follower ...drop by =) Just Wild About Teaching

Oh such a great idea! I am pinning this and saving it for later. =) Misty Think, Wonder, & Teach

Wow this is a great idea. :)

This comment has been removed by the author.

Thanks for the fabulous idea! I'm totally training my friends to do this for me next year!!

I'm really enjoying your blog and the fantastic ideas you're sharing. I can't wait to try the table captains as homework checkers. This will save so much time!

I love your blog! is there anyway that you can send me this sheet to my email??? its [email protected]! THanks a million!! Love all your ideas!

HI! Found you through another blog and I agree with this 100%. I usually have 2 homework checkers in my classroom that check in the homework each morning using an excel spreadsheet with all students' names on it, but this would be even faster and easier. Thanks for the idea share. I just started following your blog. If you have time, please pop on over to my new blog. Thanks Danielle http://scrappyteaching.blogspot.com

I love this idea of table captains A.K.A. Academic Assistant as another teacher calls them. Question. What do you do with late students?

When a student is late, the table captain quickly gets up and checks the work. It is literally like clockwork in my room, so it goes off without a hitch. It is very quick and undisruptive.

Love it! thanks for sharing the doc!

I teach 3rd grade and was wondering what your "modified" version of this system is?

Please leave a comment! I love to hear what you think about what is posted :)

Welcome to Room 6!

I am so glad to have you along with me for this teaching journey we are both on.

This newsletter will always be full of tried and true, classroom tested ideas that will

work for YOU! Let's learn and grow together.

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Modal verbs reading text online exercise.

This is the online version of the modal verbs reading text worksheet . Decide if the statements are true or false according to the reading text.

The deadline

Tom: Oh hi Maggie. No, I haven’t .

Maggie : The deadline is tomorrow you know so you have to submit it tomorrow.

Tom: I can’t make it. I haven’t even started it yet. Can we hand it in next week?

Maggie : I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Mrs. Robinson about that. I think you must finish it by tomorrow. She probably won’t accept projects after tomorrow.

Tom: I’ve had so many other things to do. I couldn’t even start it. I don’t know what to do.

Maggie : Don’t worry. I’ll help you. It’s not very difficult. I finished it in one day.

Tom: Really? Great!

Maggie : First, you should read the article that Mrs. Robinson gave us. It’s about the Mohican Civilization. Then, you have to design a poster for a play about them – the Mohicans – for the theatre.

Tom : Yeah I know but it looks a bit difficult…

Maggie : Not at all. You don’t have to make the poster from scratch and it doesn’t have to be a work of art. There are lots of templates on the internet. You can just use one of those designs to make your own poster.

Tom : Well, I think I can do it. What title shall I use? Can you help me?

Maggie : Yeah, I can give you some suggestions but you mustn’t use the same title as anyone else in our class. You have to create your own title.

Tom : Okay, I can come up with something I guess.

Maggie : Alright?

Tom : Yeah, I’ve got to go now and make a start on it. I’ll follow the project guidelines like you said. Thanks, Maggie.

Maggie : No problem. Good luck!

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Smart Classroom Management

A Simple, Effective Homework Plan For Teachers: Part 2

In part one of this two-part series on homework, we covered four strategies:

1. Assign what students already know.

2. Don’t involve parents.

3. Review before the end of the day.

4. Confront students who don’t have completed homework.

This week, we’ll finish the series with the final four strategies. At the end of the article, I’m going to issue a challenge—including a way to earn a free book.

Homework Strategies 5-8

5. Don’t collect it.

Most teachers collect homework.

Why? What are you going to do with it? Grade it and return it? Correct it so your students can analyze it later? Slap a sticker on it?

Collecting homework is a waste of time. Here’s why:

Upon return, nearly all students will stuff it in their desk or backpack and not give it another thought.

Returning it the next day–after you’ve moved on to the next lesson–is too late to be any benefit to students.

Homework is practice only and therefore shouldn’t be graded beyond a simple credit/no credit.

6. Partner check.

Instead of collecting it, have your students pair up and cross check their answers. Why? Because it adds ownership, motivation, and accountability to homework. It also deepens comprehension and is done before the next lesson–when it really matters.

If there is a discrepancy in answers, the students must work out who is right and why.

During this time, if there is a student whose homework is incomplete (rare, see strategies 1-4), he or she must begin work on it immediately and may not participate in the partner activity.

