Homework: On-line vs. Paper and Pencil

20 Day Blogging Challenge, Day 12:  Talk about homeowrk. Do you give it?  What types do you give it. How do you balance it with other demands?

My school is a public school that is also a school of choice.  We are a traditional school.  That means we have a dress code, we have strong parent support, and we have mandatory homework three nights a week. A few times each year we do a homework project that is completed over a few weeks.  Our castle project is one of these projects.  Sometimes we use some of our homework time to prepare for book talks.  Most weeks I assign spelling work on Monday, reading or writing on Tuesday, and math on Thursday.  Many nights I offer the choice of completing homework on-line.  Since some of my children do not have internet access at home, I always offer a pencil and paper option as well..

In my last post, I wrote about Spelling City.  On Monday evenings, students may use Spelling City or they may choose one of these Fun Ideas for Spelling Practice.  They need to have a parent sign their planner indicating how they studied.

Tuesday night is often writing or reading.  This month I am having them read, and then we are doing a status of the class the following morning.  I also talked about this in an earlier post.  Some nights I have students write a blog post.  We use Kidblog, and you can see some of our posts here.  We welcome your comments.  Again, I provide a paper and pencil option.  Students may write their post in their writer's notebook and blog from school.

Thursday night is math night.  Sometimes I assign a worksheet, but other nights students may work on XtraMath, which is basic fact practice or they may go to TenMarks.  For TenMarks, the teacher selects the skills that need to be practiced.  If I assign XtraMath or TenMarks, I also make a worksheet available for those without internet.

With all these websites, I have a classroom version, so I can monitor who is on-line, and in some cases, how much time they spent on line.  I have our Kidblog account set so nothing publishes until I okay it.  With TenMarks I can see how they are doing with the various skills.

Most of my kids like to do the on-line assignments.  I expect them to work for 20 to 30 minutes.  I would like to begin using Edmodo  for homework as well.  We currently use it for book discussion and social studies and science research.

Beginning in February, I am going to begin running a before school computer lab so those without internet or computer access can come in to do on-line homework.  It would be on a voluntary basis.  I did this last year, and I had some kids that came in all the time even though they had internet at home.  They just liked using the websites.

If for some reason I do not assign homework, I send a note home explaining why.  Our parents are supportive and many will call to check if there is no homework.  On the flip side, I am flexible.  Sometimes things come up, and kids forget supplies or for some reason cannot complete an assignment.  I do not want homework time to extend beyond a half hour.  Kids need time to just be kids.

I am always looking for new ideas.  Do you assign homework?  If so, what works for your students?

Reading Homework for Tonight: Read!

20 Day Blogging Challenge, Day 9:  Share a topic or idea from class this week. Will you do it again?

Our homework for tonight is to read.  That's it!  Just read.  There are lots of nights that I ask students to read for homework, but usually there is some type of written response that they have to do as well.  The thing is, if they know they have to do a written assignment that will take ten to fifteen minutes more, how much actual time will they spend reading?

I've been thinking a lot about the ideas from The Book Whisperer and Reading In the Wild by Donalyn Miller.  She makes a good point that so often, kids don't get much time to read.  We are always teaching reading strategies and skills.  We have them responding to literature, so we can be sure they are reading, and understanding what they are reading.  I've done book logs to keep them accountable, but how much actual time do we let them choose what they want to read and just read?

So tonight they are supposed to read, and tomorrow morning I will ask them to record their progress on the Status of the Class form that we added to their reading notebooks today.  We practiced today.  Along with the student form, which I took from the Reading In the Wild, I created a record sheet for me.  I will record just their book title and page number.  I am also interviewing them about the genre.  Rather than going through the entire class each day, I will interview about 1/3 of the class. I did that today, and will touch base with a different group tomorrow.  This is a great time for students to hear about books their friends are reading.  I have 29 students, and trying to get through everyone every time will be too time consuming.  I think kids will lose interest if it takes too long.

The only thing that students have to do besides read, is to have their parents sign the assignment note.  This way parents know what the homework assignment is.  It's a school policy to do homework on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday night.  I plan to make this same assignment once a week for the next few weeks.  Then I will have a better idea whether it's working, and the kids are really reading.

As far as the Status of the Class is concerned, I don't plan to do it every day, but we will give it a try at least two or three times each week, sometimes in whole group, sometimes in small group.

Do you use reading logs or some sort of written response for reading?  What works for you?