How to Build a Student's Self-Confidence and the Importance of Doing So

As the year moves into the last 3 months, students who struggle academically might be stressing out over what the last few months hold for them. These are the students who consistently come close to passing, but never quite achieve that goal of at least a C.  These are the students who many times end up with the pity grade of D-.  These are the students who have a difficult time schema building so permanent mental connections are rarely made.  Many of these students want to succeed, but are close to giving up.  So, what can teachers do to restore self confidence for these students?

Build in time within the class to have one-to-one conferences with each student.  The successful students won't take much time, but the weak ones, those who need that one-to-one the most, will greatly benefit from that quiet time with the teacher to discuss progress on assignments.  This precious time is time where the student has the teacher's undivided attention.  Students really enjoy this activity (I do it regularly--great way to also keep a "finger on the pulse" of effectiveness of classroom instruction).

When teachers walk around the room looking at students as they work, they should look for evidence of struggling students making progress.  When the evidence is presented that they have mastered a concept, teachers need to praise the effort, point it out to the student, and elaborate on what exactly they did that was good and why.  A simple "good job" does not tell the student what he/she should repeat with future assignments.  Also, this simple action boosts self-esteem greatly.

Differentiate assignments where ever possible.  EDMODO allows this with ease.  If technology is not available, teachers should try to create a bank of alternative assignments where the content is the same, but the measurement of mastery is slightly altered.  So if it is an ELL, the assessment may use less complex language thereby making the assessment less confusing.

Building student self-confidence can be done. Once weak students start to believe that they can succeed, they will:)

Denise

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Welcome to the Mobile Classroom of 2014!

Only a few years ago, schools clamored to have access to the computer lab a few times a month.  Then came the laptop carts which contained 35 or so relatively new computers.  If teachers were fortunate, they could access them 3 or 4 times a month at most. 

Now, computers weigh barely more than a pound-iPads, tablets, Chrome books, and Kindles.  Others fit in a student's pocket-smartphone!  How powerful are these tools?  They can do everything a heavy desktop can do and more.  Even more important, they are portable!  So how does a teacher create an organized focused learning environment with these devices?  Quite easy with some careful planning:)

First of all, the vast majority of students probably feel more comfortable using these tools than their teachers...and that is OK.  This should be quite normal since these students have been using many of these tools for ages.  They are digital citizens.  So when glitches arise, should teachers consider turning to the "experts" to solve the problem?  Yes, they should.  Students love to share what they know.  In my situation, I often turn to students to find shortcuts, or fix a software problem.  They usually take care of the issue in a few seconds.

Second, teachers must have a plan for using the equipment.  Project BASED LEARNING fits in here with ease.  Collaboration and team work goals are easily met here through mobile learning.  Communication is addressed in the team's effort to creatively solve a problem with teacher facilitating as needed.  After all, the work force of the future will require intense global communication to develop new products, send humans to outer space, repair the ecosystem, etc. 

Third, what tools could these devices be used for?  SKYPE is one which could be used if they needed to talk to students in other countries.  EMAIL and INSTANT MESSAGES are two means of communication in every place of business anywhere in the world.  Students could use them in contacting key subjects in their projects.  TWITTER is an online quick feed often used by businesses to quickly share opinions on company related topics.  To keep track of what they are doing within their groups, they could TWEET about each one's progress.  Students need to know about it and how to use it.  The use of DIGITAL VIDEOS can also be addressed since many business people send video clips back and forth in studying possible products to be sold or advertise. 

Yes, these new light devices open up a world of potential in pursuing project based learning assignments AND students will enjoy every part of the process.

Denise
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Great Site to Differentiate Your Reading Activities and Meet Common Core Standards:)

How many teachers have classes where each and every student is at the same level in reading abilities?  My guess is that this is highly unlikely to say the least.  The vast majority of teachers have classes with students of mixed abilities in reading.  So how does a teacher support this wide range of reading abilities?  Try READ WORKS! 

