After reading Chapter 8, Helping Students Stay Motivated as They Get Older, choose one of the three questions below - and provide us with examples that are applicable to your environment.
1) There are current education experts who believe that late student work should be accepted without a penalty. Does this practice enable students to procrastinate? Should there be a consequence for assignments that are not turned in on time? Discuss and defend your answer.
2) Talk about various ways to help older students learn to fail better. Should adults actually be teaching kids about failure when our ultimate goals is to teach time to succeed? Explain why or why not?
3) Do you think it is harder for students to maintain their sense of motivation as they grow older? Discuss your opinion and give examples to support your beliefs.
Additional Resources:
Procrastination
12 Reasons Why Students Procrastinate
Procrastination - Proofing Students
Procrastination in Students
Procrastinating in the Classroom
***Next week we will read and discuss Chapter 9, Inspiring Young Children.
***Have a great week :)
1) work accepted without a penalty- Over the years, I have taught many students and I did allow partial credit or credit for some assignments turned in late due to extenuating circumstances. If it was written into a child's IEP, due to processing disorder or a disability, there were no questions on the assignment being accepted late. The problem lies in that students who are capable but choose to procrastinate miss out on so much. I think it is very helpful not only for students but adults as well to set timelines. If a paper due at a given time, the timeline should be laid out as to when each items is due for example: the topic of a paper is due on such/such date, then the next date would be the outline, etc. this helps student's manage their time and know where things are due. Instead of just stating at the end of the nine weeks your paper is due. If student's learn this process it can carry over into adulthood.
ReplyDelete2) I believe every student should learn failure of some sort and level. If a child does very well on his first history test he may assume he will never need to study. If he fails the next test, he has learned that he does need to study and apply himself to the work. This can carry over to every facet of life. By teaching them failure in different aspects, we are really teaching them success as they must learn time management, study skills and self-motivation.
3) I feel that maintaining self-motivation not only applies to students but adults as well as they get older. I have adults who lack self-motivation and choose to never attend Professional development, training, or further their education. The same applies to students as well. At a young age, they are motivated by extrinsic rewards from the teacher: stickers, extra recess time, papers posted for all to see, etc. As teenagers or young adults that same sense is not there. It is not viewed as "cool" to be the smartest student, to get the constant notice from the teacher, etc. As adults; many are complacent to go to work and go home. Some choose to not need verbal rewards or recognition from their supervisor.
I agree with you that they have to get extra time if they have an IEP, but I think that's the only time they should. Having a deadline is teaching them what the real world is.
DeleteDo you think it is harder for students to maintain their sense of motivation as they grow older? Discuss your opinion and give examples to support your beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI think it is harder for students to maintain motivation as they grow older. I have had the pleasure of working with students from kindergarten to eighth grade and I have seen a dramatic decline in motivation in the older students. Most students in K-5 love to attend school and have time with their peers and teachers. They work hard in an effort to gain the approval of their teachers. Many middle schoolers however start to adopt that I don’t care attitude. Maybe they have been faced with failure too many times and have just chosen to give up. Perhaps they now noticed that they are different from their peers as far as academics are concerned. A study by Jacquelynn Eccles, Carold Midgley, and Terry Adler titled Grade-Related Changes in the School Environment: Effects on Achievement Motivation gives us some insight on this topic. The study found: First, students’ orientation to achievement gets more negative with increasing age. Second, the decline is especially marked between kindergarten and grade one, and again at about grades six, seven, and eight. Third, the magnitude of the decline varies across domains and subject areas.
I think there should be some kind of penalty for late work. It's not fair to the students who did the work and turned it in on time so I do think the students who turn in late work need some kind of consequence. In the real world, adults have deadlines so having assignments due at a certain time helps them get used to it for adulthood. During the two years I was a teacher, our English department had a late homework policy of 50 percent off each assignment no matter how late it was turned in. They also had a zero tolerance for homework. The students could have no missing assignment at the end of the nine weeks, or they don't pass the class. So, a student could have one missing assignment and an A in the class and not pass. That was pretty harsh if you ask me, but I wasn't teaching at the time they adopted this policy so I'm not sure of the reasoning.
ReplyDeleteMichele-I agree that there should be a penalty for late work. We have to prepare our students for adulthood, where there will be consequences if they don't do their job and complete tasks on time. We also need to let the students who turn their work in on time know that doing so is important to us.
DeleteWow! I agree on having consequences, but that seems extremely harsh!
DeleteQuestion number one really can be answered differently by me, a third grade teacher, and say a high school teacher. It's like apples and oranges.
