This week I changed over from my Science and Technology class to my Biology 11 class. I’ll see the Bio 11s through until the end of my practicum… which is only a few weeks away now! Wow, times goes by quickly. I discovered something interesting which is in how I assess my students’ understanding formatively, and I think it has been lacking so far. For my Science 10s I have not been monitoring homework. My philosophy has been that if you choose not to do the homework, you choose to reap the consequences when the summative assessment comes. This philosophy is based on my own experiences as a student in recent memory, but I believe I had forgotten how much nudging I needed in Grade 10 to actually get work done. Students being off-task during work periods has been a constant struggle, and I think I have been at fault for most of that. I need to not stop treating the students as responsible, but realize that they need a bit of help and that I by being a bit more on them about homework I will hopefully actually be doing them a favour.
This relates to UBC because my courses often discussed strategies for formative assessment that don’t involve grades. I plan to collect the homework, but won’t mark it for correctness. I want to just give them a quick read and a checkmark, star, or blank depending on the effort the student put forwards to understand. The issue is not to punish students who get homework wrong, it is to encourage actually thinking about it which will hopefully keep students paying attention more during class and working more during the time after a lesson.
A very interesting comment. The value of homework and its use in forming a final grade is one that has been very topical and has been the source of much debate among some educators. One position is that “completion of homework” marks should not be included in summative assessment and that only data that demonstrates what students have learned should be used. So, if you aren’t going to mark the h’wrk for correctness then you shouldn’t include it. Other teachers suggest that good homework habits and practice are skills that relate to both student success and attributes that will stand them in good stead in the future. Furthermore, if you don’t give marks for homework they won’t do it. they believe that giving marks (a few with low weighting) for completion of homework is Ok because it will reflect itself in summative assessment results and it is motivational. Beyond this question, there are other issues that teachers debate such as: How much h’wrk is appropriate? What types of tasks should be given for homework? If it is worthwhile doing should it be done in class? What about homework as a demotivater if students can’t do it or don’t have the home support network? A seemingly simple issues is in fact quite the opposite!
I think that you need to figure out where you stand on this issue. Having said that, I agree that you that you need to find a way to get them to value homework and to continue to prod, cajole, encourage them to do their homework. I wouldn’t give up on trying to teach them how to be responsible with the ultimate goal being that they would do the extra practice, questions, etc. simply because it will increase their chances of doing well on summative assessments.