Grading math homework doesn’t have to be a hassle! It is hard to believe when you have a 150+ students, but I am sharing an organization system that will make grading math homework much more efficient. This is a follow up to my Minimalist Approach to Homework post. The title was inspired by the Marie Kondo book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Though I utilized the homework agenda for many years prior to the book, it fits right in to the idea of only keeping things that bring you joy.
One thing is for sure, papers do not bring a teacher joy.
For further reading, check out these posts about homework:
I am also aware that homework brings on another conversation:
- grading
- what to do if it is not complete AKA missing assignments
Any teacher will tell you that a missing assignment is a giant pain. No one enjoys seeing the blank space in the grade book, especially a middle school teacher with 125+ students. (Side note, my first year I had 157. Pretty much insane.)
Grading Homework, Yes or No?
Goodness, this is a decision you have to make for you and the best interest of your students. In my experience, I would say I graded 85% of assignments for some type of accuracy. I am not a fan of completion grades. The purpose of homework is to practice, but we don’t want to practice incorrectly. Completion grades didn’t work for me, because I didn’t want students to produce low quality work.
Students had a “tutorial” class period (much like homeroom) in which they were allowed 20 minutes a day to work on assignments. I always encouraged students to work on math or come to my room for homework help. Yes, this often led to 40+ students in my room. But, that means 40 students were doing math practice. I love that.
I also believe that many students worked on it during that time because they knew it was for a grade. This helps to build intrinsic motivation.
Grading math homework: USING THE HOMEWORK AGENDA
During the warm up, I circulated and checked for homework completion. Students would receive a stamp or my initials on their Homework Agenda. Essentially, the Homework Agenda (freebie offered later in this post) is a one-pager that kept students homework organized. As a class, we quickly graded the homework assignment. Then, I briefly would answer or discuss a difficult question or two. To avoid cheating, any student who did not have their homework that day were required to clear their desk while we graded.
I would then present a grading scale. This is where I might make math teachers crazy, but I would be generous. Eight questions, ten points each. Missing two problems would result in an 80. I tried to make it advantageous to those who showed work and attempted, yet not just a “gimme” grade.
Students would record their grade on their Homework Agenda. They would repeat this for every homework assignment that week. A completed Homework Agenda would have 4 assignments’ names, with 4 teacher completion signatures, and 4 grades for each day of the week that I assigned homework.
Later in the class or the following day as I circulated, I was able to see on the front of the Homework Agenda how students were doing and discuss personally with them whether or not they needed to see me in tutorials. I was able to give specific praise to students who were giving 110% effort or making improvements.
This is why I love the Homework Agenda.
“There is no possible way, I could collect the assignments individually and return them in a timely fashion. I tried that my first year and there was no hope. Since using it, I am quickly able to provide individual and specific feedback in a timely manner. It opens up conversations and helps be to encourage and be a champion for my students. ”
On Friday, I would collect the Homework Agenda. If during the week you were absent, had an incomplete assignment, or didn’t complete one, Friday was D day. It was going in the grade book on Friday.
Here is my weekly process:
Friday:
- Collect homework agendas
- Have frank conversation with students who did not have it
- Record grades on paper (mostly to make putting it in the computer faster because they were ordered)
- Record grades in computer
- Send the same email to parents of students that did not turn in the agenda – write one email, then BCC names.
- List names of missing assignments on post-it note next to desk (official, I know)
Monday:
- Pull students from tutorial time (homeroom) who owed me the homework
- Follow up with any students who were absent Friday and still needed to turn in their homework to me
All Access is complete with Independent Practice (which can be used for homework) for every single lesson. If you want your time and energy back, then check out All Access for your math curriculum needs.
What About the Missing Assignments?
Yes, there will be missing assignments. Yes, students will come to Thursday and have lost their precious agenda. However, it won’t happen often to the same kiddo. My least organized student, who carried everything in their pocket, could fold that agenda up and hang onto it for a week. It was too valuable. Too many grades, too many assignments to redo.
We all know that it is much more work when students don’t complete their assignments. It would be a dream world if everyone turned in their work everyday. Unfortunately, we all live in reality.
We can vent our frustrations over students not doing work, which is legitimate. We can also work towards solutions.
The reality is that not every student has a support system at home. I would love for us to be that voice of inspiration and encouragement. Sometimes that voice sounds like tough love and a hounding for assignments and just being consistent that you value their education and you are not willing to let them give up on it.
They will appreciate it one day and you will be happy you did the extra work.
This post is part 2 in a two part series. To read part 1, click here.
How do you prevent kids from cheating and writing a better grade than deserved? And you said 8 questions 10 points each, so do you then give them 20 points for attempting for making it an even 100?
Hi Lisa, thanks for the question. You make a great point about students wanting to write a better grade than they earned. The first few weeks, I really talk about what it means to be honest and check over their shoulders. As I walk around to check I will make sure everyone is marking their assignment correctly. I even will flip through what has been turned in on Fridays and double check or “spot” check. After several years of doing this, I can only count a handful of times when I had to deal with a situation. You would be surprised! Yes, I tried to make everything easy to grade as well as giving points for effort, especially if the assignment was difficult. Hope that helps!
So do you have students turn in all the papers on friday as well or just the agenda? How do you spot check if you only collect the agenda?
Hi Heather! Yes, I have students turn in their work with the agenda. If it was a handout/worksheet I provided, I just set the copier to staple it to the back. If it was something out of a text book, they would staple it to the agenda. Hope that helps!
The ‘initials’ box on the homework agenda is for you to sign when checking who has it done? Or is the person correcting the paper initializing it?
Do you take off points for students not having an assignment done by the time Friday rolls around? Also, what does the small 1’s and 2’s in the corner of your gradebook mean?
