Why Not Turn It In?
Posted by drpezz on February 26, 2008
After reading a post by Mrs. Chili regarding the griping of her students when being held accountable for learning, I do have to admit a bit of frustration with one of my classes. Only 19 of my 32 American Literature students bothered to turn in a one-paragraph summary of a short story everyone read.
This is quite a frustration for me since I have been quite intentional preparing this class to do the writing and meeting basic expectations. Despite the grades on the summaries turned in being relatively low, I am more upset that 40% of the students couldn’t find the time to compose 10 sentences.
Unfortunately, I have been out of the classroom quite a bit in the last two weeks with tournaments around the state in three different extra-curriculars. However, I will have no time out of the classroom for the next few weeks, so I will begin conferencing with individual students on Monday. Also, I am giving the second writing, a thesis paragraph, tomorrow.
Other than the number of summaries not turned in, I was also a bit frustrated that the majority of the students who did turn in the assignment did not follow directions. I had a list of approximately 10 questions to answer “yes” to before turning in the summary. The first question states, “Did you double space your summary (whether handwritten or typed)?” Half of the students did not double space. Frustration city!
I guess I need to sit down with each student and begin to decipher why the assignment was not completed or why the directions were not followed. This is part of the reason why class size is such an important factor.
With such a basic assignment, I would expect nothing less than excellence from high school juniors. We will also have to compose another summary because I still need to see the students successfully show the skill, at least the ones who have not done so.
mrschili said
Isn’t this enough to make you CRAZY?! I’m astounded by what my students WON’T do – they just can’t be bothered. It makes me wonder why they’re even here…
drpezz said
And your students PAY to not do the work. That’s just unreal.
Jim Van Pelt said
I feel your pain. I have an 11th grade comp class where fully 1/2 of them would fail if I gave significant amount of homework. We write essays in class, generally, and even then I have a few who don’t turn in the work. It’s staggering.
On the other hand, my 10th grade honors classes turn in homework at near 100% efficiency.
ewalker said
I completely agree with you. I bet if you could travel back to the beginning of their school career, it paralleled these same problems. I currently teach Kindergarten, and you would be amazed at the amount of homework that doesn’t get completed. Of course at this age, it is also the parents responsibility to help. It is sad when I get homework packets back where the student tries, but you can tell it was done alone, or with an older sibling. Parents are required to sign one of the pages as proof of completion, as this is a page that can’t be done independently by the student. Many packets come back unsigned and incomplete. Out of 19 students, I average only about 12-15 packets handed in on time each week. I feel that these are the same students that will continue down this path throughout their school career. If it is not made apparent in their home that homework is important, than they will not feel the need to complete it. Then there are those students I spoke of who do it on their own, and obviously as they progress, the work will get impossible to do independently. I think this is a sad statement that these parents are making to their child. “We don’t care, so don’t bother!” There is only so much we can do as educators to help them see the importance of completing work.
ehisel said
I currently teach Kindergarten, and have for the last 6 years. I completely understand how you feel; except for me, the parents are the problem. My students, often times, need help with their homework, but always need help with reading the directions. Out of the eighteen students I have, twelve to fifteen will turn in their homework weekly. Of those students who turn it in, maybe eight will be completed accurately. The rest will have pages missed, pages done inaccurately because the directions weren’t read or followed, or pages that have been done by the parents or a sibling, because the parent don’t “want to be bothered with it.” I am at a loss as to how to get parents to commit to helping their child be successful in all aspects of school. When they are not responsible for completing their homework, then they begin to show a poor work ethic in the classroom. If I have work ethic problems in Kindergarten, imagine what those same students are like when they reach you in high school! Somehow, someway, there has to be a solution for this problem, but I have yet to figure it out:):):)
Kshort said
I teach high school and the problem of work completion just gets worse. You are right, lack of parent envolvement is a big problem. I can call and e-mail home for a week before a project is due and the students still do not turn it in. It is frustrating, but you have to wonder what goes on at home.