With this site, teachers have a wide range of reading passages from all the academic disciplines and at many grade levels to pull from.  Registration is required, but it is free.

What options are there for reading strategies practice?  They are listed here:

What subject areas specifically are included?  See below:

The site also offers lesson plan units aligned to common core standards:

To successfully meet the reading skills development needs of diverse classrooms, this is a site teachers should bookmark and pull from as needed.  Note the EDMODO pin.  Teachers with EDMODO accounts can save work directly to that site for student use with just a click:)

I hope this site meets your needs:)

Denise
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Have Failing Students? Read On:)

The end of the school year is fast approaching.  With the end of the semester, teachers are often times faced with a few students who did not pass the course regardless of  support teachers had provided. Though there is probably little chance, if any, of such students earning passing grades now, there is always a  chance to reverse the downward spiral with the start of the second semester.  Students need guidance and hope.

Though this article ("Helping Students Succeed:  A Twelve Step Program" by Marty Dawley) is from 1999, its content rings just as true now as it did when it was first published.  There is no magic fix for the problem.  The latest greatest tech gadget won't help here nor will that one shot engaging professional development workshop without follow-up and intensive support.  Instead, the solution may rest with the teacher's ability to connect with students on a personal level and hold them accountable. 

The 12 steps should sound quite familiar to educators to some degree, but for the first time, there is an actual "checklist" for teachers to refer to as needed.  I intend to start the new year with this approach.  I need to change behaviors. 

Denise


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Bring Writing Activities Into the 21st Century With EDUBLOG!

Often times, when teachers start their classes on writing assignments, students are only "politely" enthused.  Though the traditional approach does have merit and is a good place to start, teachers should consider using it only as a jump-off point to publishing on the internet.  When students discover their essays will be published to the worldwide web, they become genuinely excited at the prospect.  For them, people beyond the teacher will have the opportunity to see their creativity and possibly provide feedback (if the teacher allows comments to be entered).

How can this safely be done?  Though there are many blogging sites on the internet, here is one that is geared to teachers and their students---EDUBLOGS.  A simple blog is free, but if a teacher wishes to have the entire class interacting with it, there is a small fee, but many teachers don't go that far. 

There are other blogging sites with GOOGLE BLOGSPOT being the most popular.  However, Edublogs has the option of uploading PDFs while BLOGSPOT does not.  BLOGSPOT is also used in classrooms but with the understanding that the submissions are strictly for class use.  Again, teachers use it as a blog and as a "website."  Both are easy to use for teacher and student.

How can blogs be used to motivate students to write and enjoy the process?  What about students completing class projects on their blogs instead of with power points?  Students can upload videos (their own files or ones from the net), incredible photos to support their project, audio if it supports their writing, etc.  All these tools would be used to add grab the attention of the reader of their written work.  Every add-on would serve only one purpose-to make the student's writing more engaging and informative for the reader.  In the global workforce, this is done regularly so why not give students the opportunity (actually multiple opportunities from multiple disciplines) to use it in the classroom?

Anyone can write and blogging will support that statement with ease:)

Denise

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Some Highly Effective Strategies to Create Quality Homework Assignments

All classroom teachers assign homework regardless of the subject taught.  Students spend hours on it every week, but are they really benefiting from it?  What types of assignments are often given where students actually are challenged to think beyond the text?  After all, the goal of common core based lessons is to have students apply academic knowledge to the real world.  If this link is established, it will open the door to preparing students to successfully enter the global workforce where project based activities are often the norm.

Teachers should try to move away from the traditional assignments such as answering questions from a text to activities that make the leap from text to real world.  For example, if studying biology, why not have students begin a project where they must plant a garden on campus and justify their selection of plants.  This type of project might involve blogging on the progress of their plants, ideas on what to do with the produce, creating detailed charts on the nutritional value of each of the vegetables planted, etc.  Notice how such an assignment would naturally lend itself to student collaboration beyond the school day as students text, email, or call each other to monitor the progress of their plants.  A project like this involves not only a knowledge of biology, but also math, writing, and research.  All these elements dovetail quite easily.  There is also built-in support for English language learners.

