Homework Help

Half-Off Homework Passes
Many teachers give out homework passes as rewards. Students can turn in the passes in lieu of completing a homework assignment. Instead of giving out full homework passes, how about giving out Half Off homework passes instead? Students can use a half-off pass to turn in a half-completed assignment. That way, you can still be sure students learned the concepts being reinforced with the assignment. In order to track the half-off rewards you give out, you might print the reward coupons on adhesive label paper. Instead of stapling a homework pass to a paper (inevitably, some passes will become separated from their papers), the student can stick the label on the assignment for which he or she wishes to use the pass.

IOU Homework

Let's Cooperate! For information on choosing students for cooperative groups, see the Education World article Let's Cooperate!-- Teachers Share Tips for Cooperative Learning. Do you have a tip to share about grouping students? Send it to [email protected].

Have trouble keeping track of students who dont complete homework? Keep a special IOU HOMEWORK notebook. Arrange the pages of the notebook into four columns: Name, Date, Assignment, and Completed. As you check to see who has completed homework each day, have students who dont have the work sign their Name, Date, and the Assignment in your IOU HOMEWORK notebook. As students complete the assignments they simply put them in the back of your notebook. As you check the late papers, you sign and date the Completed column. This tool helps you see at a glance which students are not completing homework with regularity.

Parents Can Check Homework Too
Save time by having parents check over and sign their childrens homework. That way, you dont have to check for right answers, you only need to check that students have done the work. When students turn in signed homework on time, place that homework in a stack. At the end of the week, blindfold a student and have that student draw a paper or two from the stack. Whose papers are they? Allow those students to choose a reward from your list of possibilities. The reward might be a night-with-no-homework coupon, 30 minutes of free time on the classroom computer, or

A Month of Assignments
Keep a laminated generic calendar page that can be marked up to reflect the current months dates. Mark all homework assignments on the calendar. That way, when a student returns from an absence, all he or she needs to do is check the calendar for missed assignments. Keep a second laminated calendar page so students can look back at assignments for several weeks.

Article by Linda Starr
Education World®
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