Today’s blog is going to be all over the place…

Homework, classwork, practice… Why do we categorize the work we ask students to do the way we do when it is actually not an assessment? Why do we not call “work” learning activities if teaching creates learning opportunities? Is it a location term? Work at home equals homework? Work in the classroom equals classwork? What is the purpose of what we call it?

Here’s a thought… should “work” be graded if we call it practice? Is practice actually practice if it is graded and required? Practice offers room for mistakes, but going home and doing homework on a lesson just taught and then graded? What good does that do? Are we doing it for the lessons or for accountability and responsibility? Or are we assigning work for students to “get better?” Herein lies the questions that keep some of us up at night.

What is more important, the learning or the grade of an activity? Are we looking at the quality of growth and exposure or a grade only? Now is a good time to throw the idea of completion grade into the conversation… Does completion of work acknowledge the student knows the correct answers? The war of educational terminology, I can’t take it anymore…

So, is there an answer? Kinda sort of like, not really. While I am not a fan of homework, I understand the need for practice. However, I believe that practice should be held in the classroom while the teacher is with students for guidance (especially if you teach on a block, 90-minute schedule). Long lessons wear students out and the teachers. I believe in teaching in “chunks with checks.” Introduce a topic, talk about it, check for understanding, and give a guided independent check for students. Then teach the next topic of the lesson. When done, provide practice problems for them to work on in class.

In education, we get so caught up in a student’s grade that we seem to forget about the student. Student success is about growing the student, not the student’s grade. A student’s success is better achieved in the classroom environment where learning takes place.

But what about the grading? The accountability, the responsibility of it all? Now the conversation has exponentially exploded. I offer multiple attempts for students on their practice (usually three to five, depending on the topic). Yes, it’s graded, but only their highest attempted score is kept. I feel multiple attempts create growth for a student while at the same time offering accountability and responsibility. If students want a better score on the lesson, they redo it (our school uses the Canvas platform, which makes this easy). After a few times of not getting the score they want, or if they need help, they can ask for it. Also, I feel practice should not take more than 20 to 25 minutes. I’m sure you remember middle school math and homework of 50 long division problems, graded for accuracy while showing all your work. How did that help any of us? Yes, it was practice, but…

Well, I’m sure you have read enough of my rant today. The bottom line for me is to do right by students. We do not know what goes on with our students after they leave the school building, but I do know the best way for them to learn is while in the school building.

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2022 J Clay Norton

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