In this article on homework, teachers might walk away with a new outlook on what constitutes effective homework for them and why:)

Denise

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Map Resources for Free!

Interpreting maps, charts, and graphs is part of many school subjects:  geography, science, social studies, economics, etc.  Often times, teachers spend many hours online trying to find just the right map or maps to drive home a key concept of a planned lesson.  Handouts and powerpoints are often used. Often times, students try to stay attentive, but this engagement can be limited.

So how can teachers reverse the trend?  Try GEO COMMONS!  Teachers can create maps addressing almost any topic being addressed or use maps already there.  Data can be easily uploaded into map design on over 20 subject areas.  Teachers might also consider having students generate their own maps as class projects.  This is a major shift from the popular powerpoint!

Registration is required, but it is a free site.  Maps created can also be saved for future use!

Denise

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Building Academic Language for ELLs--a MUST for Common Core

Common core is here.  For English language learners (ELLs) to survive and thrive in this new learning environment, they must have more developed literacy skills to tackle far more challenging academic demands than in the past.  Dictionaries should never be the first resources for any students and especially ELLs.  For the English only students, they are often confused by the different definitions for any given word.  The waters get muddier with ELLs since definitions for new words are defined in a language that they are not that familiar with for the most part. 

So how can teachers provide those crucial supports for ELLs so that they may experience success in completing academic tasks in the classroom?  Delivering such supports is not difficult.  It can be built into any instruction with just a few adjustments.  Further, these same adjustments will also support the English only students because often times what is good for ELLs is also good for EOs.

Here is one site with a few approaches to building academic vocabulary.  It is one I wrote for the Examiner a year ago.  Within it, there are two more websites which address key academic words students should learn along with additional strategies to teach vocabulary. Another link, though geared to science, the strategies would work in any classroom for any content area.

Find approaches which work for you and your students.  Make activities engaging, informative, and fun.  Then watch their academic vocabulary base grow:)

Denise

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More Strategies to Monitor Student Understanding:)

How can teachers be sure that 80% of the students in their classes follows the lesson?  When can a teacher assign homework knowing students are fully prepared to do it?  How can a teacher know when a student is struggling?  The answer to all of the above is ongoing monitoring through formative assessments aka checks for understanding.  Though this topic has been addressed in this blog before, it never hurts to have a few more instructional monitoring tools in the teacher tool belt.

So here is one site with a new look at how to check for understanding for ELLs in all classes.  Simply check on an activity used in the class, and see it can be adjusted, expanded, or scaffolded for ELLs in mainstream classes with ease.  The descriptions of the approaches are short but thorough.  Further, there are additional instructional weblinks embedded throughout. 

This last list, more easy to implement checks for understanding, offers 11 approaches that are quite popular at many grade levels in all disciplines.  Note that none of the approaches are new. They are still actively used throughout classrooms everywhere because they are easy to implement and kids love them!

Denise

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30+ Tools for Formative Assessments in ANY Classroom!

With common core now in place at all grade levels throughout the vast majority of states, teachers will benefit from having at their immediate disposal a wide variety of quick formative assessment routines to monitor classroom grasp of key lesson concepts.
 
This formative assessment link offers still more tools for teachers to not only monitor student understanding, but also to accomplish this task through a rich variety of approaches.  After all, students are more likely to be actively engaged in the learning process if they are able to demonstrate understanding through a wide range of approaches covering all the learning styles. 

If students are to succeed in meeting national standards in their course subjects, teachers must incorporate multiple mastery measurement techniques to build student self-confidence in learning.

Denise

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40 Maps That Will Transform a Student's View of Earth!

