Some people want to ban homework entirely. It’s just busywork, it makes kids hate school, and it disrupts families from spending quality time together.

Others say homework is equal to rigor. If students aren’t doing homework, how exactly are they supposed to learn anything in depth?

I tend to fall in the second camp. If the 10,000-Hour Rule, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers, is true, then students need more time studying and pursuing academics. That’s the rationale behind Chicago and other school districts’ decisions to lengthen the school day.

But Alfie Kohn and other anti-homeworkers say that children need time to explore instead of being forced to complete boring teacher-assigned tasks. Although I agree with Kohn in principle, I’m pretty sure most teenagers, given free time, aren’t exactly going to open up a Physics textbook.

(Does this make me cynical?)

I’m thinking about all this because I’m wondering whether I should ban homework on weekends. I’ve found that my students do very little homework on weekends. Here’s today’s example: Last week, the homework turn-in rate was 87 percent. Today, it was 61 percent. No, this isn’t a coincidence.

My students turn off on the weekends, and they consider their weekends as their own time away from school. Even my AP English students would argue that weekends are “their” time to spend with family, friends, and themselves. Besides, my class does wonderfully during the week, but once the weekend hits, my class scatters. We’re no longer on the same page. Come Monday, we’re behind.

An easy solution would be to assign no major homework on weekends. Perhaps I could keep my Weekender, a more enjoyable, online assignment that doesn’t involve reading or heavy study. Getting rid of homework would mean that nobody would fall behind over the weekend.

But I resist this temptation. After all, if I got rid of weekend homework, that really means no homework on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays. Particularly in an AP class, I just can’t get behind the idea of assigning homework only four nights a week.

Instead of making a rash decision, I’m likely going to continue giving homework every night. Although Kohn and others would disagree, I feel that if I didn’t assign homework, I’d be lowering my standards. I believe strongly in consistent study, and I also believe that students must learn how to continue learning on their own, on their own time.

What I will do next week, though, is have an honest discussion with my students about homework. I’ll show them the data and ask for their thoughts. Lately, we’ve been talking about how important it is to seek support, create study teams, and encourage each other outside of class time. What was a normal thing for me in high school is not normal for my students.

Too often, my students, once they leave our school for the day, feel very alone. Instead of doing what’s necessary to stay engaged as a serious student, perhaps they retreat into an identity that’s more comfortable. It’s my job to make sure they don’t disconnect entirely.

What do you think? 

 I’ve started a (very small) movement. It’s called, “Your Homework Is Due Tonight.”

Homework is no longer due at the beginning of the next class. After all, if students don’t complete their homework, then it’s too late for me to make changes to my lesson. We’re not all on the same page. Mini-chaos ensues.

This year, homework has been due at 11 p.m. on the night I assign it.

The results have been excellent:

1. The turn-in rate has been high — as high as, or higher than, the turn-in rate before I introduced the new policy.

2. If a student doesn’t turn in her homework, there’s still plenty of time for me to intervene and for the student to catch up.

I’m happy to announce a new idea that I’m trying this unit with Kate Chopin’s The Awakening: the nightly text.

Each night, students have reading homework. In addition to reading and annotating the text, students will respond to a question I send to them via text, which they’ll get in the afternoon. They’ll have until 11 p.m. to text me back.

Some teachers may ask, Why go through all that trouble? Why don’t you just have them write their answers down on paper? Why not give them the question in class?

My response is this: In order to motivate students to do homework consistently, there has to be something dynamic about it. There’s nothing engaging about reading a teacher-assigned book at home alone. But the reading has to be done.

Therefore, time outside of school — when students often tune out and forget their academic selves — needs to be interrupted. As the teacher, I have to enter that space. And using technology is the best way to do that.

I’ll let you know how this experiment works. If it goes well, I might switch the nightly text assignment over to a Google form, so that it’s easier to collect my students’ responses. That way, we can look at them in class on iseroma.com, our class blog, to spark a discussion.

What do you think? Please let me know your ideas. 

 January is a great time to make changes. After all, most students completely forget about school over Winter Break. Teachers can take advantage of that amnesia and implement improvements to their classes.

That’s what I’ve been doing. Even though my AP English class last semester was excellent, I am making some significant changes to improve my students’ learning. Here are a few of them:

1. Reading is the focus. Last semester, we focused on writing. And there’s more work we need to do. But my emphasis on writing shortchanged the importance of reading. Because reading is 45 percent of the AP test, and because reading is crucial for college (and for life), I am going to highlight reading and spend more class time helping my students read challenging texts.

So far, this is working well. My students are loving The Scarlet Letter, not just because of my enthusiasm for the book but also because I’ve purposely slowed down the reading pace at the beginning so everyone is on board. We spent the first few class periods reading as a class, then in groups, and finally in silence.

I’m realizing how crucial the teacher’s role is in motivating students to read. Even though this is a college-level course does not mean that I can just assign books and expect students to read them (and then get mad if they don’t). If I’m going to assign reading, it’s my job to teach reading. It’s my job to make the book fun and to prove to the students that they shouldn’t give up.

