Hi! My name is Cassie Clark and am attending Castleton. I am student teaching at Whitehall Central School District in New York. I am currently working with mostly freshman but do have a few sophomores. All of my students are in Algebra, and with math comes homework. So many of my students do their homework and actively want to get it done. There are a handful of students that do not complete any homework assignment, and it drops their grade significantly. My mentor teacher grades homework on completeness not correctness. So in reality, they do not have to focus on getting any of it right, but attempting each problem.
Every class we go over the homework from the night before and those who didn't do it tend to just copy it down or don't do anything at all. The students do not get much credited for just copying the assignment down and handing it in. I personally feel that homework is great practice for the students, especially if they are struggling with certain topics. My question is: How do I get these students to actively try to do their homework? Unfortunately, these students are required to take multiple tests that determine if they graduate or not. So being able to understand and perform the material is important.
Hi Cassie,
ReplyDeleteAlthough my experience is slightly different since I am in an elementary classroom I also have struggled with motivating a few to complete their nightly homework. I have found it much easier to accomplish when I give a reward to those who do their work instead of punishing those who do not. For example, in our class if you have completed all of your work and have behaved appropriately you are given an extra five minutes of recess. I understand that motivation is different at the higher age groups but perhaps something similar would work for you.