Ms. Q: Payne and Homework

While I have heard of Payne, in fact missed the great staff presentation the year before I moved here, I have not read her work, but have seen her quoted in many places. This is an issue I am currently struggling with in my graduate program. I am planning my study around Hispanic students, for many reasons, least of which is they are my students, and I have been coming across research I am finding very interesting and worth looking into. Specifically, I want to look into the resilience of the students who succeed and see if there are ways to promote resilience using culturally competent, rigorous, and relevant curriculum. Middle class values--politically loaded word, but I do believe there is some backing behind the arguments for and against Payne. I was just reading an article the other day on culture and sensitivity and the cultural deficit model and was thinking along the same lines as you are. I think using something in class on this might prove interesting. Let me look through my piles of research again (still haven't set up a real filing system, unless you count the numerous piles scattered around my house). I bet we can come up with a collaborative project, even!

As for homework--

I have found, in my area, if I don't make homework a daily thing, kids are less likely to do it when I do have a homework assignment for them to complete. So, homework for me must be everyday, except for on Friday (unless it is a paper/project).

[the weight of the grade] it's going to make a big difference if they don't do any of it

I find this is necessary as well. But, I still struggle with the equality in grading. What am I truly grading for? I believe we do teach life skills, as well as content. Just because the standards don't address these does not mean we should discount them.

I think your idea for grade graphs is an excellent idea. I have a friend who has used these and she swears by them. The reason I have not implemented them before is due to a lack of planning and preparation on my part. There were weeks I had no idea what I was teaching until Monday morning during planning. This is why I decided to try this collaboration this summer. I want to plan and need to plan, but have always needed a sounding board, someone to share ideas with, get clarification from, or someone to just tell me I am doing something wrong and this is what and why!

The actual assignments I give run the gamut--sometimes it's a review sheet for a concept we learned. Sometimes it's reading comprehension & higher order questions for the next days discussion. In the beginning of the year, I have smaller assignments and we always start them during class so they "know" what is expected.

The way you seem to plan is according to the UbD scheme of things. You start with the end in mind and work from there. I think I need to step away from UbD (the book) and just start planning. When given a form, I try to force myself to follow the form exactly and I think this is why I have been so frustrated with UbD in the past. I just need to take what I know and work from there.

I do have class everyday, BUT for me it's an alternating block (I have the same kids everyday, for the same periods, but I teach APUSH one day and Eng III the next). Normally, I would have the kids everyday for a semester and then be done with Eng III. Our classes are also 90 minutes long.

You mention weighting--do you weight your grades? Do you do points, percentages, what/how?