As the new school year opens, teachers are excitedly planning many creative ways to energize their students about learning exciting new facts about Earth and its inhabitants.  Technology offers many resources to make the instructional day less stressful for teachers and more engaging for students.  One site that might be used in geography, environmental science, math, politics, etc. classes is 40 maps that transform one's view of the world.

Here students will see the earth from many viewpoints.  If the class is business, check out how McDonald's has impacted the planet.  How about driving on the left side of the road as opposed to the right?  There is a map for that.  Care to see the how the use of energy has impacted the planet?  There is a map for that.

Each map opens up a class room discussion within an content classroom.  There is even one map that offers a live feed on internet use around the world!  With common core standards state standards, such a tool would add a deeper level to any class and fascinate the students who explore it.

Denise

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Use of Current Events Supports Common Core Based Lessons in All Content Areas!

The reading of current events addresses almost all areas of core content classes with ease.  With summer fast approaching, why not give students some projects to pursue over the summer.  The link here offers some very creative activities students of all ages could try out over the summer AND enjoy the process along the way:)

If the students are young, they could enlist the help of their parents in attempting to complete the tasks.  Parents would definitely enjoy "learning" along with their young children.  In fact, children will put into practice everything their teachers taught throughout the summer thereby preparing them to start the new school year without any need for that "fall review" which many students have to undergo when school starts.

With older students, the summer offers an opportunity to hone those academic skills needed to be able to survive in the real world:)  Though parents are there as a resource if the student requires some assistance, students at this age like challenges so they may be quite comfortable working on their own.  Again, the study of current events offers opportunities to explore everything from rates for car loans to effects of climate change, and everything in the middle.  Here, learning for pure interest might offer a new look at why the subjects they learned in school are important on the way to becoming lifelong learners.

One big incentive to motivate both groups of learners to keep their skills fresh might be to have them keep blogs on what they are learning and what they learned.

Denise:)

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Teachers--Are You Getting the Most Out of Your iPad? Here Are 23 Things You Need To Know:)

Apple has created a gem of a tech tool which offers a great deal of potential in revolutionizing the typical classroom and the ways lessons are delivered to students.  The latest invention, the iPad, offers a world of information presented along with a wide range of applications most of which are FREE or almost FREE (ex. $.99 on average).  Education apps permit struggling students to actually have more time to process information in non-traditional ways.  They often times monitor student progress or lack thereof.  Teachers can access the results with ease almost immediately. 

So, once the iPad is in a teacher's hands, what happens next?  After all, before these learning tools are turned over to students, teachers have to become almost instant experts in the basic operational features of the device.  It seems obvious, but to have instruction run smoothly, teachers have to be prepared for the many questions students will have.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

This is a site that every educator will appreciate.  It truly supplies a new iPad owner all the basics in its use.  With the basics fully understood, teachers can move on to mobile power points, whiteboards, etc. with ease.  The quicker the teacher becomes confident in its use, the quicker the technology will be in the hands of students with a master of its use guiding them:)

Denise

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10 MUST-Have Apps for Secondary Students

With so many students now having smart phones, schools should consider allowing their use in the classroom (with rules of course).   With the wealth of academic apps on the market, students could have at their fingertips support for most of the major non-elective courses required in high school.  Such ready access would be especially beneficial for students who need just a little more time to process demanding course lesson content.