ReplyDeleteFor my third graders, homework not completed or class work not completed in a timely fashion, is finished during recess. This gives a penalty (loss of free time), yet the student gets the skill practice needed on the particular standard that was being assessed (because ultimately, that is my goal...standard mastery). No penalty is given in regards to the grading of the assignment. They can still earn an A, but they didn't get to play outside as a result of their procrastination or forgetfulness.
Some people dislike my taking away of recess because physical activity is so important for the kids, but taking away something valuable to the kiddos will help them learn.
#1
ReplyDeleteI feel that accepting late student work without penalty does enable students to procrastinate. The only way late work should be accepted without penalty is if a student has an IEP that states they should be allowed more time to complete assignments. If we allow students to turn their work in late, what does it say to our students who do their work and turn it in on time? We can’t send the message to these students that their hard work, and their willingness to follow directions by turning in their work on time, isn’t important to us. I think going over expectations and giving students strategies to use to complete their work on time is important to do, starting from the beginning of the school year.
The age and grade at which it is appropriate to accept late work without penalty may differ between teachers. I feel that older elementary students should be learning responsibility and that late work will not be accepted without penalty. At this age students need to begin to understand that as adults they are going to be expected to do their job and finish work on time. If they don’t, their boss may not be very lenient and accept work past a given deadline without a consequence.
Giving partial credit is a common consequence for late work. I have had students use part of their recess to do the late work, or lose a privilege if their work isn’t turned in on time. This might be computer time or playing a game with a friend during preferred activity time.
1. I accept late work, but I do assign a penalty. I accept late work because, as I inform my students, I do not want them to miss out on the learning opportunity; however, I do penalize late work because I believe that students need to learn how to manage time, and they need to learn there are consequences for not meeting a deadline. I inform my students, that most professions are deadline based, and we talk about how learning to manage one's time while completing work to the best of one's ability is a valuable skill. It is a necessary skill in the adult world. I try to break large projects into chunks to help students learn how to manage time. This provides for small successes as we work and helps to not overwhelm students with large projects. When we do this, I talk about how I approach projects that I need to complete. If we complete a 2nd project, I talk to students about how time management may have negatively impacted them in the 1st project, and we then work on improvement.
ReplyDelete3. I have worked at the middle and high school level. In middle school, student motivation was very low. This was mainly due to students being more focused on immediate gratification and current social standing. At this level, many students seemed to have difficulty visualizing life after school and the long term consequences of their actions. In high school, I have found that student motivation has increased. This is due to student's ability to perceive life after school and their understanding of how their school performance will impact their life goals.
Delete2) Talk about various ways to help older students learn to fail better. Should adults actually be teaching kids about failure when our ultimate goals is to teach time to succeed? Explain why or why not?
The best thing an educator can possibly do is teaching kids how to fail because they learn much better through failure and become a lifelong learner. I remembered when I was in the classroom and every now and then when I make an error, I always tell my student that I mess up, my bad . I used those statement to help show my students that I'm human and making mistake of failing is part of us as human being. In athletic, we failed in some areas then go back to the drawing board viewing films, practice smarter and harder in order to be successful during next game and it works. I Iike the statement made by our author "I think we need to teach children how to fail better". If we can all do a better job teaching students how to fail then make the best of it will help them learn the very best in life. We have restriction for failure and over protective of kids from failure in today's society. I used to tell students that Michael Jordan families many times but later became the best basketball player on earth.
I really like how you model and break down big projects. Some students do get overwhelmed with assignments, and learning how to manage a big project in pieces would be very helpful. Also for anyone, reflection is key for improvements for future assignments. Great job!
Delete2) Talk about various ways to help older students learn to fail better. Should adults actually be teaching kids about failure when our ultimate goals is to teach time to succeed? Explain why or why not?
ReplyDeleteYes, we need to explicitly teach our students about failure and self-evaluation in the process of learning and making progress. It is an integral part of the process in pushing the envelope, or moving the ZPD if you prefer. Innovation and invention require it. We all experience failure in our academic, professional, and private lives, so evaluating our own work-product is an important skill not only in school, but in life.
Like many of the best practices we have discussed, learning how to progress from failure takes time. I regularly give my students an opportunity to look at tasks that they have completed for me during "Fix-it, Finish-It" time. When grading papers I put a dot in colored ink next to each incorrect or incomplete answer, but do not write out the correct response. We then go back and evaluate the work in much the same way the modeling example on page 141 of the text lays out - determining if directions were followed, questions were misunderstood, answers were simply unknown, etc. Students do this with me at first, but eventually take on the task themselves. I feel there is immense value in the self-talk to ask "What happened here? How do I fix this? What do I need to remember the next time? I give the students a fraction of the possible points for making improvements to their work. If a question was simply not answered the first time around, I expect that to be fixed, but will not give any credit for that. It isn't a perfect system, but I am trying to emphasize the improvement process without rewarding laziness.
