Increase Homework Quality with Free Rubric

    A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about why I switched to giving weekly homework.  Over the three years that I have done this, I have definitely made a couple of adjustments that have helped this system work better for me.

     One of the adjustments that I've made has to do with grading. In my class, I hand out the homework on Friday, and it is due the following Thursday.  The day the homework is due, I pass out red pens, project the answer key on the SMART Board and kids check their own work.  When I enter homework in the grade book, I enter a completion grade, rather than grade the assignment based on the number correct.

        One reason I like this system is that I feel like it lets me focus on the big picture.  When I'm entering the regular score for a homework assignment, I don't have to look closely at every problem for every student.  However, I give each paper a quick scan to make sure that it was completed.  As I grade, I look for patterns.  If I notice that one problem was skipped or missed frequently, I know that this is an area that needs more attention in future assignments, as students did not feel as comfortable with this content.  Because I'm only having to enter homework grades once a week, I have time to look for these patterns.  I also can look for students who are struggling with multiple concepts.

     However, this system was frustrating for me (and my more studious students) at times.  I know that there were a few students who put little effort into the assignments, knowing that their grade was not necessarily determined by the number correct.  This year, I have implemented another part of my grading system.  Each individual homework assignment is still entered into my grade book graded on completion.  It is usually 5 points per week.  Each week, I randomly choose about 6 students whose assignment also gets graded based on a "Homework Quality Rubric".

     This rubric looks at several characteristics of the assignment.  The rubric is based on six categories:  Assignment Completeness, Accuracy and Knowledge, Work Quality, Math Language, Legibility/Organization, and Student Reflection.   I feel this gives me a chance to reflect important characteristics on how students are doing at completely a quality piece of work.

• Are the answers correct? 
•  Did they complete every problem? 
•  Did they show their work?  
• Is their work organized and easy to follow?  
• Did they label their answers?  
• Did they use correct vocabulary? 

Because I'm only having to grade about 6 of these per class, I can take a little bit more time to look in detail at these factors.

     At the beginning of the quarter, I put student names on all of the rubrics.  Then each week I can randomly pull some from the pile to use.  Students get very specific feedback about how to improve the quality of their work, and since they don't know when it will be the week that they will be graded, there is an incentive to put quality effort into the assignment.

      The second adjustment that I've made to my homework system is new this year, and I love it!  This year, I started adding some student choice and differentiation to my homework assignments.  Each assignment is a worksheet, front, and back.  Everyone is expected to complete the entire front side.  The back side of the assignment is divided into three sections.  Two of the sections focus on skills practice.  The third section is usually called "Open-Ended Problem Solving".  This section is intended for students that don't need skills practice, as a way to push them.

This was part of the choice section on the back side.  At the top of the page, students indicate what section they are choosing and why.  During a couple of weeks prior to this, I had noticed many students confusing finding percent vs. percent change after a lesson we had done.  We were working on complementary and supplementary angles at the time, and I know some students were still struggling with this.  

       This is probably the best adjustment that I've made.  The skills sections on the back are a great way to address common errors and misconceptions that I'm seeing in class or on the homework.  At the beginning of the year, I used it to review content from previous years.  Now as the year has gone on, I am using it more to address class needs.  I love that this makes me pay more attention to what my students need.  Each week, I know that I'm going to need a couple of skills to work on for the homework, so I'm always on the lookout.  If I notice a problem that lots of students skipped or a problem that lots of students missed on a quiz, these become the skills practice areas on my homework.  I feel like this has made my homework more relevant to students, as the practice becomes an adjustment to their area of need.

      When I hand out the homework each Friday, I briefly go over the three sections.  Sometimes I might do a quick review based on the skill.  I also let students know why they might want to choose a particular section.  "If you missed #5 on the quiz yesterday, you'll probably want to complete section B".  In my experience, middle school students are not great at knowing their needs academically.  This gives this a chance to practice self-assessment and work choice.

If you're interested in copies of a sample of my weekly homework or the homework rubric, click below.

Homework Quality Rubric
Sample Homework

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Note:  My school uses Connected Math curriculum, so my homework follows the pacing and examples of CMP.

4 Reasons to Make You Love Weekly Math Homework

    About three years ago, I completely overhauled my homework system.  I switched to a system of a single weekly review assignment, rather than the short daily assignments I had been accustomed to giving before that.  Here are the four reasons why I'm so glad that I changed to weekly homework.

• #1:   Students have a chance to get help on homework.  When homework is due the next day, students really have no chance to get help if they don't understand something.  Currently, I assign homework on Friday and it is due on Thursday.  I feel comfortable that students have plenty of time to ask questions if they have it....and if something is left blank, I feel totally comfortable telling them that it is their responsibility to make sure they ask for help.   

• #2:  This lightens the load and gives students a chance to practice time management.  As the mother of a student who works VERY slowly, I know what it is like to face a homework assignment every night....and it is not a good feeling.  Weekly homework gives students and families a chance to figure out what works for completing homework and to build in plenty of time instead of knowing you only have one chance to get it done on time.  7th graders are notoriously bad at time management, and I feel like this is a good chance to start learning.  I can still remember the student I had many years ago who always struggled to finish anything that wasn't due the next day.  I remember him saying, "If you would just make it due tomorrow, I would remember to finish it."  I could practically see the light bulb go on for that boy when I told him that he could decide to make it due for himself the next day, even if my deadline was later.    

• #3:  I like having a built-in chance for spiral review.  Since the homework is not just over what we did in class that day, it gives me a great chance to frequently spiral back and review skills.  I really think it helps keep the skills fresh.  

• #4:  I don't lose as much time grading homework since we only have to check it once a week.  This is huge for me.  My class periods are only 46 minutes long, so losing 5 minutes every day is a lot.  But taking 10 minutes one day is much better.

      Now that I have done this for a few years, I have learned some lessons to make it work better in my classroom.  I will talk about those in my next blog post!  But I will say, I have finally figured out a way to do homework that I love and think is good for my students.

Comment below with your best strategies to make homework effective and useful for students.