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to Table of Contents for More Strategies PURPOSE: I teach Fundamentals
of Academic Reading, and I believe part of my job is to teach students to take
full responsibility for their homework. To foster that, I use Homework
Folders and Homework Responsibility Forms. SUPPLIES and SET UP
At the beginning of the semester, the
Reading Team issues four No Questions Asked (NQA) coupons to each student.
Students may use these coupons to turn in homework one class late without any
explanation required. Once the four coupons are used, no more are given.
However, to provide students with an incentive to complete all assignments on
time, we provide 10 bonus points to a student who turns in all four unused NQA
coupons at the end of the semester. PROCEDURE: I ask students to turn in and pick up their
homework and quizzes from Homework Folders. The homework folders are colored
two-pocket folders, and I make four different colored folders for each class.
Then in alphabetical order, I write the names of five students on the front of
each folder. Inside the folder, I write IN on one pocket and OUT on the
other. To keep the folders for each class together, I carry each set
rubber banded together with a set of homework responsibility forms. I
place the folders on a table near the door of the classroom when I come to
class, and they remain there until I leave the classroom. The students
rapidly learn on which color folder their name is written, so they can swiftly
find their folder to turn in or pick up their homework or graded quizzes. To preserve privacy for the students, I
write the grades on the bottom of their assignments. Thus the grade is not
visible to other students when they are looking for their own papers.
During the time that I have used this system, no students have ever complained
that others are able to see their grade. The folders facilitate the flow of
assignments from students to me and back to students, but it is the next step
that teaches them responsibility. When present in class, students must place
either their homework or a completed Homework Responsibility Form in the
Homework Folder. On a Homework Responsibility Form, a student acknowledges the
assignment s/he did not complete, chooses one of three options, signs the form
and places it in the IN pocket. If neither the completed homework nor the
Homework Responsibility Form is in the student’s folder, s/he receives an
automatic zero for that assignment. If the student then fails to turn in the
assignment according to the choice s/he made on the Homework Responsibility
Form, I place the Form in the OUT pocket with a zero on it for the missed
assignment. Consequently, the students learn that completing the form but
failing to follow-up on their promise is unacceptable. So that students realize I respect their
need for quick feedback, I consistently grade assignments before the next class.
This practice sets an example for students about completing work in a timely
fashion. To further promote responsibility, I do not
directly ask students in class to turn in their homework nor do I hand collect
any quizzes. Instead, at the beginning of each class period, I write on
the board the topic we will be discussing and what is due that day. The students
who are on top of their work have often placed their homework in their folder
even before I’ve written what’s due. Others remember when they see the
board and then place homework in their folder or complete the Homework
Responsibility Form. One more effort I make to further support
student responsibility is establishing regular email communication with the
students beginning the first day of class. I’ve been gratified to have
students who were absent from class email me completed assignments on the due
date. Sometimes students email me if they want clarification about an
assignment. Also if someone realizes that he/she can’t find an
assignment that was passed out in class, that person will email me requesting me
to send a copy of the assignment to him/her. This established
communication further enables students to take responsibility and complete the
assignment on time. EXPERIENCES Students readily accept this procedure.
Rarely do any of them choose a zero unless that becomes the only option open to
them. In this case, they typically complete the form and accept a zero
without complaint. For example, the very first semester I used this
system, one student quickly used up all her NQA’s. However, she
completed the form accepting a zero without a word when she once again found
herself not keeping up with her assignments. After that she turned the
next assignment in on time for the first time all semester. Some students actually place completed
assignments in the homework folder before the due date. When this happens,
I frequently leave the assignment there until it is due, so I can grade it with
the rest of the class. One student who had turned in an assignment a week early
was desperately searching for it before class one day because he had remembered
completing the assignment, but had forgotten that he had already turned it in.
Happily, I could tell him where it was. The homework folders are helpful to me in a
number of ways. It is an easy for me to make sure no one misses out on
getting something I gave out in class. If someone is absent when I give
out a new assignment or a handout, I write the person’s name on the top of the
paper and put it in the OUT pocket. The students know to find anything
given out in class in the homework folder. Furthermore, grading seems less
of a chore because I grade one folder at a time. Then I enter those grades
which are all grouped closely in the grade book due to the alphabetical nature
of the homework folders. Another advantage of the homework folders is
that I no longer have to spend class time collecting homework or handing back
graded assignments. Graded work is placed in the OUT pocket, and students
generally check the folder and pick up their work as they are filing into class.
Additionally, someone who is late for class can stop on his/her way in or out of
the class to turn in and/or pick up work. OUTCOMES I have observed a number of positive
outcomes from using this system. Some students have reported that they learned
to take responsibility for their homework for the first time in their lives.