This sure sounds like a fantastic system. Getting students to think about why they did what they did can easily transfer into preparing them to be a successful adult. It isn't just enough though to know that you missed something but you need to be able to fix it. If students are never give the chance to correct wrong thinking they will continue that direction and only hurt themselves. It does take time but in the long run it produces great success.
Delete#1 I believe that work turned in late should have a consequence. Students need to learn that there are consequences to their behaviors and there are expectations they have as students.
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, I assign a homework paper every week that is due on Thursday. They receive this paper on Monday so they have 3 evenings to complete it. I've told students and parents since the beginning of school that homework is to be turned in by Thursday's and if it is not turned in, the students receive an infraction (our behavior system) and they have to spend their time at recess completing the homework paper.
I firmly believe that students, even as young as second grade, need to learn responsibility and time management. I feel that this is preparing them for what's to come down the road as they advance on to higher grades. I believe that all actions (positive and negative) have consequences. What are we doing to the youth of America if we baby them and don't make them responsible citizens? I believe we are setting them up for failure as they get older. They will not learn the skill of time management or accountability.
1) There are current education experts who believe that late student work should be accepted without a penalty. Does this practice enable students to procrastinate? Should there be a consequence for assignments that are not turned in on time? Discuss and defend your answer.
ReplyDeleteWhen I assign work to a student and give them a deadline or a due date, I expect them to turn their work in completed and on time. If they do not turn in an assignment, they lose points on that assignment. I accept late work but all late work has a penalty. For example, they lose 10% on the first day it is late, -20% the second day and -50% for any additional days.
Everything in life has due dates. If you have to get your tux for prom ordered a week before prom and you don't do it-you end up with no tux. If your boss tells you something is due every Tuesday and you don't turn in your work until Fridays, you could lose your job. Students need to learn responsibility and that they can't go through life blaming others for missed opportunities and leaning on others to take care of them. Responsibility is one of the greatest traits you can learn as an individual.
I would agree. If students are not given punishment for late work, educators are not helping to produce successful students. Responsibility is a very real-world, applicable lesson.
Delete2) Talk about various ways to help older students learn to fail better. Should adults actually be teaching kids about failure when our ultimate goals is to teach time to succeed? Explain why or why not?
ReplyDeleteI have always been taught that sometimes the greatest strengths in my life have come about because of an initial weakness. Though this may not always be the best way to learn and grow it is an effective way in which learning takes place at the hands of the one learning rather than the one teaching. The quote in the middle of this chapter speaks clearly to this idea: “In the final analysis, it is not what you do for your child but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.” - Landers.
Teaching our students that failure will happen, meaning they will not always measure up to their own standards or the standards of others, but it isn’t the means to an end. It is only a spring-board that helps guide the student toward the next step.
I believe parameters, guidelines, instructions need to be set and students should try to reach them to the best of their ability, but how they reach them should not be the issue. Every learner is an individual and should be evaluated within themselves. Teaching students to fail accurately prepares them for the real world in which they will fail countless times.
While in school educators can provide the safe boundaries to get them back on track, but in the real world there will be little if no support. It is ok to fail (I have to tell myself this over and over again) and I need to be clear in teaching this to my students.
In one of our area high schools last year, there were 3 "successful" suicides. If we do not teach students to fail, if we don't teach them how "to get back up," if we don't teach them how to lose, then when they are faced with adversity, they do not have the skills to try one more time. It is a discussion all of us are having in our community, from participation trophies to attendance awards and everything in between.
Delete2) Talk about various ways to help older students learn to fail better. Should adults actually be teaching kids about failure when our ultimate goals is to teach time to succeed? Explain why or why not?
ReplyDeleteI think we should absolutely teach kids about failure, and not just older kids but all students. Though our ultimate goal is to succeed, we need to define success very carefully. If we define success as getting it right and learning all that can be learned on the first try, then we have narrowed success to a small window that most people will never reach. But if we define success as learning something new every time, regardless of the outcome, then success becomes an internal character trait that is controlled by the learner. This empowers the learner to be successful regardless of the external outcome, which might not be within his or her control.
