Why I Don't Like IXL

I'm not in the classroom.  I'm retired.  Why would my opinion on IXL matter?  

I still work with students as a tutor.  Sometimes, my students ask me to help them with their IXL assignments.  There are three things I wish math teachers would consider before assigning IXL.

1) First, IXL promotes the lowest level math practice.  I understand why some teachers find this useful - you can choose very specifically the skill you want students to practice.  But IXL does not provide practice in critical or creative thinking or in problem solving, simply rote skills.

2) Second, IXL's scoring works against the student who struggles with basic facts.  If students make errors they lose more points than when they get problems correct.  The program punishes students for mistakes.  What does that say about the value of learning from our mistakes?  And since working out the problem is often not encouraged, all students have is the "one right answer" which eliminates again the importance of the process in the skills we teach.

Also related to the scoring algorithm, students spend an inordinate amount of time trying to achieve the cut off score set by their teacher, practicing the same mistakes over and over.  Instead of encouraging students, this is demoralizing and discouraging.  Our goal should be to increase students' interest in math, illustrating for them the beauty, the patterns, the connections between the concepts we teach.  How might we provide worthwhile practice that supports students?

3) Both parents and students report that the support that IXL does provide in math, the explanations are not helpful, not clear.  The last thing we need to promote is unclear instructions on how to perform basic arithmetic.

Bottom line, IXL is the opposite of what we know is empowering in math education.  Need more evidence?  Check out Common Sense Media Parent reviews - over 600 - with an average of 1 star.  There are also over 2000 student reviews on that site - averaging 1 star out of five.  

What can we do instead?  

Which one doesn't belong?

A)  Know your students and their home lives.  If they don't have support at home, don't assign homework on which they cannot be successful.  Assign a few (5 to 10) review problems instead.

B) Check for understanding in your lessons to make sure that students are ready for the homework you want to assign.  Don't assign homework over something that most of the class is not ready for.  Instead, build in regular review.

C) If students are ready for homework over the day's lesson, why not give 5 to 8 problems instead of 20 to 30?  Ask students to show their work.  If you are virtual use @Classkick, @PearDeck, or @Nearpod.  There are other tools as well - these are the ones with which I am most familiar.

D) As often as possible, differentiate homework. If students have already mastered the lesson, they don't need the same practice that students who have not achieved mastery yet.

Getting ready to MUNCH!

It's been a busy week!

Tomorrow my A Day students take their Absolute Value test.  I am hoping for a great display of mastery.  Our class averages on the last test were really quite good ... and I've challenged students to top those scores!

Typically homework on test days is an opportunity for an extension of some sort.  I'm asking my students to read the latest post on Math Munch: Digital Art, Mastermind, and Pythagoras.  The post is rich with art, games, and mathematics!

Here is the reflection sheet I've assigned them.  I look forward to reading their posts on Edmodo as they converse with their classmates about their munching experience!

homework - again

Grading homework is not for me!  How could I possibly keep up?

The school I am in doesn't want us to grade homework ... or at least they don't want it to adversely affect the grades of students who have mastered the concepts.

I'm OK with not grading and with homework not adversely affecting grades.

So ... is homework a non-issue?  Should I even assign it?  What is the value of homework?  This is my dilemma.

We have 90 minute classes - every other day.  I love the 90 minutes ... I don't like the every other day.  I am certain that my students encounter a neuralizer (http://meninblackneuralizer.com/) in between our classes.  I know my students are capable; they don't all have short term memory dysfunction;  and yet, several struggle to remember concepts from day to day.  Our curriculum is tight; we are required to teach new concepts in each lesson; there is little time for review.

So ... I envision 15 minutes of homework ... maybe 10 problems as the "perfect" solution.  It seems to me that a little practice in between classes would be beneficial.  And to no one's surprise, the students getting A's and B's are doing that little bit of practice consistently.  But the students who need the extra practice, for whom the extra effort could make a difference between failing and passing - those are the students who don't do homework.

