The school where Ms. Eleanor Lightson was working as an ESOL teacher had the policy of reviewing and grading the students’ homework each day from the previous day. The classrooms she served had between 30 and 45 students per class.
As the classes went on, one day she realized that a student had given ‘weird’ answers to the vocabulary she had assigned. It was something like this:
As the classes went on, one day she realized that a student had given ‘weird’ answers to the vocabulary she had assigned. It was something like this:
Cat: Perro
Ostrich: Gato
Bird: Avestruz
Raccoon: Pájaro
Etc, etc, etc.
When Ms. Lightson asked the student if she had cheated, the student gave a negative.
“May I see your dictionary please?” she asked the student.
The student replied it was left at home.
“You cheated,” the teacher told her in a more displaying than accusatory tone. The student insisted this was not true.
“Yes, you did,” the teacher insisted in a soft and caring voice, the voice of comprehension.
This teacher didn’t label students as liars. She knew that when students lie or cheat there is a lot of fear behind it, and it is usually of teachers and parents or being ridicule by their peers.
“I know for sure that you cheated. Do you want me to tell you how I discovered you did?” Ms. Lightson said with the eyes of a friend who was revealing a secret.
The student smiled and agreed looking again at the homework. After revealing the secret and telling that there was a very scarce possibility of finding the answers the student had given Ms. Lighton told the student, “Look, Joy, if you are going to cheat, it is better not to do the homework. What for? There is no purpose in doing it unless you learn and face your own difficulties.”
The story doesn’t end here. One of the strategies Ms. Lightson had implemented since the beginning of the year was to grade the homework cumulatively.
“Look, if one day you forget or you didn’t have time to do it, that’s okay with me. But if you, on a regular basis are not doing your homework, that is a real problem, for you mostly. So, I am going to ask for notebooks from one of you each day and you have to have all the homework dated up to the current date. There will not be previous notice, this is the notice.”
However, the question of how meaningful doing homework was for them kept nagging Ms. Lightson. Were they learning through homework? Was it helping them in learning?
Instead of reviewing 45 homework assignments to know who did it or not, Ms. Lightson introduced German words in one day’s vocabulary that were similar to English but that did not appear in the English dictionary and which were not easily deduced.
“Do you have any questions or difficulties about yesterday’s vocabulary?” Ms. Lightson asked them.
Twenty students raised their hands. Okay, those were the ones who did the homework consciously.
Twenty students raised their hands. Okay, those were the ones who did the homework consciously.
Still Ms. Lightson kept very concerned about the ones who were not learning, about the ones who for whatever reason they had were not doing their homework. She needed to find other ways.
“Well, tomorrow we will have a homework contest. The best three works will be the only ones that will be graded. The rest will have no grade” Ms. Lightson said after considering that it might or might not work.
Next day, Ms. Lightson’s students were standing at the classroom door eager to be evaluated. Once they went inside, they kept coming to her desk happily to show what they had done the day before. It looked like they had put on a lot of work. It was October and the vocabulary was related to Halloween.
“Teacher, I did the homework!” several students said enthusiastically, “Look!”
There were even 3D models and plasticine works of Art.
“Well, tomorrow we will have a homework contest. The best three works will be the only ones that will be graded. The rest will have no grade” Ms. Lightson said after considering that it might or might not work.
Next day, Ms. Lightson’s students were standing at the classroom door eager to be evaluated. Once they went inside, they kept coming to her desk happily to show what they had done the day before. It looked like they had put on a lot of work. It was October and the vocabulary was related to Halloween.
“Teacher, I did the homework!” several students said enthusiastically, “Look!”
There were even 3D models and plasticine works of Art.
WOW! WOW! WOW!
Only one student didn’t do the homework and the rest of them were graded. All of them were excellent. WOW!
Only one student didn’t do the homework and the rest of them were graded. All of them were excellent. WOW!
Contrary to common belief, students DO like to do homework. It is not a simple matter of the whats but the HOWs it is proposed. How to Wow!
What would it happen if we just graded our students for how much their eyes shone and how frequently they smiled?
What would it happen if we just graded our students for how much their eyes shone and how frequently they smiled?
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