‘What about maths homework? They'll do it themselves. You know the Titanic? It's your level in maths if you don't do your homework. And how you're going to choose your direction if you don't study hard. And how...’ Monday 8.05am: Unease... For teachers, the week is off to a bad start. Might as well not give any or check them then. I don't think so. Frequent homework is essential for pupils' progress in maths at any level, and correcting it in class is necessary for all those brave souls whose efforts have not been crowned with success.
‘Thank you, but for the moment, you're not doing us much good...’
OK, OK! Let's move on then. Of course, from the very first month of teaching, it's clear that this homework thing is going to be a thorn in your professional side.
I'd like to suggest some ways of answering these three questions:
How to check homework ?
What should we do if it's not done?
It may be done, but is it done properly?
1. How do you check that homework has been done?
Yes, it's better to check that homework is done in class. To convince you of this, here's a little experiment: take a class of 30 pupils who do their evening homework on trial (your class or that of a colleague who actively checks homework); stop checking that it's done for 5 sessions; check again at the 6th session... Surprise: 1 pupil in 2 hasn't done it.
‘But checking homework takes up class time, and I don't like this cop's attitude...’.
Ah, there are two things in that remark, let's start with the second. I, too, hurt myself by adopting the tight control posture, but it seems necessary if homework is to be done regularly. As for the first, ‘it takes time’, yes and no! In fact, how much learning time is saved if the class does its homework properly... Well, I'm sure you've heard this argument before, but it's still true!
Honestly, checking homework can be done without infringing on lesson time; except in the extraordinary situation where, to raise the volume of sweat in the halls, you choose to mimic cold anger by declaiming your incisive remarks between disappointment and disgust, weighed down by the thud of your footsteps, row after row... But this tactic has to be part of a wider, well-constructed strategy if you want to see results!
‘So how do you go about checking the homework without wasting time?
Here are two ideas: firstly, ask the pupils to present their exercises while they work on the ritual quick activities at the beginning of the session. Secondly, move around the rows when the exercise correction phase begins. The homework can then be checked at a quick glance, taking no time at all.
'Quick, quick... And what do we do if a student takes a long time to present his exercises...’.
In 99% of cases, it's because he hasn't done them and is subtly playing on our naivety - clever! So, in that case, you note his name next to those who haven't done their homework and move on to the next row without making a fuss. If he's really done it, the exercises will magically appear on the table in 2 seconds.
‘What about the one who hasn't got their exercise book?’
You also write his name on your sheet, and that brings us to the next point.
2. What if the homework isn't done?
Firstly, it's best to have thought about your answer beforehand. Otherwise, you risk being too harsh or doing nothing. There's a professional choice to be made here: should not doing homework - say twice in a term - result in punishment or in an observation passed on to the parents? Personally, I haven't yet resolved this dilemma; I vacillate between the two options depending on the year. What's certain is that parents should be made aware of the absence of homework, if it's a recurring problem. However, before that happens, it's possible to try and resolve the problem between teacher and pupil.
‘But if he tells me that he left his notebook at his mother's while he was sleeping at his father's, what if...?
Leave a wild card before cracking down. It's possible to forget or fail to do homework once in a term. A repeat offence, on the other hand, should result in a consequence: a comment to the legal guardians or punishment. If you feel you can organise it, you can give an hour's detention so that the homework can be done. It's a good idea not to let school life manage this time, as they have other things to worry about... At least ask them first what they think. A punishment can also be to do an extra exercise on a sheet of paper, to be handed in next time, or to copy a page from a lesson for the next time. If you opt for an extra exercise, I advise you to make sure that the pupil is capable of doing it on his own.
Whatever corrective system you choose, it should be explained to the pupils. They shouldn't be surprised by your interventions and should know what to expect. Moreover, if you opt for an observation to the parents after the first joker,
Besides, there's only one joker, not two, not three, not four, not five, not... Use a corrective system with 3 warnings - or even 2! - before there are any consequences, encourages students not to do their homework... And if, on top of that, you tend to give your rope a bit of a stretch, your whole system falls apart.
If all this doesn't work, the absence of homework won't be solved in class, because it's probably part of an uneasy relationship with the subject or the school. And this will be resolved by working with the educational team to look at the pupil's schooling through a wide-angle lens.
‘And the person who says he didn't do it because he doesn't understand, how do you know?
It is often advisable in this case to ask the pupils to write down a question about what they didn't understand. In my experience, this is a total failure. Pupils who have difficulty with maths struggle to explain what they don't understand, and the only thing I read in the notebooks when I applied this advice was: ‘J'ai pas compri.’
Instead, I advise asking students to copy the example from the lesson that corresponds to the exercise given, and we let them have the right to use the wrong examples. Identifying the right part of the lesson ad hoc is not a simple matter for many of our pupils. It's also an opportunity to reinforce the role of examples in the lesson. It forces us to make it clear that the exercises given at home are aimed at applying concepts from the lesson, and therefore require identification and understanding of the corresponding part of the lesson.
‘But what if the exercises don't correspond to part of the lesson?'
In that case, you shouldn't have given the exercises to do!
3. Homework may be done, but is it done properly?
‘It takes time to check that they've answered all the questions correctly...’.
You won't be able to ask in class about the number of drops of sweat that have run down the hearths without spending long minutes scrutinising the exercise books and questioning the pupils individually. This means not leading the session and wasting a lot of class time. Checking a pupil's homework can be done at a glance, superficially, by moving around the rows. And you don't need to have 10 out of 10 in both eyes to see that there's something written after the title of the exercise? If 1 exercise out of 3 is missing, I'd also advise you to look for it, but not to make a big deal of it during the session, it's not the time.
‘When is the right time, then?
Any time, as long as it's outside the lesson! Er... And weekends and evenings too... Discussions with parents and students are partly about that. It's essential to know how the pupil does or doesn't do his homework. This is the time to investigate whether the student is experiencing difficulties in maths: is it a lack of personal work? Is it learning difficulties? It's up to you to find out. It's always better if the student takes part and gives their opinion on the matter.
4. To sum up
It's essential to check homework systematically if you want it to be completed.
The session is not the time to investigate the quality of homework. That will require a more general reflection on the student's homework with his family.
Checking a pupil's homework can be done at a glance by going around the rows. It is not necessary to set aside time in the session for this.
Tell students who are unable to do the exercise to copy the example from the lesson that corresponds to the exercise given.
Corrective system: a joker (even if the pupil says he's forgotten his things) and no more, then a consequence: either a comment to the legal guardians, or a punishment.
The corrective system needs to be explained to the pupils.
N.d.A.: I don't specify this every time so as not to make the writing more cumbersome, but that's just my opinion...
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