Category Archives: TK-12 Math Instruction

Can we just let this practice go?

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Yes, we CAN just let homework go!

As a classroom teacher the routine of assigning, grading, and chasing down of homework was the bane of my existence. For many years it was the reason I was grumpy on Sunday evening. Grading it, giving feedback, and recognizing who hadn’t completed it put me in a bad mood. This coupled with the constant effort to find ways to engage students with homework was miserable. When I thought more about it and watched student behavior while returning work, I realized they didn’t value the feedback the way that I wanted them too and they only saw homework as a compliance behavior. It was something they had to do with little purpose or connection to learning.

It was blissful when I gave up grading homework and just changed it to optional extra practice that would enable them to be more successful on other assignments that were graded. Guess what…the same number of kids did the work.

There has been some analysis of educational research by John Hattie and his Visible Learning work that shows homework has virtually no impact on student achievement in grades TK-8 and little impact in high school. Peter Liljedahl in Building Thinking Classrooms shares that through student interviews we now understand that student view homework very differently than we do. They see it as compliance and we see it as an opportunity to continue their learning. Traditional homework practices do not achieve what we hope.

I guess there is an argument that could be made around work ethic. Homework could help to build work ethic, perseverance, and grit in students. To this I would say there are plenty of other aspects of life that do this far more effectively.

I think if we are honest with ourselves as educators we should acknowledge that copying is rampant and the students who need the practice the least are the ones doing the work.

Finally, let’s think about reality. Kids are insanely overscheduled. They have wonderful activities outside of school or after school programs they participate in and learn through. They don’t need more work to do. Also, educators can focus more on designing engaging lessons or reading current educational texts rather than grading if you get rid of this practice.

Give this practice up. Homework can die. Let it die. Mourn it. Through a party. Do whatever you need to in order to feel better about it. Just let it go as a compliance task.

If you need to, do what I did, post problems that students can do for more practice if they choose to and remind students that the extra practice will improve how they do on graded assignments.

Stop grading it for compliance and gain back valuable time while creating better relationships with parents and students.

Can we be more deliberate in providing access to the SMPs?

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Yes we can! We can plan our lessons starting with the Standards for Math Practice and focus on student sense-making.

I have been pondering this idea for a long time as I am sure many math teachers do from time to time. How can we focus on the SMPs as drivers of our instruction? How do we incorporate them in meaningful ways?

The reality is that the SMPs are rarely the focus of math instruction, they are embedded in textbooks in superficial ways, and they are difficult to quantitatively assess. The SMPS are listed below and there are great grade level explanations of each SMP in the current CA Math Framework (2013).

I argue that in order to create a more creative and critically thinking society we have a responsibility to focus on the SMPs in our math lessons. Remember, these are the habits of mind that we want to impart on all students. Focusing primarily on the computational/procedural side of mathematics with NOT get us to the reasoning, communicating, and curiosity our students need to solve current and future global problems.

So how could we do this:

  1. Start with identifying a focal SMP for a lesson or series of lessons
  2. Anticipate student successes and struggles
  3. Script possible facilitating questions that align with the SMP prior the lesson
  4. Jump in, reflect, and refine future lessons

Here is an example from 3rd or 6th grade multiplication:
I often think of area models as an example. If you consider lessons around introducing 3rd graders to multiplication through area models you could focus on SMP 4 – Model with mathematics or SMP 3 – Constructing viable arguments.

Depending on which of these SMPs you are focusing on will change the questions and structure of the same lesson.

  • If you focus on SMP 4 – Model with mathematics … then sequencing student work so that students see both horizontal and vertical models or using a routine such as Connecting Representations
  • If you focus on SMP 3 – Constructing Viable Arguments … then the mathematics could easily be embedded in a contextual problem. The 3-Reads or Decide and Defend routines could be utilized and students are given time to solve using their own method. Following that the teacher would ask student to justify their and their classmates’ reasoning.

As an alternative and a parallel to these ideas I also offer this reminder from Dan Meyer’s TED Talk from 2010.

Shifting instruction at all grade levels towards facilitation and away from lecture is essential in preparing our students for their limitless future. There are many ways to achieve this and I offer this post as a way to reach this end.