2. Homework is every night. Most teachers assign homework per class, not per night. An assignment is due the next class, and students have until then to complete it. For my students, that doesn’t work. They put off the assignment until the last minute instead of doing a little bit each day.

This semester, I’m assigning homework seven nights a week — yes, even including Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I want to impress on my students the importance of daily study. Sure, college won’t be this way, and perhaps I’m enabling my students by telling them exactly how to do their work. Their professor next year won’t care, and maybe my students will flounder. Nevertheless, my job this year is to get my students to read and write well. So far, this little change is making a big difference in homework completion.

3. We’re meeting every other Saturday. There just isn’t enough class time to prepare for the test. So I got my students an AP English prep book (with a DonorsChoose grant) and hosted our first AP Saturday a few days ago. We focused on test taking strategies, especially on the reading section. (The test is not easy.) My students would rather sleep in or do something more fun on a Saturday morning, but they all showed up, and I know that they secretly appreciate my commitment.

I am hopeful that these changes will improve the class and encourage my students to work hard. We have only five months before the AP test, and I’m getting nervous about their chances to pass. I’d love it if they did well on the test; all we can do now is keep pushing. 

 I do a lot of complaining about my students. They’re not working hard enough. They don’t have study skills. They’re not proofreading closely. They’re not doing enough homework.

In other words, it’s their fault, not mine.

Whenever I start blaming my students, it’s time to do some reflection and figure out next steps — about what I need to do.

Fall Semester Reflection Topic #2: Homework

My experience with homework this semester has been as follows:

1. My students have trouble breaking up large assignments into parts,
2. My students begin assignments the day before they’re due,
3. My students take a long time to do assignments, especially close reading.
4. I might be assigning too much homework.
5. I’m successful with writing homework but not with reading homework.

Although my perception is that my students aren’t doing enough homework, I haven’t investigated their homework habits. That’s what I’m going to do tomorrow when I give out the first semester course evaluation. On this assessment, I’m going to ask my students how much time each major piece of homework takes them to complete.

I think expecting six hours of homework per week is fair in an AP class.

From the data I collect, I’m hoping to create a more streamlined daily homework schedule for my students to follow. My recommended homework schedule will include all major parts of the class — reading, writing, and test prep — along with a suggested amount of time for each activity.

Some may argue: How is this going to prepare them for college next year, when nobody will tell them how to complete their assignments?

I get that argument, and I know that what might be best is coaching students — whether individually or as a class — to develop their own homework schedules.

But we don’t have time to teach time management skills and then to figure out whether they work (except for maybe on their Theme Study). I want my time to be focused on teaching close reading and helping to improve their writing.

With this daily homework schedule, my hope is to send the following message to my students: that the key to success over time is through consistent practice and work habits (rather than through spurts of effort followed by days of rest).

One question, however, remains: What’s the best way to make sure my students stay on track? 

 My passion — and my nemesis — is teaching reading.

I think reading is the most important thing to teach. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out how yet.

Reading closely takes a long time, even for skilled readers. To really read something — to look at a text, annotate it, think about it, and reflect on it — takes significant focus, effort, and time.

Problem: Teachers and students aren’t on the same page. We haven’t been truthful and honest with each other about reading.

Students fake-read or rush-read. Reading is private and isn’t turned in, so it’s done last. If there is something to turn in (e.g., reading questions, reading responses, quote analyses), that’s done in lieu of reading. If I’m a student and have two hours to do three hours of homework, reading is the first to go.

Teachers fake-assign reading. To create a sense of rigor, we assign 20-30 pages a night. We either get mad when students don’t complete it, or we convince ourselves they’re reading when really they’re not.

The answer, of course, is to assign less reading and to teach texts more deeply. But my fear is this: If I reduce my reading assignments so that they’re more realistic, am I lowering my standards? More important, would my students return the favor and read more closely, or would they just end up reading even less?

This week, I’m trying an experiment. Over Thanksgiving Break, students must read their first book for their Theme Study. No additional assignments: no essays, no thought journals, no nothing. Just read and annotate.

(Actually, there is one thing: Next Sunday night, they’ll leave a one-minute message on my Google Voice.)

My hope is that my students will read more deeply and feel accomplished. My hope is that I’m sending a message that reading is central and primary to my class — that I value reading.

When we get back next Monday, I’ll do follow up to see if my experiment was a success. Did students read more? Or did my idea backfire?

What do you think? What would you suggest? How do I make reading more social, public, and central to the class?

 If homework is supposed to be done at home, then it should be due at home, too. That’s the premise of “Your Homework Is Due Tonight.”

This year, I’m having my students turn in their homework the night before it’s due. So far, it’s working. In a recent post, I wrote that checking homework during class is too late, takes too long, and leads to conflict and negativity.

Here’s another benefit: Extensions aren’t really extensions.

Let’s say a student has a situation and needs more time to complete an assignment. There are two options: (1) Don’t allow any late work at all, (2) Allow for extensions in extenuating circumstances.

The problem with #1 is that it’s often too punitive. The problem with #2 is that it makes the student fall behind. While finishing up the assignment with the extension, the student is not fully engaged in what’s happening in the classroom right now.