Here is a list of the apps:

1.  Chemistry with wikipedia links for in-depth explanations of topics students may need more information on.
2.  Essentials by AccelaStudy -- study tool for learning foreign languages.
3.  Evernote Peek--create study flash cards for any subject area.
4.  Frog Dissection-vivid 3d virtual dissection of frogs for those who feel uncomfortable with working with living ones.
5.  Graphing Calculator-such calculators are very expensive, but not this APP:)
6.  Math Formulas-over 100 math formulas for all levels of high school math including statistics.
7.  Easel SAT Prep Lite-lower SAT anxiety with this one.
8.  Shakespeare-41 plays, 154 sonnets, 6 poems, and much more.
9.  Studious-a great digital organizer to keep track of due dates for assignments, exams, etc.
10.World Atlas-the app in this article is not available in the US, but National Geographic has two.  See photo below:

Denise

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Quick Assessment Strategies From S.I.O.P. (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) Provide Access to Language and Content for ALL

Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol is an instructional program aimed at English language learners at all levels of English proficiency including long term ELLs.  Though geared to English language learners, all students would benefit from the many tools employed in SIOP to deliver solid understanding of content and boost use of academic vocabulary/writing.  Accountability is held throughout any lesson through creative ongoing checks for understanding and quality quick assessments.

How does SIOP live up to its reputation?  Take a look at successful and easy to implement assessments for a clear view of the effectiveness of these strategies in the classroom.  Though a great deal of prep on the teacher's part is involved since 90% of the time students should be actively using language as they delve through content, the prep time is worth it since students make amazing jumps in both language and grade level content mastery.  THIS approach is what Common Core is aiming at in the new curriculum. 

Remember as stated before in this blog, implementing common core lessons will not necessitate throwing out strategies used in the past, but rather applying a different focus in their use:)

Denise

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"If the world were 100 people"--Great Tools for Geography Classes!

Imagine a site which reduces the world's population of 7,000,000,000 to 100!  With a much more manageable number, students can truly develop a deeper understanding of the problems the planet faces on a more personal level.  When they can attach a face to a problem, they often times feel a need to help those less fortunate than themselves.

In 100 people,  teachers will find a video in the bottom left corner of the homepage which offers an overview of the 100 people project.  Here a breakdown is given on how many people have electricity, clean drinking water, an education, etc.  It is also current unlike many of the other videos and websites on the same topic.

However, the site offers much more than just a video on the world's problems.   The map on the homepage offers students the opportunity to click on any red dot (spread throughout the planet) and see an interview with a person from that country.  Attaching a face to a county can have an emotionally moving effect on anyone.  This is especially true with young people.  If teachers can channel that concern into students taking positive actions, at any level, to make the world a better place for all, they will become better persons for it as well as responsible caretakers of the planet:)

What are some of the issues facing the planet today with its residents?  Click on GLOBAL ISSUES.  Each one comes with a video as well as complete lesson plans.   If schools would like to take part in a project, the teacher needs to enroll the school.  Simply follow the directions of the link.

Denise

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Teach American History? Check Out This Map of ALL the Historic Places in North America!

With Common Core based lessons, teachers will have many more opportunities to weave in technology to build the necessary background information needed by ELLs, as well as other students who struggle academically, to access the key content of any lesson.

If U.S. history is the focus, this site will easily supplement and enhance any lesson on U.S. history.  It offers meaning to all the historical monuments which are referred to throughout any history class.  Even more importantly, for ELLs who come to class with little to no background on American history, it not only clearly displays where key events occurred in history, but also photos and brief descriptions behind them.  Canada is also covered here as well.

Though not all sites have images, they may be accessed by satellite so that students can see them.  Thanks to GOOGLE maps, every site can be viewed via street view.  This site could easily be used in a cooperative learning activity where student teams would be assigned to specific sections of the map (all in the same time period) to research key sites of historical interest.  This map could be a start off point to promote discussion among the groups so that they would be better prepared to analyze the historical importance of the site along with event to which it is tied.

HISTORIC PLACES IN NORTH AMERICA---Here is the website.  Teachers will probably wish to model how to effectively navigate it before handing it over to students.  Once that is done, the class (with teacher guidance) could try assigned different sites in teams (practice in navigating site and then finding historical facts on it) and then share findings with the rest of the class.  Once this is completed and everyone has a good idea of how to conduct research on the site, teachers could then plan on group projects where this site would lay the background information.