When your students are finished, allow for questions and be ready to provide further explanation.

7. Throw it away.

It’s done. You squeezed all the learning you needed from it. Now it’s time to throw the homework away. There is no reason to keep it, and pitching it in the trash underscores the importance of practice—which is an often-overlooked key to academic success.

It’s also an opportunity to have some fun. So grab a wastepaper basket and place it on a chair or desk in front of the room. Ask your students to crumble up their homework, and on your signal, shoot it at the basket.

Afterward, draw a crumbled ball or two from the basket and give out a simple prize—a sticker, first to line up, 15 seconds early for recess, whatever. This isn’t done as an incentive, mind you.

It’s done because it makes your classroom more fun , which is critical to effective classroom management.

8. Double it.

Any student who comes to school without homework completed, and doesn’t get it finished during partner check, must do it at home that evening along with the homework assigned for the day.

It is homework. And, sorry, but we’re busy learning today.

So the only time he or she can do it is at home. In the morning both homework assignments are due.

If a student comes to you and asks if it can be done during recess, it’s up to you. However, I’m not in favor of sending students to recess time-out .

If you decide to give your students the option of doing it during recess, I recommend you supervise them yourself in class and that you don’t accept the homework until the next morning.

A Challenge!

I challenge you to try this homework plan to begin the new school year.

If it doesn’t make your life easier, and you’re not thrilled with the improved learning and motivation in your students, email me and I’ll send you a free copy of any of my books.

Although, having seen this homework plan in action, I probably won’t believe you.

If you haven’t done so already, please join us. It’s free! Click here and begin receiving classroom management articles like this one in your email box every week.

30 thoughts on “A Simple, Effective Homework Plan For Teachers: Part 2”

I was wondering have you had safe and civil schools CHAMPS training by Randy Sprick? I just completed a 2 day training, and I feel everything I was ever taught to do is now obsolete. I was just curious what your thought on this were!

Sorry, I haven’t heard of it.

I have a question regarding strategy #8: Double it. What do you do if the student doesn’t return/complete both homework assignments the next day?

If you follow the first four strategies, and I encourage you to go back and read them, it shouldn’t happen. Done correctly, they provide irresistible motivation for students to complete homework. However, if it happens, then three assignments are due. If you follow the strategies, Shauna, you’ve done your part. At some point it’s up to the students and out of your hands. Coddling, encouraging, pep-talks, etc. won’t work.

If you lose a student, and he or she is refusing to do homework, then that is a different problem altogether. He or she cannot be a welcome member of your class any longer. Read the series on handling difficult students (right sidebar, near the bottom) for how to do this.

I am eager to try all 8 strategies tomorrow. I am skeptical, though. My students are inner-city minority kids who rarely manage to get their homework out the door. If they do there’s a good chance they have no space/tools/atmosphere in there home to do their homework. Is there any advice you can give me to remove those excuses from the list of excuses in the morning? I know they would be thrilled to trash it in the end.

Like all strategies on this website, the homework plan was developed and proven effective with disadvantaged students. One of the core philosophies of Smart Classroom Management is that there are no excuses, from the teacher managing the classroom to the students who we know can do the work. This attitude must permeate everything you do in the classroom. It is indeed possible to get homework back from all of your students every morning, but you have to believe it and know that it’s true before you can expect it from your students. It must become just the way things are done in your classroom.

This year In my first grade classroom I did weekly homework packets instead of nightly homework. Students were given packets of review work on Monday and they were due on Friday. The majority of the class turned them in but there was the same 2 or 3 who rarely had it done. I was wondering what you thought of weekly packets instead of nightly and I was wanting your comments on whether you feel homework is effective/necessary at first grade?

I’m not a fan of weekly homework packets. I think it’s something that needs to be checked daily. I’ll be sure to write about this topic in the future. As for your second question, I think homework can be beneficial (to a degree) for first grade as long as it’s review and doesn’t take long to complete.

Hello Mr. Linsin. I work in an experimental school where all work is done through email. We use little to no paper. The problem is that students have a built-in excuse: they can simply say they lost their internet connection or had other technology issues. Sometimes the files get corrupted on their USB drives. My question is, should I force a student who “lost” his or her data to re-do the homework during step 6?

If a student doesn’t have his or her homework, whatever the reason, it still must get done. So, yes, absolutely. Part of the learning with homework is in the responsibility. You may, however, want to require students who claim to have lost their data or have other tech issues to bring a note from parents. My guess is that this would be an exceedingly rare occurrence.

