Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Go Back                 Case Posted on October 18, 2015 7:15 pm Add to Favorites QuvuLy Reps: 78 Assigning Homework I am co-director for a STEM Academy at the high school that I teach at. One of the biggest struggles we have is students completing homework. This issue stems from the middle school they come from. Two different middle schools feed into our high school. One middle school does assign homework. The other middle school does not assign homework. Therefore, when the students get to high school half of our students will complete the homework, and the other half will not complete the homework. When analyzing the students that complete and do not complete the homework, the majority of the students that do not complete the homework are from the middle school that does not assign homework. What can I do as a teacher and co-director to aid in this issue of not completing homework?                 Submit a Possible Solution Please read response(s) below (if any) before posting your solution.                 Solution 1 Posted October 18, 2015 7:32 pm qevaSe Reps: 111 Greeting! I know exactly how you feel when it comes to homework. I teach 5th grade Reading and Language Arts and have struggled with homework in previous years. One suggestion would be to provide incentives for students returning completed homework assignments. These incentives would vary depending on the students. For example, my students love to use technology in the classroom. Those students who would return homework would be allotted time to utilize technology more than students who did not. I would often use group work as an incentive as well. Since homework was used as a tool to reinforce skills taught in the classroom, I would allow students to check and discuss homework in groups. Only letting students who brought in homework work with a partner would encourage those who did not bring it in to change their ways. Votes: +45 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Kathy Allen Reps: 200 I think this is a great idea!   Posted on: February 23, 2018 7:35 pm Add a Comment                 Solution 2 Posted October 18, 2015 10:31 pm gegede Reps: 102 Homework should be assigned to reinforce lessons that have been taught during the instructional period. I feel that home work should be agreed upon by administration and letters sent to parents to make them aware of the expectation set by your school. I can not see this being an issue if the expectation is set. The homework should be aligned to academic standards and relevant to lessons taught. Try implementing an incentive for students to help them become acclimated to completing homework on a consistent basis. A good incentive based program would include an ice cream social or a "dance revolution" party for classes who have 100% participation. Teachers will be responsible for tracking and reporting completed assignments to the admin team with fidelity. Parent signatures should also be required for completion of homework daily by the student. Good Luck! Votes: +18 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 3 Posted October 18, 2015 7:31 pm Dan G Reps: 190 Set up a reward system for completing homework assignments. You can also tell your students if a certain percent of students complete their homework this week the class will get a reward. If you do this each student will encourage each other to complete their homework. Votes: +17 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Natalie Taylor Reps: 200 This is a very good and detailed article.   Posted on: February 22, 2016 2:28 pm Xetuzu Reps: 206 I like your solution! I haven’t thought about a whole class incentive for doing homework before.   Posted on: March 1, 2021 6:10 pm Add a Comment                 Solution 4 Posted February 28, 2016 8:39 pm SuGaNe Reps: 226 In my middle school, we had a similar problem. My principal created "honor passes" that worked really well with the students. The students were only allowed a certain number of missed assignments before their honor pass was taken away. The honor pass let students be first in the lunch line, leave two minutes early, and could be traded in if they got a detention. It was a really great motivator and more students completed homework assignments. Votes: +14 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 5 Posted October 18, 2015 9:32 pm yParuR Reps: 77 Students need to know that completing homework is an expectation, it is not optional. Once that conversation is had, you could set up a rewards system for students who do complete their homework. For those students who do not complete their homework they need to receive an immediate consequence, for instance, instead of going to an elective class they have to spend the time completing their homework. Votes: +8 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 6 Posted March 3, 2016 3:30 am uQaMeV Reps: 200 One possible way to solve this issue is to weight the grading scale in the class in such a manner that the homework has a greater effect on that student than that of many of the other grading scores and this in turn will essentially force the student to complete their homework in order to succeed in the class. Votes: +4 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 7 Posted October 9, 2016 9:20 pm qyryMa Reps: 203 I would inform the student as well as the parent that this is what is expected at your high school. Whether or not this was implemented to them in the past, this is something that is implemented at your school. Encourage the parents to motive their child to do their homework. Explain why you feel their is an importance to having homework. IE enforces the material learned and helps them retain the information better. Votes: +4 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 8 Posted October 18, 2015 9:42 pm GaXyve Reps: 76 At my elementary school, the math teachers enter a grade of 100 for homework at the beginning of the grading period. Students maintain that 100 by returning completed homework when assigned. The teacher deducts 5 points from the final homework grade for each assignment not completed or returned. Votes: +3 / -5 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 9 Posted February 29, 2016 2:07 am uJasuX Reps: 203 