I agree with the book that one of the ways to teach students to fail upwards is how we communicate with them. Again, how we define success and failure affects how we communicate and motivate students. At our school, students are able to re-take exams. Often, students would be discouraged because they did not do well the first try and want to stop trying. When I talk to this student, I try to set the parameter of success and failure. I would tell the student that the course and the test are designed for students to have multiple shots at taking it. I also try to communicate that part of growth and education is learning each time you take the test, finding out the mistakes and going back to find the answer. I would say something like, “This is a difficult test, and most students have to take it several times to pass it. Each time, make sure you write down what you can’t solve or what is confusing. I promise if you do that, every time your score will improve. After your next time taking the exam, show me what you wrote down.” What I have learned is that when the teacher reset the proper expectations for success and failure, it calms the students down and they settle in with our expectation. Of course, it is harder for some students than others. We have many students who have troubled experience with failures, so the re-test system really allows us to deal with that in a healthy way.
Something else I try to articulate to my students who struggle with passing tests is that in real life, rarely are they given a written exam, and they have only one shot at it. More likely, they are given situations in which they have to solve the problem through trial and error, and that is process we are learning right now. By connecting the present situation to real life, and relaxing the expectations of what it means to succeed, we try to create an environment where students can take some academic risks.
I agree that students need to understand failure. I would even take it one step further and argue that students need to recognize the value in trying again and again. As an English teacher, I struggled to get students to understand that they might have to read something two, three, or more times to absorb what it has to offer. Difficult texts (and difficult tasks) require more effort, but the payoff is greater too.
DeleteWhen I was still in the traditional classroom, I used to deduct points for every day that an assignment was late. After 3 or 4 days, there was little point in a student completing the assignment.
ReplyDeleteOne day, my principal asked me what the point of the assignment was. When I responded that the purpose was learning x or y, then he pointed out I had taken the focus off the learning and placed it on the responsibility. Did I want to teach x or y concept, or did I want to teach the responsibility of doing the work?
While I am a big fan of responsibility, my purpose as an English teacher was to teach ENGLISH. I harangued my students until they did the work because the concept was more important to me than the life lesson. That might mean sitting in the lunch room at their table and doing an assignment with them or holding them during a free period or calling the parent and making an arrangement to stay after school one day.
That being said, it also means that I tried to provide ample class time to complete the work in the first place. This alleviates most of the opportunities for procrastination.
#1 I personally think that if late work can be turned in without penalty, why set a due date. Just let all assignments be due by the end of the grading period. If there are no consequences for late work why would students not be motivated to turn their work in on time. If our goal as educators is to prepare students for the real world, then we need to set up due dates and have consequences. Our taxes are due April 15th and if we don't turn them in on time we have to pay a penalty. We have real consequences in the real world and we need to prepare our students for them by having consequences for late work. There will always be exceptions to this rule.
ReplyDelete#1 - Through the years of teaching I have gone back and forth with accepting and not accepting late work. Sometimes I have the feeling that it is better late than never and it is better that the student learn the content than not do it at all. While on the other hand, I will not accept late work and students are told up front that all assignments must be turned in on time or it is a zero.
ReplyDeleteI guess I can see it both ways. I do not want to promote or encourage procrastination as I see it a big problems with some people. While I also want the students to learn the material they are being taught. It is a very thin line. The question I ask myself is, how to I get students to complete their work daily to learn the material and not turn in late assignments. I have gone to the analogy of a snowball when I explain it to my students. If you do each assignment the day it is given and turn it in then you can stay on top of your learning and not fall behind, limiting your anxiety, frustrations and stress. If you don’t do an assignment, then the next day you are given another one, and this continues. Before long you have multiple assignments you are behind on and it is like a snowball, one adds to another until you are really behind. You will then be under pressure, stress and your grade will not be where you want it. Just like a snowball one flake adds to another until you are buried in work and now you have to figure out where to start to dig yourself out of the snow pile.
Bottom line, I feel we should all be taught to do what is assignment or the task of that day and not put things off or procrastinate. It will only cause hardship and more troubles later.
I do think that it is harder for (some) students to maintain motivation as they grow older. Working with many different grade levels, I have noticed that once in the higher intermediate/middle school grades they are less motivated. I have seen this with my 5th graders. Some are always working and on task whereas I have a handful that it has been like pulling teeth to get them involved and motivated during work time since day one. I have noticed that many of my students have the “I don’t care” attitude and often say it. With my students, their home lives are not the best and I think they accept failure and give up. They don't get the support they need/want from their home lives and if they don't get it from their families they are wanting it from us (teachers). My team must go through our data frequently for our different subject groups (math, reading, etc) and put the students into groups. I think now that they are realized who is in the “higher” group and who is not. They are noticing how they are different from their friends and want to give up and not push forward.