My school year starts next week, and I just found your articles on homework. I plan to implement these eight steps in my high school classroom. My question is, when a student turns the assignment in late, do you recommend still giving them full credit on a credit/no credit grade?

Hi Melanie,

No, I don’t recommend giving full credit for late homework. Depending on your students and their grade level, however, you may want to consider 1/2 credit for late homework.

its nice to go through the tips regarding home work need a long discussion and debate to improve it

Hi Michael, I recently began asking my students to get their tests signed by their parents. Quite a number of boys don’t bring it the next day; a few don’t bring it all. I think the main cause is a lack of responsibility (something I’ve seen come up quite often). Maybe 1 or 2 students are embarrassed to show their parents. The only strategies which seem relevant to this are 3 and 4. Is there anything else you’d suggest? Thanks!

It comes down to how much they have respect for you. The better rapport, and the more trusting relationship, and the more they admire, respect, and look up to you, the fewer problems like the one you describe. As you get better in this one area, you’ll have greater leverage–and then everything becomes much easier.

I love your website! One question about homework: isn’t one of the main purposes of homework assessment for learning? If it is not collected, how else do you suggest teachers getting hard data on student progress (other than summative assessment scores)?

Hi Bethany,

I believe homework should be used for practice. It grooves and solidifies learning that has already taken place. Although it can give teachers feedback, I don’t think it should be used as an assessment–for many reasons. Your data should come from a controlled environment (teacher speak for your classroom) to make sure it’s an accurate assessment of what your students can do. There is a lot more to this, and if it fits, I’ll write an article about it in the future.

Hi ya… Is this geared toward elementary students? Wondering how it would work in middle school? THanks!

Smart Classroom Management is for all K-8 grade teachers. However, on the upper and lower ends of that spectrum, expect to make some small but mostly obvious modifications.

I am a middle school math teacher. I have a question about throwing homework away. It sounds like so much fun and I really would like my kids to do it. However, we are using an online program, Zangle, to enter their assignments (homework, assessments, etc) that the students can see and check. I sometimes make mistakes on entering in grades and would like to have them keep their homework to make sure I entered it correctly. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!

Hi Christina,

If you follow the series guidelines on how to check homework, then you don’t have to ask your students to keep it (because you’ll check it right in front of them).

Personally, I think these tips are great, but I wouldn’t mind having that free book either because, hey, free book.

And who doesn’t love free books?

I am a new teacher just getting my ABCTE certification. How do you handle students who are absent for legitimate reasons? Do you require them make up all the homework they miss? How do you help them catching up? Thanks a ton!

I will certainly use your hw policy. Do you have a deadline for late hw after which no credit is given?

I’ll put your questions related to absences on the list of possible future topics. As for your final question, students either have it or they don’t. The deadline is first thing in the morning.

Throw homework away?? Think I would get into some serious trouble if I couldn’t prove to leadership that homework was being done.

Also self or peer marking that often? again would get me into some serious hot water, with SLT saying I wasn’t doing my job correctly.

What do you do about students who have trouble with executive functioning and forget to bring their homework home, lose their homework before it’s done, forget to do it at home, forget where they put their homework by the time they get home, actually complete the homework but lose it after it’s done, leave their homework at home, forget where they put their completed homework, or forget to bring their completed homework to class? I’ve had all of these excuses from students, mostly those who need organizational help.

I’ve learned so much from your website since I’ve started reading your articles! Looking forward to your response. Thanks!

The point is that the students who do their homework want their credits and want to see their work appreciated. And what is the consequence for those who do not show effort? Thanks, Kathrine

Hi Michael,

My homework strategy is similar to yours. However when walking around and checking student homework I do not say anything, initially, to those who haven’t completed. Instead I just silently note the non-completer’s names on my clipboard. Then I return to the front of the class and issue a detention of 10 minutes to those who didn’t complete their homework (students are aware of the rule and consequence).

The student then has a choice of completing the homework before their detention and putting it on my desk when they enter the detention room for me to check or sitting down with it and completing it during detention and giving it to me when their detention is finished.

What do you think of this strategy? Do you think issuing detention for not completing homework is too harsh?

I like it, Gary. No, I don’t think it’s too harsh.

Thanks Michael.

Glad to hear it!