CATEGORIES OF HISTORICAL SITES---Here is the breakdown of all the time periods.

Hope your students enjoy it:)

Denise

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Common Core and Technology--a Powerful Combination in Delivering Highly Effective Instruction

With the new Common Core standards, teachers will need to weave in more technology in the delivering of lessons.  Though many districts are dealing with ever shrinking budgets, they can still meet that demand with minimal cost.  After all, all students of this generation regardless of their economic status have at least some access to technology during most of the day be it cell phone, XBoxes, tablets, etc.  Granted iPads may not be that common as instructional tools in many classrooms, but often times schools do have the money in their budgets to at least supply the classroom teacher with one to present learning in an exciting engaging fashion--something a textbook alone can never fully accomplish.  A teacher's imagination plus the support of an iPad linked to an LCD projector has the potential to fully motivate even the most reluctant students with ease.

Where does a teacher start in trying to find those key and inexpensive (or free) tools to support all students and especially those long-term English language learners as well as other struggling students?  Well, since a typical teacher's day has very limited to no free time in the day, it is hoped that this post will supply teachers with a few must have tools that are easy to use.  Use these sites as starting points and add to them as you go through the school year:)  NOTE:  our website ELL TEACHER PROS will be developing two new tabs on common core and technology.  It is still in the development stage but should be available in the next few weeks.

This site is from EDUCATION WORLD.  Subscribing to it is free and the information in it is current (there are of course many more sites, but this may be a good starting point especially for teachers who may still feel a but uneasy about how to get the most out of their lessons using technology).

INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY INTO THE CLASSROOM:  IT TAKES MORE THAN JUST HAVING COMPUTERS .   There are 19 internet activities here and all are great beginning points for both the novice and the veteran.  This blog post will address some of the ones that I have recommended as well as worked with before I became an instructional coach.

SPELLING--one of the best sites on the web for taking the pain out of trying to master English spelling is SPELLING CITY  (number 7 on the list).  Not only does it address spelling at any grade level or content area, it also offers sentence practice with the words being studied.  Students are presented with sets of scrambled words which must be rearranged using the word being studied correctly.  This offers some sentence structure practice.  Further, students have a variety of ways to master the definitions before they quiz themselves.  Lastly, for those who have done all the work, they can play games based on the words.  Students especially love this feature.  A computer lab would be good for this though I would not expect this to be a full period activity for mostl

If students' eyes glaze over at the thought of studying history, they will perk up with the use of the sites in numbers 8 and 11.  Number 8 focuses on key historical events which occurred on any given day.  So if it is March 15th, click here to find out what happened that day.  It could be a fun way to start a lesson with a direct tie-in to what is to be covered in class that day.  Number 11 I have recommended to history teachers--The Library of Congress.  Again, such tools can be used as instructional tools for the teacher in the lesson or for students doing research on a given topic. 

If science is the topic, number 16 would be a must-have for any science teacher (biology, astronomy, physics, chemistry).  NASA is the tool here and few students need to prodded to study Curiosity's adventures on Mars.  NASA also has tools for educators to use with their students, and, like all of the sites here, everything is free. 

Try some of these ideas out.  Your students will definitely appreciate your efforts:)

Denise

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HOW TO EFFECTIVELY GUIDE STUDENTS IN THE USE OF PINTEREST FOR THE CLASSROOM

With students of varying levels of English proficiency in most classrooms of the US, teachers are regularly looking for alternate ways for students to demonstrate understanding of subject matter.  Often times, traditional routes are taken such as posters, projects, writing, etc. which don't always fully reveal what ELLs especially know and how well.  Since group work is the usual venue for such activities, teachers are not often completely sure on how much the ELL actually knows since he is working within a more proficient group in English.  In such class settings, group "leaders" assign a simpler task to the ELL such as "artist."  Though talking does occur, the ELL does not often get much practice in developing academic skills in  reading, writing, and conducting research.  So, what is another option available for such students to provide proof positive to the teacher that they do fully grasp the key concepts of the lesson?