ReplyDelete3. I believe it is harder for students to maintain their sense of motivation for school as they grow older. Their motivation shifts from doing well and gaining or keeping teacher and adult approval to social motivations. They care more about what their friends and peers think and it often has nothing to do with academics or other accomplishments. Teaching in middle school I see children go through this change. In sixth grade they mostly do this best and are aware of what is expected and try by behave. Often by eighth grade school changes to complaining when anything interferes with their personal business and conversations. Social approval becomes the most important thing. The invisible audience has been replaced a real (if still invisible and possibly much larger) audience thanks to social media. The personal conversations I hear students having have changed. Instead of “Did you hear about…?” it has shifted to “did you see what (other student) did on (any social media service)?” We have banned student use of social media on their iPads, but there is so much of it that it still causes problems when students don’t even realize something qualifies. Something that was very popular in 2016 was app called Music.ly where kids video themselves lip synching short bits of songs and comment and rate each other. I recall at least three separate occasions where students did not understand how that is social media. I did not see the appeal at first due it’s very simple nature and shallow interactivity, but later realized it is a simple means to social approval. Every morning I see kids who already have all their things be late because they are waiting on their friend who is running late to be ready. Very rarely do they take my advice that they do not have to be late because their friend is. However student’s, especially in 8th grade, suddenly become aware of how class performance affects their grade at the end of each nine weeks and often find motivation in the last minute scramble.
ReplyDeleteTeaching responsibility is such an important lesson at every age! They have to learn that there are consequences for not turning in their work on time, being late, and not following directions! Each teacher has the power to make up those consequences as they see fit. The consequences are going to be different for every grade level and honestly for each assignment.
ReplyDeleteFailing is so hard on anyone but it seems like during this time and day---failing is looked at so negatively! I know that there are different reasons that people fail and that some/most can be attributed to laziness, lack of following directions, and the list could go on but all in all---we need to teach our children that it is okay to fail! But that we need to learn from our failure---know why we failed and what we can do better. Help kiddos take responsibility for their actions and help them to problem solve, never give up, and push towards succeeding!
Motivation is such a hard topic and everyone is motivated in a different manner! I do feel that motivation for the most part goes away as we get older. But their are circumstances and situations that adults become more and more motivated as they get older! I think it all depends on how they were raised, how they were taught, how they handle failure, whether or not they were taught to prioritize and set goals!
All 3 of these topics are going to always have people on both sides of the fence and all of these topics are going to be ever changing!
I do feel that students need to learn to be responsible and that in real life, there are consequences. If deadlines are not given, some students would struggle to complete work. I think with any assignment, students need to understand the purpose the purpose of the assignment and is should be relevant to what they have have been learning about. Also students should be aware of the appropriate consequences in advance for not meeting the deadline.
ReplyDeleteOur job as educators is to not only help them master the standards for that grade level, but prepare them for the real world. They need to be problem solvers, time managers, and be responsible. We may need to be creative for some students to keep them motivated and help them understand why this is an important life skill to have.
3. Motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic can be a key factor in student success no matter how old they are. Yes, we all know that is much easier said than done. I use some of the flowing strategies to help my students. I make goals high but attainable. I give feed back in a variety of ways and offer chances for them to improve. I also encourage self-reflection. Students love to critique themselves instead of having teachers doing it every single time.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to help motivate students it to allow students to work together. Students just need to have a variety of experiences to help motivate them. One of the biggest ways to help any student stay motivated is to share your own enthusiasm with them.
(1) In regards to late homework or assignments, I do not deduct from a student’s score in relation to the number of days that an assignment was past due. This allows for me to ensure that a student’s grade is a reflection of a student’s understanding of content and not a reflection to his or her work ethic. (However, we do assign measures to a student’s work habits on his or her report grade. A student can receive the mark of “exemplary,” “meet,” or “not yet.” These scores do allow for conversations regarding a student’s responsibility and work ethic.)
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I do hold my students’ accountability for their responsibility (or irresponsibility) within my classroom. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, during recess, the students who have missing work return to the classroom and complete the assignment(s). This ensures that the students can be provided with a duplicate of the assignment if the original is misplaced or beyond repair, allows for there to be resources available in the manner of anchor charts, notebooks, and myself if a student, and provides an opportunity that the students only focus can be that of the missing work. This practice has been effective in allowing for students to develop positive work habits.