Hi Alysia! I use the initials box to sign or stamp that it was complete before we graded it. I think you could have the student grading do that, but then you wouldn’t have a good grasp on how kids were doing throughout the week. I really liked going around at the beginning of class and touching base with students/seeing who needed extra help. Yes, I took off points for turing it in late. We had a standard policy on our campus that I followed. Also, by not having initials, it was by default late because it didn’t get checked when I came around. This section of my gradebook was during review for state testing, so the 1’s and 2’s were a little incentive I was running in my classroom. Review can be so boring and tedious, so I tried to spice it up with a sticker/point system for effort and making improvement. Hope this helps!
I’m a bit confused how you assigned a grade to the homework assignment. First, you mentioned each problem was assigned 10 points. How did you determine how many points students would receive for each problem? If I read your blog correctly it sounds like you had the students score the assignment, how did you instruct them to score each problem? With 10 points for each problem it seems like there is a potential to have a wide range of scores for each problem based on who is grading it. Also, did the grader score it or did the student give their own work a grade? Sorry for all the questions…thank you!
Hi Tanya! In my example, there were eight problems but I only counted each as being worth ten points. That would be twenty points left over for trying/showing work/etc. As for marking it, each problem incorrect would be ten points off. Hope that helps. You could have either the student self grade or do a trade and grade method, whichever you felt more comfortable with.
Can you explain your grading system in the photo on this page where it reads, “Grading without the stacks of paper”? What do the small 1, 2 and 3’s mean? I assume your method on this posting is to avoid the complicated grading, but you’ve got me curious now about what method you were using in your photo. Thanks for clarifying this for me.
The small numbers in the corner were used for an incentive. This photo is from a state assessment prep and I used various points for incentives to keep working!
I like the idea of trade and grade. Right not I just check hw for completion and they get 5 points for doing the assignment. I treat this like extra credit for them. Most of them will at least attempt the problems and show their work. We also talk about just writing random numbers and how that will get no points.
Ugh! The name is Celeste
We aren’t allowed to do trade and grade due to privacy issues and legal issues. Otherwise, I do like this idea.
I have heard that from other teachers. You could have them check their own, too.
Do you allow them to redo and make corrections to their work for credit back? Or does the grade stand no matter what? This is why I go back and forth between correctness and completion. While they need to practice correctly, I don’t like being punitive for getting the answers wrong when they are learning the material for the first time. I want them to practice, and practice correctly. But I also want them to be motivated to persevere and relearn until they master the material.
Yes, it depended on the school policy but I would typically drop the lowest homework grade at the end of the grading period. If a student is willing to come in and work on their assignment (redo, a new one, etc), then I was always thrilled and would replace the grade! We want kids to learn from their mistakes. 🙂
Regarding grading homework, my students have three homework assignments each week, with between 8 and 13 practice problems per assignment. I go through each problem and award 0-3 points per problem. 0 points if they did nothing. And then 1 point for attempting the problem, 1 point for showing necessary/appropriate work, and 1 point for a correct answer. This way, even if students get the problem wrong, they can still get 2 out of 3 points. If a student got each problem wrong, but were clearly trying, I would give them an overall grade of 70%.
Great ideas! Love that!
Do you staple the agenda to a homework packet to hand out on Monday?
Yes! Well actually, I would copy it all together or if it was out of a text book, they would staple their work.
Our district insists that we MUST allow students an opportunity to complete assignments, and we have to accept them late. They do not specify how late though. I was bogged down with tons of late work this last year, and hated it. Can you please share with me your secret of how you handle late work, how late can it be, how much credit does it receive, and how do you grade it? That would help me tremendously.
Thank You!
We always had school policies for the amount of credit a student could earn, so I would follow that for credit. As far as actually collecting and grading, I did the following:
1. If it was late, I didn’t sign their assignment sheet. Instead I wrote late.
2. They had until Friday, when I collected the assignment sheet and homework to complete it.
3. On Friday, I would collect everything complete or not, and put grades in the grade book. Then, I would send an email to parents letting them know. Usually, kids would then be motivated to come to tutoring to complete any missing grades. I tried to not take any papers other than the Assignment Sheet and its corresponding work.
What percentage of their overall grade is homework? We are only allowed to give 10% which is why I only grade for completion and showing work. Maybe I’m not understanding correctly, but you have 80 points per assignment roughly?
Yes, I really tried to be generous and would give points for showing work/effort, to make the grading scale easy. Thanks!
Love all the ideas. One question though – do you have any problems with kids not having their homework done, but making note of the correct answers while the class is grading and then just copying those answers later?
I would suggest to monitor and ask them to have a cleaned off desk if they did not have their assignment. Thanks!
What does your class look like on Fridays? If you only assign homework M-Th, when do your students get practice on the material that you teach on Friday?
Hi Briana! I didn’t assign homework on Fridays, and really tried to plan for a cooperative learning activity if possible. This way we could practice what we did all week.
I love the idea of the homework agenda. I tried passing out papers and filing them but it was to time consuming. If students are allowed to take the packet back and forth every day what keeps them from sharing their answers to other students from another class period throughout the day? I love that you can put notes/reminders at the bottom of the agenda page.
How do you set up your homework agenda? In the date box do you put the due date? Or the date they receive the assignment? Do you have an example homework agenda?
Hi Alyssa! Yes, check out this blog post for more ideas and a sample: https://www.maneuveringthemiddle.com/math-homework/
How and when in this process do you grade the homework for accuracy? At your quick glance at the start of class? On Friday after you collect the agenda and associated work? What mechanism do you use to provide constructive, timely feedback to the students?