At the end-of-semester evaluation of what he had learned, one student wrote he
had learned the importance of homework and stated that this was the first class
for which he had actually completed all the assignments. He was very proud
of himself and amazed at how well he did in the course. Others have
informally reported that they have realized for the first time that completing
homework assignments is very important. Several students have told me they
like the class and that they have completed more assignments for my class than
they ever had in the past. Last semester, one student, per past habit,
was taking school work rather nonchalantly. He would frequently forget to
bring homework or complete it later on the day it was due. Thus he was
completing the homework responsibility form at nearly every class, and he
quickly ran out of NQA’s. After that, when his only other choice was
failing assignments, he managed to get every assignment but one completed on
time. This was a big improvement for him. He, in turn, was pleased
with himself. At the end of the Fall, 2005, semester, I
asked my students to respond to the following question: “As the semester
draws to a close, I'd like you to email me with three things that you are taking
with you at the end of this class. It can be something you learned
academically that you think will help you. AND/OR it can be something
you learned about yourself. AND/OR it can be a process.” For the
first time ever, I categorized the 32 responses from students of what they
considered the most important learning of the semester for them. As the
question was open-ended, I had to create 18 categories that fitted the phrasing
of the responses. Among those response categories that were related to
homework responsibility were: improved self confidence (6); can finish
something, responsibility and prioritizing (2 each); and to push myself more
(1). I have observed the self esteem of some
students improving because by completing and turning in assignments, they have
improved their grades, which makes them feel good about their accomplishment.
As every point counts, completing assignments is very important to success in
the course I teach. Many of my students have been poor students most of
their lives. However, once they started to turn in all their assignments,
and thus were able to practice their skills more, their grades improved.
For example, one very verbal girl was so pleased with her B average, that she
frequently proudly announced it to the class. She told me privately that
she hadn’t been diligent about doing her homework in the past, but now she saw
the benefit of it. Another student told me he hadn’t felt the need to do
homework before. However, he was pretty shocked when he had to complete
the homework responsibility form and was expected to follow up on his promise.
After failing to follow through a couple of times, he turned himself around and
was pleased that he was able to push himself to follow through.
Also, his grade started to improve. LESSONS LEARNED Several times last semester, a student told
me that s/he did the assignment but forgot to bring it and asked if s/he could
email the assignment to me when s/he got home rather than bringing it in later
in the day or using an NQA. Therefore, I added another choice to the
Homework Responsibility Form for this semester to include emailing the
assignment by a specified time as an option. I am also considering adding two questions
to the form asking: What did you consider more important than completing
your homework? How will you alter your approach to your homework in the
future? Another option I’m considering is emailing these question to the
student after the second failure to turn in a homework assignment. Another thing I’ve learned is that you
cannot implement the homework responsibility forms without putting in time and
effort at the beginning of the semester to make sure the process is executed by
all. The second time I used the homework responsibility forms, I was more
casual about prompting students in the first few weeks because it was now
routine for me. However, I realized not everyone was complying until I
guided them more in the beginning. Therefore, you must be diligent from
the beginning for the students to take the process seriously. Once all the
steps become routine, the students need few to no reminders and ultimately
comply without a problem. Of course the success rate for completing all
homework assignments still isn’t 100% for every student in every class.
However, for those students who complete the semester, 95%-100% of them are
taking full responsibility for their homework and turning in every assignment.
So, I feel that I have reached a lot of students in a positive way. RESOURCES: HOMEWORK
RESPONSIBILITY FORM If you do not have your assignment with you,
complete this form and place it in the folder in which you turn in your
homework. Failure to complete this form when you do not turn in an
assignment indicates that you are not taking responsibility for your homework
and constitutes an automatic zero for the assignment due today. I, (Name), know that (Title
of the assignment) was due today. I will do one of the
following. CHECK ONE: _____1. Turn in the completed assignment to
ILB 239 before _____2. Turn in the completed assignment
next class with an NQA. _____3. Email the completed assignment to my
instructor before _____4. Accept a zero for this assignment. Signature: Date: --Luanne Erickson, Adjunct Faculty,
English, * * * * * The ON COURSE NEWSLETTER publishes innovative strategies for helping students become active, responsible learners. To subscribe to this bi-weekly (monthly in the summer) e-newsletter, click here and send the resulting e-mail. No need to type anything. Our computer will automatically add your return address to the list of subscribers. You're always in charge of your subscription, with a subscribe/unsubscribe link in every newsletter. Have a best practice to share? Click here and request our publication guidelines. |