When homework is due the night before class, however, extensions take on a new meaning.

It happened today. My students’ essay is due at 10 p.m. tonight. Two students texted me to ask for an extension. One had a basketball game, and the other had a family engagement. “I don’t think I can finish it on time,” they wrote.

I texted back, “By when can you have it?”

One wrote, “11 p.m.,” and the other one wrote, “Midnight.”

Amazing. Even if I had given them until the morning, the students would not fall behind.

What’s great about “Your Homework Is Due Tonight” is that it’s creating a due date before the due date. Instead of setting up one deadline — which introduces a pass/fail dichotomy — it allows for mistakes and imperfections along the way. It gives me a sense of who’s struggling and a chance to intervene.

It also switches my role as a teacher. Instead of sending the message of “you didn’t do the homework, and there’s nothing you can do now,” it says, “I see that you’re behind, but there’s still a chance for you to catch up.”

Most important, “My Homework Is Due Tonight” organizes time and allows for a shared classroom experience. Homework is done at home. When students get to class, there is no question about homework. We all know where we stand, so we can all move forward.

Please let me know what you think! 

 Teaching 101 says to check students’ homework during the first five minutes of class.

I think this is wrong for a few reasons:

• It’s too late. Students who haven’t done their homework are behind. They might be frustrated, lost, confused, or disengaged. They’re in my class, but they’re not really in my class.

• It takes too long. Instead of helping students with a warm-up, I’m checking whether they’ve done their homework.
  
  
• It often leads to conflict and negativity. If I’m checking homework first, and the student hasn’t done it, class gets started on a bad foot.

That’s why I’m excited about something new I’m doing this year. It’s called “Your homework is due tonight.”

Instead of turning in their homework the next day in class, students turn in their homework online at 11 p.m. the night it’s assigned. Then, at 11:01 p.m., I send texts to the students who haven’t turned in their homework.

It’s working. On Tuesday night, five students didn’t do their homework. First thing Wednesday morning, when class began, everyone had completed it. Via text, one student apologized; another thanked me for the reminder; still another kept me posted about her progress.

Most important, class went really well. Students were ready for our discussion because all students had completed the homework. Then, when they peer edited each other’s essays, there was 100 percent engagement because there was 100 percent preparedness.

There’s no time to waste. Especially with what my students and I are trying to do this year, we can’t wait around. The results have to happen now.

That’s why I’m happy with “Your homework is due tonight.” Sure, I’d like the deadline to be 10 p.m. instead of 11 p.m., but for right now, I love going to sleep knowing that we’ll be forging ahead the next day instead of meandering. 

 Most homework is due at the beginning of the next class. The teacher assigns something and tells the students, “This is due tomorrow.”

There are many problems with this method. One, it encourages procrastination. Students put off doing the work, save it for the next day, and complete it hastily in another class or at lunch when they could be learning or hanging out with their friends.

Worse, this method prevents teachers from intervening early enough. If I check homework at the beginning of class, what happens to students who didn’t complete it? Do they complete an alternate activity? Do I change my lesson entirely? Or do a I forge ahead and try to catch up those students after school?

To deal with this problem, I’m trying something new. I’m making homework due tonight.

Here’s what I’m doing so far: On Mondays, my students write an essay in class. Part of their homework is to type it on Google Docs before 11 p.m. that night.

So far, it’s worked. My turn-in rate is as high as if I gave them more time. Plus, I know who didn’t complete the homework far before the next class. That means I can text them, intervene, ask them what’s wrong, and even require them to come before school the next day for help. In other words, I close the loop much more quickly, and students see that I care about them so they don’t fall behind.

I’m liking this so much that I began having homework formerly due on Monday now due on Sunday night. As long as students have working computers and Internet (which I make sure of), I can see this practice extending to all nights of the week.

What I’m trying to do is enter my students’ academic psyches outside of class time and outside of school. When they want to stop thinking about English, they can’t. There I am. And there’s work to do. 

 Everybody’s talking about homework these days. There’s too much. Or maybe we should flip our classroom practice and change homework into what we used to do in class.

Or maybe there shouldn’t be any. Some urban schools are giving up on homework. Los Angeles Unified this summer created a homework policy that decreased its importance (until it was overturned). The argument goes, Students of color don’t do homework, so assigning it is a waste of time and only hurts them.

Then others, like Alfie Kohn, think that homework should be abolished altogether because it steals students’ childhoods.

At my school, we don’t dispute the importance of homework. After all, our students need to extend their learning time in order to catch up. Our problem is encouraging our students to do homework, especially on weekends. For many of our students, school is their first job, and 35 hours a week is sufficient. Spending two or three more hours every night on academics seems like a second shift.

For my AP English students, however, homework is necessary. We’re in class only five hours a week. That’s nothing, especially because we’re competing against students across the country who are also putting in considerable homework hours.

But even though homework is necessary, I do need to think about how to make it interesting and fun. Reading tons of pages from an assigned text is nobody’s definition of fun. That’s why I’m thinking of ways to make homework more social, more public, and more meaningful. I’ll let you know about them soon.

What do you think about homework?