Homework Assistance and Assistant

Works4Me presents weekly practical classroom tips from real experts -- your colleagues!

1. Reducing Zeros

Cynthia J. Baird, an English teacher at Sangre de Cristo High School in Mosca, Colorado:

"I developed a strategy to reduce the number of zeros in my gradebook from students choosing not to do assignments. Every three weeks, I print progress reports for students to take home to parents to sign for extra credit. If the student has turned in all assignments for those three weeks, that student receives a coupon entitling him/her to drop a low homework grade or to skip a homework assignment. Students are still responsible for any material that may appear on a test. Coupons are only good during the quarter in which they are earned. Tests or other major assignments do not qualify, and I have the prerogative of labeling any assignment as exempt from coupons. This freebie allows students to forget to do an assignment or bring the assignment with them to class and allows the class to move forward with self-grading or continued teaching. I no longer have to wait on late work before giving other students immediate feedback on their work. With this system, students are rewarded for keeping up with their work, and zeros are rare. Students often marvel that I take the time to attach coupons to their progress reports. The strategy has helped so much with making students responsible for their learning."
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2. Homework Assistant

From Angie Kenley, a seventh grade teacher at Mann Middle School in Abilene, Texas:

"Weekly, I elect a teacher assistant who sits at a special computer desk that has office supplies available. This student has a small spiral notebook entitled 'Homework Log' in which assignments for the day are written. I teach block classes so the assistant in my first class writes the assignments in the homework log for all my classes. I check for accuracy. My student assistant picks up all the handouts from the empty desks, places names on the top handouts, and paperclips them together. I keep three stacked trays on the computer desk that are labeled by my blocked classes. My assistant stores the handouts in the appropriate box. If the same student is absent the next day, the assistant attaches any handouts to the back of the stack from the previous day. I keep a class list posted by the computer desk so the student has easy access to the proper spelling of names. I don't ever have to worry about students who are absent. I just need to explain the missed assignments."
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3. Question of the Week: Newspapers in Education

From the Works4Me Worker Bees:

"There is a national campaign known as Newspapers in Education (NIE). How do you use the newspaper to teach valuable skills -- including reading and writing for meaning, map reading, media literacy, sequencing, word meaning, and math?"
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4. Classroom Discipline Programs

Heard Last Week in the Works4Me Lounge from Tina:

"Weekly, I elect a teacher assistant who sits at a special computer desk that has office supplies available. This student has a small spiral notebook entitled 'Homework Log' in which assignments for the day are written. I teach block classes so the assistant in my first class writes the assignments in the homework log for all my classes. I check for accuracy. My student assistant picks up all the handouts from the empty desks, places names on the top handouts, and paperclips them together. I keep three stacked trays on the computer desk that are labeled by my blocked classes. My assistant stores the handouts in the appropriate box. If the same student is absent the next day, the assistant attaches any handouts to the back of the stack from the previous day. I keep a class list posted by the computer desk so the student has easy access to the proper spelling of names. I don't ever have to worry about students who are absent. I just need to explain the missed assignments."
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