Confronting the Missing Assignments Monster

Missing assignments have long been a problem at our school—students choosing for a variety of reasons to just not turn in their schoolwork. It's a frustrating, vexing conundrum that saps time and energy from our learning environment. I've thought about and researched the problem ad nauseam; while there is no quick-fix solution, I've drafted a document that will hopefully help rein in some of the rampant missing assignments that plague our school.

Please don't feed
the Missing Assignments Monster

The document I'm sharing evolved from many hours of discussions among the teachers at our school—during team meetings, department meetings, staff meetings, etc. The purpose of this document is to help clarify the shared expectations and responsibilities among students, parents, and teachers at our school so that the business of learning can rightfully be the focus of our efforts and energy. While this document alone cannot eliminate every missing assignment, it is one piece of a complex systemic puzzle that seeks to rebalance the learning equation in our school.

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Confronting the Missing Assignments Monster

As students become more independent in their middle school years, missing assignments can sometimes become a problem. It is important that students, parents, and teachers work together to ensure that missing assignments do not compromise our learning time and become a persistent educational challenge.

Students usually have missing assignments for one or more of the following basic reasons:

• Not using class time wisely and/or not finishing/completing assignments (distractions, socializing)
• Not finishing assignments at home (“I don’t have any homework” excuse)
• Not turning in assignments because of forgetfulness (planning, organization)
• Not turning in assignments because of avoidance (confusion, embarrassment, power struggle)
• Not making up assignments after being absent (out of sight, out of mind)

For Students: What do I do if I have missing assignments?

Missing assignments do not go away magically—you must apply energy and work to eliminate them:

• Be honest about missing assignments with your parents and teachers—do not lie, make excuses, or avoid your responsibility.
• Turn in any missing assignments immediately, even if they are not done—incomplete is always better than missing.
• Ask your teachers specific questions that will help you finish a missing assignment.
• Evaluate your use of class time:
• Are you distracted by your friends and socializing too much?
• How will you reduce distractions and minimize socializing?
• Create and follow a homework routine:
• Do you have a regular time/place to do your homework that is free from distractions?
• Do you check the online grade system at least once per week?
• Do you review the online weekly notes every Monday and throughout the school week?
• Practice organization and develop your organizational skills:
• Do you use your planner in every class, every day to write down learning goals, assignments, homework, due dates, etc.?
• Do you use study hall time well every week to help stay up-to-date with your schoolwork?

For Parents: What do I do if my child has missing assignments?

Missing assignments are first and foremost your child’s responsibility, so before emailing your child’s teacher:

• Monitor the online grade system and the middle level online weekly notes regularly, at least once per week, to identify and discuss missing assignments quickly.
• If your child has a missing assignment, ask your child why he/she did not turn in this assignment—ask for honesty and do not allow excuses.
• Encourage your child to take ownership for the missing assignment and require your child to turn it in the very next school day.
• Have a serious and heartfelt discussion with your child about using class time wisely and avoiding distracting situations.
• Help your child develop good homework routines and regularly practice organizational skills to mitigate missing assignment problems.
• Ask your child “learning” questions at home—encourage your child to teach you about what she or he is learning in classes at school.

Sometimes it feels as if you and your child’s teachers are stressing more about missing assignments and working harder than your child. In these cases, perhaps a dose of harsh reality is needed, especially as your child approaches high school. Allow your child to “fail,” but also to work through both the natural and your established consequences of missing assignments—be firm, be fair, be supportive, but avoid repeatedly bailing out your child if he or she is not being responsible.

For some students, the intrinsic motivation to get assignments done is not there yet. Do not teach your child that incomplete assignments are a reasonable choice or an acceptable option. You should give your child room to navigate their work independently; however, if they are not being successful, they need reminders (and follow-through) about established rewards and consequences. Start with both small and large goals: "If you have no missing assignments this week, then..." and "If you have less than two missing assignments this trimester, then..."

Many years of teacher observation and experience tell us that the best way for students to avoid missing assignments is to use class time wisely every day.

Please don’t feed the Missing Assignments Monster—stay focused on learning...

Delusion of Grades

"The purpose of school is to get good grades," declared one of my students recently. The delusion of grades strikes again.

National Academies:
21st Century Domains of Competence

Online gradebooks prominently display A's, B's, C's immediately upon student/parent login. Digital D&F reports are emailed to school staff weekly. Paper D&F reports are mailed to parents at the middle of each trimester. Athletic eligibility is dependent on grades. Honor rolls, 504 plans, parent conferences—all are grade-focused. At every turn, grades dictate the academic measure of our children.

In the face of never-ending grades, my quest to be a progressive educator who values and prioritizes learning over grades often feels like a losing battle. Grades are confounding—they distract students, parents, and teachers from creating authentic learning spaces and from having meaningful conversations about learning. We are deluding ourselves with grades...

How can we counterbalance grade delusion in the classroom? While I am still required to keep a traditional gradebook, there are a number of things I've done to de-emphasize grades while facilitating better conversations about learning:

• I write only concise and useful feedback on student papers, but no grades—grades are entered into the electronic gradebook,
• I create holistic Help Guides and Standards of Excellence that outline what high quality learning looks like in the classroom—students use these to edit and check their work,
• I let my students see that I am a lifelong learner, and most importantly,
• I strive to have one-on-one conversations about learning with my students every day… while they are actually learning.

Despite these practices, much work remains to overcome grade delusion.

If we continue to prioritize grades over learning, we delude ourselves into thinking we can create environments of intrinsic motivation and lifelong learning in our schools. Grades reinforce a system of external rewards and extrinsic motivation; they frequently disenfranchise and ultimately disempower students.

The National Academies has developed a set of guidelines that emphasize deeper learning and transferable knowledge as part of a student's 21st century skill set. These skills have been preliminarily organized into three domains of competence—cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal—as a way to help define education in lifelong terms. Our conversations within schools, among students, between teachers and parents, and across the wider community need more focus on these competencies and deeper learning.

To teach for deeper learning, the National Academies guidelines recommends that instruction follow these research-based teaching methods:

• Use multiple and varied representations of concepts and tasks
• Encourage elaboration, questioning, and explanation
• Engage learners in challenging tasks
• Teach with examples and cases
• Prime student motivation
• Use “formative” assessments

Happily, I don't see any mention of grades in that list…

To break the cycle of grade delusion, perhaps we adults can teach ourselves to ask students, "What did you learn today?" and have it stimulate rich and compelling conversations.

Learning Principles and Understanding

Our school district has adopted the following three learning principles:

1. Effectively accommodating a learner's preferred learning style, prior knowledge, and interests enhances learning.
2. Learners reveal and demonstrate their understanding when they can apply, transfer, and adapt their learning to new and novel situations.
3. Learning is purposeful and contextual.

After dissecting the statements and reflecting a bit, I interpret these principles as follows:

• Principle #1: Empathy—teachers demonstrate empathy for the learning diversity of their students.
• Principle #2: Lifelong Learning—teachers facilitate learning that leads to deep, enduring understanding.
• Principle #3: I Can—teachers create a meaningful environment where students believe that "I can learn, think, do, etc."

While still part of our school conversation, I am beginning to sense (thankfully) that standardized data no longer dominates our thinking. Courageous conversations which focus on learning and understanding are being explored and embraced once again. As part of our never-ending Hero's Journey, we seek insight and transformation, "Arriving where we started and knowing the place for the first time."

What learning principles guide and accompany you on your journey?