Have you tried incorporating a rewards system? I work in elementary school, so it is slightly different, but my students love lunch bunch so I allow students who have done their homework all week to join me for lunch on Fridays. Votes: +2 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 10 Posted February 24, 2018 5:56 pm qunumy Reps: 201 I would make sure that the students households know that all students have homework now, even if they did not in middle school. I would also do a weekly incentive for student who complete their homework throughout the week. This does not have to cost anything, it could be a point system that adds up to a free homework night, 10 minutes of computer time in class, and etc. Votes: +2 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 11 Posted March 7, 2016 4:05 am beSade Reps: 104 You could have 'quarter or semester incentives' where at the end of each quarter or semester, those who have completed all of their homework get a reward; where those who did not complete their homework have to stay in a classroom and do all of their work before going to the incentive. Votes: +1 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 12 Posted July 10, 2016 7:50 pm juWuPe Reps: 203 Provide them time to complete the assignments throughout the day. Also get parents support so they can be advise that they are having homework. Votes: +1 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Xetuzu Reps: 206 I like the idea of having parent communication! I’m not sure letting them complete the work throughout the day would be the best unless there is specific time slotted for it, then I see it working well!   Posted on: March 1, 2021 6:11 pm Add a Comment                 Solution 13 Posted July 9, 2017 3:27 pm NaPeqe Reps: 201 Setting the standards in the classroom is a must at the start of the year. Give the students a "contract" to sign so they know they are responsible for completing homework. Contact the parents of the students that don't complete their homework on a regular basis. Obviously their grades will suffer if they don't complete required assignments. I know that I didn't do my homework as a child. My grades suffered for it terribly. It didn't ruin my life though. And I know now that I was foolish to behave in such a manner. Best bet is to contact the parents and have proof that this was a standard set in the beginning of the school year. Lunch detention or after school detention could also work. Votes: +1 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 14 Posted October 9, 2020 2:55 am Alec Muir Reps: 202 One solution I haven't seen posted recently is probably one many people will not like at first but please hear me out. Have you tried not assigning homework? We know it's entirely possible to teach students without assigning homework to them. For starters, two of the middle schools these students come from did not assign homework and these students passed middle school so it must work for them. There are many schools across the country that do not assign homework. What alternative do you provide to homework? Do all the work in class. It might be tough to implement, especially with schools these days needing to take away so much time for testing, but this idea is at least worth looking into if possible. Votes: +1 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 15 Posted March 3, 2016 2:16 am uQaMeV Reps: 200 I think that the teachers should stress the importance of completing homework because they will have to do homework in college. So those who do it should be rewarded and those who not should fail. Votes: +1 / -7 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 16 Posted October 18, 2015 8:05 pm Qygata Reps: 77 Give less homework that matters more. This gives students less of an opportunity to saying that this is a busy work assignment. For math teachers, they may only assign four of the questions from the homework as required, while the rest is for practice. You could also only allow students to complete summative assessments till after their homework is done. Votes: +1 / -9 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 17 Posted July 9, 2016 7:08 pm PuWupe Reps: 206 Hi, I think that one solution could be to emphasize the importance of doing homework and create a chart where this half of students could be reminded of what homework is due everyday of the week, and maybe if homework is graded and it will counts as part of the final grades for each nine weeks, maybe that would engage then to complete their homework every day. Votes: +0 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 18 Posted October 4, 2016 2:38 am PeQyGa Reps: 201 Hello! I would try and focus on positive encouragement! I know it may seem silly for high school students to get rewards but even if they get certain points for handing in homework and then they can get a privilege after a certain number of points is reached it may get the students to want to complete their homework. Also starting off at the beginning of the year with classroom rules and expectations is going to be super important. Votes: +0 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 19 Posted February 24, 2018 9:23 pm Kady Schlemmer Reps: 202 It seems to me that this issue is bigger than your just your school. I would bring this up with the principal of your school. Together, you may go to the county school board. Some sort of intervention needs to happen with that middle school - their homework practices are not building up students towards success. Yes, they are making your job more difficult, but the bigger problem is that they are doing a disservice to the students. Votes: +0 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Solution 20 Posted October 29, 2021 8:00 pm bepaRu Reps: 204 The best way to encourage students to do their homework would be to give them a reason as to why they should complete it, by giving them incentives or rewards on finished homework, for example you could have have homework passes once a student turns in enough homework or other rewards for them. Votes: +0 / -0 This Solution Is Useful   This Solution Is Not Useful   Comments posted for this solution Add a Comment                 Submit a Possible Solution Please read response(s) below (if any) before posting your solution.