In addition, to the aforementioned consequence, we also have a grade-level privilege each Friday. The grade level privilege is that students are allowed to play dodgeball for a twenty-minute time block. This privilege is well received by the students, but must be earned. If a student has been inside for recess on either Tuesday or Thursday, they are no longer eligible for dodgeball. Not only is their work held accountable, but they are held accountable for their behavior as well. Emphasizing that this is a privilege that is earned through positive choices, both academically and behaviorally, serves as one way to motivate my students and decreases the frequency of late work, as well as, builds positive work habits.
While these are the consequences of a student’s poor choice, I do guide my students in developing study skills and work habits that, when utilized, can allow for students to implement strategies and schedules to manage their time. For example, students are held accountable for weekly reading goals. All the students were instructed on how to make a book plan and are encouraged to regularly do so. This allows for students to work backwards from a goal and develop a time table that yields the consequence they would like. Also, before exams, students are presented with a “study slip.” If they study prior to the test, and have a parent signature, then they receive a bonus point on the exam.
As such, I do not deduct points from assignments that are late. However, to keep them accountable for their actions, I do have a system of positive and negative consequences in place. This allows for students to continue to practice positive work habits, that will be necessary for success later in life.
1) There are current education experts who believe that late student work should be accepted without a penalty. Does this practice enable students to procrastinate? Should there be a consequence for assignments that are not turned in on time? Discuss and defend your answer.
ReplyDeleteI believe that there should be a consequence for late work. I also believe that that consequence should vary depending upon a student's age. I teach fourth grade, and by that age students should be learning to be responsible for their own work. It is important to me that they take responsibility for their learning and that they complete all practice. In my classroom, I deduct 10% for each day that work is late. I know that other teachers give zeroes or have instant 50% off penalties, but it is more important to me that the work is actually completed. I feel that this gradual deduction will penalize procrastination, but not so much that students will become fatalistic about completing work. I do believe that accepting late work without a penalty encourages procrastination by rewarding bad habits. We must teach students simultaneously to manage their time and to accept the consequences of their poor time management choices when they make them.
#2. Students need to know that the world does not allow late work. My children were allowed to turn in work late in high school. No matter how much I complained to the teachers, they didn't listen. When my daughter got to college she was 12 seconds late turning in a scholarship. She wen to the person in charge and pleaded her case. She was shut down. She couldn't understand why. She is still turning in late things. She missed a whole final in December. This is a student who was just voted Top 100 at her university and will graduating in May with neurology and biology with honors. I know she will be in trouble in med school. However, one time, I got his Chinese teacher to see my way and not accept a semester of work the last week. He learned his lesson, sorta. If you give him a timeline, it will be done early. If you don't, it will take forever.
ReplyDeleteLife has expectations. Babying kids will not prepare them for it.
Well.......living with procrastinators makes life tricky...My daughter would always say "PROCRASTINATORS UNITE....TOMORROW!!!" I am currently in a position where I am not assigning homework, but I do remember my children. I was the mom who made my kids be accountable! I always told them that every action has a consequence. My girls learned the hard way about life's lessons on following due dates....With that being said, children at our school don't always have someone who is concerned about their school work. So, in my opinion homework needs to be meaningful. Homework should be practice that has started in class and is able to finish on their own and should have a timeline! Life is full of due dates and helping our kids learn to be accountable is our job!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete1) There are current education experts who believe that late student work should be accepted without a penalty. Does this practice enable students to procrastinate? Should there be a consequence for assignments that are not turned in on time? Discuss and defend your answer.
I believe there should be a consequence to turning work in late. If there isn’t going to be a consequence to turning work in late then why set any due dates in the first place? Most kids will wait until the very end of the grading period to turn it in and in most cases probably just rush to get it done with very little effort. Of course, we have the students that do that now, but we also have those students that do the work when it is assigned. The purpose of homework is to reinforce skills that have been taught, therefore doing it at the time is assigned is most beneficial and will in turn help the kids the most.
In 8th grade, as a Science department we automatically give a student a maximum grade of 60% if they have a late assignment. 60% is not a stellar grade, but it is better than a 0. I also have a weekly lunch detention day. If any student is missing ONE assignment or more I assign them a lunch detention. This is something I just started doing this last 9-week grading period. I went from 7 F’s at the end of the quarter 2 grading period to ZERO F’s this third quarter grading period. The kids are turning in their work because they know if they don’t they will be spending a lunch period with me.
I think having no consequence is a disservice to the kids. As adults, they will have deadlines they have to follow and meet. There is no better time than now to start practicing the skills they will need as an adult.
