Carol

I have not changed my homework policy much. I understand & agree with the different opinions about giving less or no homework, but in math I feel that it is very difficult to not give homework because students need to practice the skills taught in class. There is not enough time in a class period until you give warm-up activities & teach a lesson, so the only time to practice is at home for homework or during a study hall. I do feel that I am giving a little less homework than before or that somedays (if I give a longer assignment) I just allow the students to work on homework during class or during their extra math class. This allows students time to ask questions & to clarify any misconceptions they may have prior to going home without any understanding of the concepts they are practiing for homework. Another aspect i have changed is when i review a skill in class with the whiteboards I actually use problems from the upcoming homework & after the class has completed the problem I allow the students to write down the answer on their homework papers. This cuts down on the number of problems a student will be required to do at home for homework. Without doing homework, students would not know whether or not they understand the skills taught in order to pass a test/quiz. With my struggling students, I tried to review in class & at the same time help them with their homework, so instead of just giving random problems for practice in class, I acutally gave them problems from their homework. I had each student do the problems on individual whiteboards & when they got the answer correct, I had them write the answers in their workbooks. By doing this, I was able to practice in class with the students, check for understanding, troubleshoot their problems; while at the same time help with their homework & lessen the amount of homework they had to do. I would like some discussion time or wikispace discussion to get some input on the questions below.
 * Current Homework Practice:** Currently I give math homework on a nightly basis. Usually the homework is practice of the skill taught in class that day. I usually assign between 15-30 problems (depending on how involved the problems are) to be completed daily. The homework is usually corrected as a whole group activity or students correct it individually. I usually check to see how many errors students make & what kind of errors they make. From that I reteach. If students do not do their homework I initial their assignment book & keep a list in a notebook. If students complete the missed homework assignment by the next day, I cross their names off the list & they suffer no penalty. If students do not complete the missed homework assignment they will have to stay in during a study/org reward period to complete the assignment. Any assignments not crossed off until the end of the marking period will cause 1 point for every 2 missed homework assignments to be deducted off of a student's average for the marking period.
 * Questions:**
 * Why don't some students do homework?
 * How do you make students understand the importance of homework?
 * In math, what would happen if you didn't assign homework? When would students practice the skills being taught in class without taking classtime?
 * Research says to make the homework relevant to a student's life, personalize the homework, make it thought-prevoking or creative; but students who don't do homework won't do any homework. Now what?