Fail

You may remember from this post that I started a homework competition with my classes for this past nine weeks. Every day that everyone in an individual class turned their homework in, their class got a point. As you can see from the picture above, it only happened three times in 2nd and 3rd, an impressive 4 times in 5th, and an even more impressive zero times in 3rd.

Yea, that motivation for doing homework didn't go quite as planned.

I will say I had a lot fewer missing assignments because a lot of students did really try to not be that person who didn't do their homework in a class. There were many days and classes where only 1 or 2 people didn't do their homework.

This nine weeks I decided to change it just a little bit. We just finished a unit on percents so that is somewhat fresh in their minds. Instead of everyone having to turn in their homework to get a point, the class has to have the highest percent of homework turned in. I couldn't do the class that turns in the most because my class sizes are really uneven and one class would loose everyday even if everyone turned it in.

They are still trying to get their minds wrapped around this change. The other day they got upset when they heard someone say, "I don't have my homework," but excited when I reminded them that doesn't necessarily mean they loose.

So far it has taken the pressure off of those 1 or 2 in a class who don't do their homework and takes away everyone yelling at them for being a slacker. Which is a good and bad thing.

And, it's easy to say, "Look how close you guys were to winning today. If one more person would have turned in their homework, your class would have won." I'm hoping that will help take away the overwhelming feeling of needing everyone to turn it in to win because a lot of people in 3rd period got really discouraged last nine weeks and just gave up even trying because there was always that one person who just wouldn't do their homework.

We didn't even have a winner for last nine weeks because no class got to at least 5 days where everyone did their homework. This nine weeks there will definitely be a winner since a class is getting a point everyday.

The winning class will get to vote on having an ice cream party, getting to use electronics for a day (aka phones), or going outside. I feel like those are pretty good prizes. Also, students can't have more than 4 missing assignments or they don't get to participate in the party. If they don't contribute to the winning, they can't have the fun for everyone else's hard work.

Depending on how this goes, next nine weeks I might have a party for students who turn in all of their homework on time...or at least all but three assignments...we'll see...I'll keep you posted.