I have been teaching middle school math for 16 years and have a math specialist endorsement from Virginia. The reality is that you don’t want to spend a huge amount of time on homework because the lesson is where you want the most mental energy to happen. Homework could be a blend of spiraling back to prior concepts in addition to practice of present learning targets. I think the target of around 10 questions is ideal for standard or “on grade level” students. I have my standard students (blend of far below, below and on grade level students) do a “stand and talk” where they have a copy of my answers and a group (flippity is a great online random group generator). They stand at the board (or have a whiteboard at their table group) and compare their answers to each other and to my copy. Students who aren’t prepared for the day may only earn a zero on the assignment IF they aren’t actively participating and trying to get their homework completed (I teach at a fairly at risk school and just wanted them doing the math instead of disengaging because they weren’t prepared for the day). I think a variety of homework review ideas keep it novel. Padlet is another great place to use homework to complete an online discussion. Students could check their answers quickly (we have google classroom so you could hyperlink it there) and then respond using an online discussion forum to address the primary objective. My homework grades are just “completion” grades…you get a 10/10 if you did it well and fully. I also have a 30 minute rule where their parent can sign if they spent a legitimate 30 minutes on the assignment…it actually rarely happens. I save the “real grades” for assessments like quizzes and tests. I want their grade to reflect what they actually know and not that they complete their homework assignments each night. Blessings to you and your classroom! Thanks for the discussion!

Hi, Jenn – this is coming super late, but hopefully this can be helpful in some way. Many 7th and 8th grade standards overlap, so I would focus on those specific standards. Chances are if 8th grade students are in intervention, they didn’t fully master many 7th grade skills, so it would only help them build confidence/knowledge to tackle those 8th grade standards. Best of luck!

I’m so glad to hear this! Best of luck!

You can do it! I would try and outline a basic schedule incorporating all of the features above.

I think this post might be the most helpful. You can make a few modifications to get down to the 90 minute time frame. Thanks!

Good evening! Since I am a new 7th grade math teacher how do you structure your 90 minute class, I have 1 hour and 45 minutes

Thanks, Darla!

Sure! I have a post for 60 minute classes. https://www.maneuveringthemiddle.com/structure-60-minute-class-period/

I did a few different things which all consisted of checking either your own or a partners paper. Then, I would pick 1-2 to go over in class. Yes, it would be impossible to take them home each night…I did that and almost lost my mind. 🙂

So glad to hear! Thank you, Sherry!