Failure is a part of life but many see it as a life crushing set back instead of a "step towards excellence". I think that as a society we shifted to the mindset of "we must not fail", instead of "we will fail" but let's learn from it and get back up. Teachers need to model for children how to recover from failure and move towards the next step. This modeling is most effective when it can be done "in the moment". When modeling adults need to look at the reasons why the failure occurred. Not as excuses for the failure but to help the children "make a plan" on how to do it better next time.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that it is more difficult for students to stay motivated as they get older-especially in areas they feel are irrelevant-and that is almost every area for a teenager. For many of the students I deal with, they do not understand how their education is connected to their daily life, and most importantly, their futures. I try to help them first, understand what type of learner they are; Second, help them form life/career goals; Help them learn the proper way to advocate for themselves and then finally, show them how learning things they feel are irrelevant can actually bridge the gap between where they are now and the future they want. I truly believe that as educators, we must teach where a student's abilities are and not where we think they should be. I always explain to them how temporary high school is, but learning should occur throughout a lifetime. By teaching them how to form goals and achieve them-however large or small-that is extremely important in keeping a student's motivation. Once they believe they can achieve those goals, then they can set them for themselves. "Actively listening to students means trying to hear things from their point of view. Empathy can be empowering rather than entitling when adults are focused on the long-term goals of autonomy, competence, and relatedness for the learner." This is a quote to live by. Because, after all, if a student does not have both motivation and autonomy, they will have difficulties succeeding. Apathy becomes the driving force.
ReplyDelete#1: I have mixed emotions over whether or not to accept late work. Right now, I do accept the work, but not without a penalty to the student’s grade. Unfortunately, I continue to see some kids always turn in their work late. This practice enables procrastination. However, we all know, this topic is not black or white. Some kids really need more time to get work done, whereas others have excuses. I don’t have a clear solution, however I believe we differentiate instruction, we need to differentiate due dates on an individual basis. Overall, there needs to be a blanket consequence for the late work, yet knowing that there will be some students that need the extra time without penalty.
ReplyDeleteUnnecessary repeat offenders need to be handled as separate cases as well. I need to conference with those students and explain how their grade is suffering due to their inability to get their work turned in on time. I can have the student do the math and see the difference in their grade with the work being turned in on time vs. their grade based on their work being late. Encouraging students to “do the math” to see the difference, is providing students the power and freedom they crave to make better choices. (I hope)!
Question #3 -
ReplyDeleteI do believe it is harder for students to maintain their sense of motivation as they grow older. As young children, they are so excited to start school and learn, but as they grow older, so many obstacles get in the way of their success and they lose their love of learning. Since I am in the alternative school, I get students who have already had it rough in regards to home life and school. Many have parents who are or have been in jail/prison. Some of the parents have gotten involved in alcohol and/or drugs, which leads to less than desirable living environments for the kids. Many students who have at least one parent at home often receive very little guidance and/or support. Unfortunately, instead of taking their circumstances and turning them into learning experiences and motivation for bettering their lives, our students are convinced that they are doomed to failure as well.
When I taught in the traditional classroom setting, I was talking to one student about his lack of effort. I explained to him that putting effort into his school work and graduating were important for his future because many employers want to hire people who have shown they can meet goals. I went on to say that most of the employers who pay well will not hire unless the prospective employee has a diploma. My student’s response was “my dad never graduated and he’s got a great job.” It was very hard to encourage him to succeed when he had role models who were just content with whatever life brought their way.
On the flip side, I just recently had a student who was headed down the wrong road. She lost her dad a few years ago and still struggles to deal with the loss. Her coping mechanism was to make all the wrong choices in life. She was very unmotivated and unwilling to do very much work. She didn’t want to follow the rules and we had a couple of run-ins where she was very disrespectful. A few weeks ago, we ended up having to call our resource officer on her because she smacked a student upside the back of the head. Each time there were issues and she was kicked out or suspended, I gave her the benefit of the doubt when she came back and worked to improve our relationship. I shared some personal stories of loss with her and tried to establish a sense of trust. The last time she was able to come back, she finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. She had college hopes and knew that she needed to kick in to gear in order to graduate. She had a renewed vigor and worked hard to meet her goals. Today, she finished her final class and graduated ahead of schedule. She still has a lot of emotional issues to work on, but I feel that she will succeed now that she understands how important motivation is to her life and her future. Proud teacher moment!!!
1) There are current education experts who believe that late student work should be accepted without a penalty. Does this practice enable students to procrastinate? Should there be a consequence for assignments that are not turned in on time? Discuss and defend your answer.
ReplyDeleteIt seems ironic to me that this is the only week I'm replying late--- a week about procrastination. However, it gives me a personal point of view beyond my role as special educator in which I commonly see students turning in late work.