PINTEREST IN EDUCATION is a very creative and thoughtful tool to meet the bill.  The home site-PINTEREST-provides hundreds of visuals in over 30 categories, but this full version might overwhelm students.  In addition, materials may be added to boards ("pinned" or "repinned" if taken from another's board).  In the first  link, Tina Wahlert (an educational consultant), has compiled some helpful hints on how to properly work within the site (including how to spot spam).   Teachers may wish to spend some time studying the site on their own first.  With this approach, they will be able to see the ease how BOARDS are created and how to sort images (pictures, text, charts, articles, etc.) according topic. With each of the boards Ma. Wahlert has posted  links to the subject matter of the visual.  As with anything being tried for the first time, teachers must spend some time exploring the site and going through the same process they might eventually put their students through.

Teachers could then try building a board as a class (modeling).  The next step would be to have ELLs work with partners to create another one on a topic of interest to them (sports, books, movies, etc.).  Once teacher confidence in student ability to create a board is established, a teacher could have students (ELLs and others) develop subject boards as formal assessments on assigned subject matter.  So if a student is studying the water cycle, s/he could demonstrate his knowledge of the topic through pictures in the correct sequence along with URLs that add additional insight.  Though this would not be a lengthy report,  it would nonetheless confirm for the teacher that the ELL understands key concepts and content vocabulary.   ELLs would then have the grades for their work based on content and not on knowledge of English grammar (though important, it should not be the sole basis of the grade).

This is just one of many non-traditional assessment ideas available for teachers.  Students will definitely enjoy it since it taps creativity in a fun way.

Denise

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Teacher Advice On How To Devise Quality Homework Assignments

Here is a follow up on the last post on creating relevant homework assignments.  With another week or two of vacation time to go, there is time to reflect on ways to motivate students to want to do homework with the start of the new year:)

If teachers find practical applications of their lessons outside the classroom, they demonstrate to students that what they are learning does serve a purpose in their lives.  Further, such assignments need only take no more than 15 or so minutes.  If they go beyond that time frame, they will be overwhelming.  Imagine 6 separate homework assignments for 6 classes.  Now imagine 1 hour more or less for each.  This will cause students to "prioritize" in selecting those 1 or 2 assignments that they think they can manage in that time frame and not attempt any of the remaining ones. 

So after more realistic time frames, what else should be implemented to excite (not a typo here) students to truly want to complete their assigned tasks?  Tie homework to their lives.  As a personal example with my own two children when they were young, I would tie percentages to shopping.  They had their allowance and wanted to stretch it so they tied percentages to discounts.  Twenty-five percent discount on the dollar meant more money in their pockets.  In such a simple activity, they became more consumer savvy shoppers and honed their math skills.  As a classroom English/ELD teacher, I made every effort to tie all classwork from the day's lessons to areas of interest for them (a huge motivator).  When we were studying To Kill a Mockingbird, we looked at how discrimination is still an issue in their lives and how to fight it.  When studying Brave New World, they wanted to explore cloning so we looked at how human cloning might be received by different segments of society (religions, military, scientists, clones themselves, and people who couldn't have children on their own).  This lead to student-generated research based presentations on their chosen group's viewpoints on cloning.  The list goes on and on when teachers involve students in the assignments.  This is the buy-in for them and inspires them to do the assignments that they generated.  Time frames were determined by both the students and myself with ongoing monitoring by me (regular checks for progress).

TEACHER RESOURCES ON QUALITY HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS --supplies more information on how to tweak assignments to generate student buy-in.  Tie homework to their interests and it will be completed.  Just assign more questions from the text and the work will most likely not be done by the majority (especially if they are ELLs). 

MORE SAMPLES OF QUALITY HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS---offers more examples of original homework ideas for students.

Denise

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