I've tried various incentives.   Exact homework problems show up on quizzes - and completed homework can be used as notes on quizzes.  If homework is completed, students may retake quizzes and tests for up to 70 points.  I've tried consequences.  I record whether or not homework is complete in my gradebook - so that parents can see the pattern of work completed.  I've assigned students detention to work on homework.  But in the end, homework is not valued by students; the effort seems all mine to make sure it is done; and the students who might benefit the most are the most difficult to convince to do the work.

Is homework necessary?

Homework: Bane or Bliss!?!

Clearly "Bane" at my house!  I look forward to reading this week's posts on homework.  Homework has been a challenge this year and I don't know yet how best to handle it.  I just know ... I don't want to grade it!


So current status:

We give a very small amount of homework with each lesson.  Students have class every other day.  So 2 to 12 problems in 48 hours seems very small.

1. The homework we give is generally practice over that day's lesson.
2. We don't grade homework at all.  I provide solutions; students check their own work; and I typically answer any questions they might have which is most often very few.
3. I do record if homework was completed - but there are no points or percentage assigned to it.
4. The catch ... if we give a Knowledge Check at the beginning of class, completed homework counts 30% of the quiz.  Yes, that means if students get all correct solutions on the Knowledge Check but do not complete the homework, I record a 70 for their quiz.

When we started this requirement it sounded like a good idea.  The 30% was meant to spur students to complete the homework.  It has worked with some students - but not enough.  And of course the A student who really doesn't need the extra practice is penalized if they don't do the work; and the struggling students are the ones who resist doing homework the most - and they miss out on the "free" 30%.

OK ... so differentiation ... I've tried assigning "extra" problems and asking students to choose a subset of the assignment.  The element of choice is welcomed by my students.  But since we create all of our own materials, creating extra problems is not always profitable for me.  Occasionally I assign practice from the textbooks.  We very rarely use the books in class.  The plain problems match our curriculum, but much of the work in context does not.

So, bottom line, I have not done an adequate job of differentiating homework.  Hence ... I'm eager to hear what my online colleagues are doing!

Student Math Class Notebooks

I've been giving notebooks a lot of thought in the past week or two.  As a principal I encouraged teachers to keep their notes, lesson plans, and ideas online.  I tried to organize my online folders to keep information accessible to anyone who might need it.  So for the last 12 years I have not taught students how to organize a notebook.

I want my students' notebook to be a study guide and practice book ... one-stop shopping so to speak!  I envision the possibility of needing one simple spiral notebook per six weeks.  That sounds like a lot but if we put all of our notes, class practice, and homework in it, we could potentially use most of a typical 100 page notebook.  (If we use one per six weeks, we will store the completed notebooks in the classroom to serve as references for future units and testing).

My plan is to tape each six weeks' set of standards in the front of the notebook along with a list of the key vocabulary.  I am debating on the need for a Table of Contents.  Instead, I envision our starting each class period on a fresh page - clearly labeled with the date, standards addressed, and textbook reference pages.

On the last two pages of the notebook, students will keep a record of their graded work.

I plan to use notebook foldables for taking class notes.  The foldables will be useful study guides for unit tests, exams, and state tests.  In addition to our class notes, students will complete practice problems in the notebook ... showing detailed work to provide examples when they are working on their own.

Homework practice will be just that ... practice.  I don't plan to grade daily homework.  Instead, I plan to give notebook quizzes.  A quiz might have 5 to 10 problems on it.  Each quiz problem will be taken from homework assignments and even classroom examples.  For students who followed instructions and completed their work, they can use their notebooks to copy the work.  If students did not do the homework, they can still complete the quiz - they just don't have the support they might need from their notebook.

Over the next two weeks, I'll be consulting with other teachers if they use a structured approach to notebooking ... and I'll be scouring blogs as well ... always looking for the "best" idea!

What have I missed?