Ultimately, I believe the reason or motivation behind the late work is what is important.
For example, I had a very busy week with daughters on spring break while I still needed to work. It is out of character for me to be behind schedule.
For some of out students, procrastination is not the reason for late work. It could be a lack of organization, or lack of understanding. It could also be because the police were at their door looking to arrest one of their family members.
So, as with most things in my field of special education, I have to look at the individual student. I will say up front, I opposed to routinely giving students extra time to turn in work. To me it only re-enforces late work. However, some students organizational skill issues--- they do the work but forget to turn it in. Others have family lives that gets in the way of doing their work. I think it comes on a case by case basis regarding work being turned in.
1) There are current education experts who believe that late student work should be accepted without a penalty. Does this practice enable students to procrastinate? Should there be a consequence for assignments that are not turned in on time? Discuss and defend your answer.
ReplyDeleteAs a third grade teacher, I don't often give a penalty for late work. For one thing, at this age, it doesn't happen often and when it does there is usually a good reason or something has happened outside of the child's control. I try to be as understanding as possible, but after a child has told me a situation as to why it didn't get done, then I offer suggestions on what to do next time.
At a high school level, I think it's a great idea for student's to be responsible for their work and to receive consequences when it's not. They need to be taught responsibility.
2) Talk about various ways to help older students learn to fail better. Should adults actually be teaching kids about failure when our ultimate goals is to teach time to succeed? Explain why or why not?
Yes we need to teach students how to fail! My oldest daughter never studied in high school. When she began attending Purdue she was devastated when she realized she was failing a class. She was so upset! BUT, after much discussion and encouragement, she took the initiative to meet with the professor and hire a tutor. She passed the class and it taught her a lot, but those first tears of failure were SO HARD to hear and it was SO HARD to change her mindset and her perception of herself. She had never failed at anything and this was a real shocker!
2: In my opinion it is really important to help students understand that "failing" or making a mistake is an opportunity to improve. This doesn't just happen. Students have to be taught how to self-critique their performance in a healthy way. One thing we do in my class is to have mini performances on a skill. Sometimes students do this individually and sometimes in small groups. The "audience" listens respectfully, applauds in recognition of the courage and effort of their classmates and then we talk about what we saw. Students are encouraged to be specific in their comments and can respond with something they thought was done well or something they need to improve. I give my input after the class has finished. I feel like the students often respond better when hearing feedback from their classmates than just from me. I try to create a safe and supportive atmosphere that allows for mistakes or failure in an effort to encourage the students to keep trying.
ReplyDelete1) There are current education experts who believe that late student work should be accepted without a penalty. Does this practice enable students to procrastinate? Should there be a consequence for assignments that are not turned in on time? Discuss and defend your answer.
ReplyDeleteI agree that teachers should allow students to turn in late work with penalty. If a student fails to turn in homework on time, they make the choice to complete their homework at recess that day. This is penalty enough for the student. I then grade the assignment without any academic penalty. What I do teach my kids is to not make excuses for not having their work turned in on time. I have a sign posted by my homework tray that reads "Excuses only satisfy those that make them." I preach to the kids to take responsibility for their academic work. They can make the choice to complete it at home or at school during recess.
1) There are current education experts who believe that late student work should be accepted without a penalty. Does this practice enable students to procrastinate? Should there be a consequence for assignments that are not turned in on time? Discuss and defend your answer.
ReplyDeleteI think that this practice does enable students to procrastinate because a student can wait to the last minute and realize they are failing the class and do just enough work to pass. This puts the teacher in a bind at the end of the grading period to get everything graded and in the grade book before the deadline to have grade books closed. I know some teachers will accept late work at a drop in percentage. I think this helps the student realize that it is important to make the deadline. This helps a student realize that they need to make their deadline in school and in the work place.
1) I believe that student work should be accepted late, but that there also needs to be a penalty. With no penalty students do often procrastinate and misuse the time they have in class. Student's may think they will get everything done later, but wind up with too much of a mountain to dig out of. No penalty is not reflective of work in the real world, and does not prepare them for college or employment.
ReplyDeleteStudent's who complete their work in a timely manner should not be graded the same as someone who the work late.
3) Do you think it is harder for students to maintain their sense of motivation as they grow older? Discuss your opinion and give examples to support your beliefs.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was "yes," it is harder for students to maintain their motivation as they get older because they learn to question the meaning of everything. I see it all the time with students I use to work with at my school. Some students can maintain their sense of motivation as they get older and watch other students around them. They are motivated by the sense of accomplishing more than their peers. I totally agree that actively listening to older kids is imperative to their development.