As adults we pass certain thresholds in our lives that completely shift our perspective. While I'm not a mother, I imagine that going from child to parent is one of these shifts. As an educator we also make these sort of shifts. Every teacher was once a student and carries their own experiences and emotions regarding school, classmates, teachers, and homework with them.
When I was a student we always had homework. I don't remember a time that homework was not assigned. It was part of the daily schedule. Unfortunately, I lived in a very chaotic environment and had little support at home, so what I was able to do on my own got done, and what I wasn't able to do on my own didn't. In my elementary years I'm sure this fact was reported back to my mom, but I was doing so well in class maybe it didn't matter. In middle school however, a huge shift happened. I didn't want to do ANY homework. I absolutely despised it. Additionally, I was often absent in middle school. My mom let us stay home whenever we said we didn't feel well. At that point I think she was so wiped out from raising three kids on her own, that it wasn't worth being late to work to argue with us about our alleged illness. I would eventually go back to school and my teachers would give me make-up work. I fell further and further behind. My grades suffered. I had to take summer school all the time. I was in a highly gifted program with a math and science focus and I was doing horribly in school. The work wasn't too hard for me, it was always the homework or the home projects that really set me in the back of the pack.
I didn't know as a student that homework is actually a very contentious topic. I understand the basics-- the kids who need the most support are possibly coming from the houses that have the least ability to provide it and so assigning homework is actually hurtful, not helpful. While this was the case for me, I don't think that the solution is to get rid of homework. I believe that the structure I have in place in my classroom is compassionate to the students who need help and provides that support in the only space I can control-- within our class. I took some tips from educator and speaker Trevor Muir when designing my expectations around classwork and homework.
In my class we have guidelines. We discovered them as a class as we openly talked about what was important to us. One of those guidelines is doing your best. Therefore, my students only have homework if they don't complete the task in the allotted time. I know that I plan my lessons with great care and attention to my students. I am driven by my objective, but I am not blind to their strengths and challenges. Using UDL in my classroom has helped me create lesson plans that I believe have enough time allotted for EVERY student who gives a reasonable effort to complete the work. With that said, I also don't draw a hard line about the assignments. If by the end of class I see that a majority of my students haven't completed their work, I know that it was a misjudgment on my part, and I give them more time the next day. If, however, there are students who didn't complete the work because of choices that they made, I believe that I am holding them accountable and providing them with the natural consequence that comes from not following the guidelines (which we all signed).
For most of my students, this consequence works well enough to get them to focus and do their work, or ask for help while I'm there to make sure that it gets done. For one of my students however, this isn't the case. This student, who I will call Mark, doesn't do ANY of his classwork. I know he is capable, but he makes choices that land him in the same place every.single.day. While I could just keep assigning his work as homework, I also am tired of him wasting precious time in class. Additionally, I believe my class is a learning environment and I want my students to see themselves as a capable community. Since Mark hasn't been able to focus and do the work by himself, but doesn't need help, I've decided to utilize him as a teachers assistant a few times a week. He gets along with everyone in class and he isn't shy, which lets me tap into his strengths to work on an area he needs help with; focus.
When we have independent work, Mark will sit at a table with me where we work one-on-one with students who need a little more support. Now, I don't want it to be Mark's job to "teach" kids, so he knows that isn't the goal. The goal is for him to guide or remind students to where they can find the tools to be successful. He's like the resource guy. Every time he helps a student be successful in reaching the right answer on their own, I give him credit for that problem. If there isn't anyone that needs help, he needs to complete the problem on his own at the table with me. What I have found is that it motivates Mark to seek out people who might benefit from help. I see it as selective collaboration and it seems to be working so far. As long as Mark continues to show his knowledge and complete the homework on the days he doesn't help students, I will keep playing to his strengths in balance with keeping him accountable to the guidelines.
Zee
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