Better Late Than Never

I knew when I was in the 7^th grade that I wanted to be a Mathematics teacher. I knew I would need to go to college in order to make that happen. I knew I wanted to understand what it was I was going to teach so I would need to pay attention in class and do my homework. And it worked. I am a high school Mathematics teacher. Success!

To be totally honest, I don't recall doing that much homework in high school. There are only a couple of instances that I can recall doing homework outside of the school day; studying for a Spanish exam with my brother, and trying to read "Beowulf" in the dimmed lights of the auditorium during play rehearsal. The other stuff must have gotten done. I did graduate. I just have no recollection of doing it.

But I'll admit it, I'm not a stickler for due dates. I never had difficulty meeting them, but that was only because of the threat of getting a 0% on something and I wanted good grades. If I could turn in assignments late with no penalty, I may have taken advantage of it a few times. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have made a habit out of it. But I may have chosen friends or family a few more times than I did.

It is my hope that when I or any other teacher assigns work to students that there is instructional value in doing it. Often times it is to practice a newly acquired skill or review an old skill in preparation for an upcoming lesson. Both of which seem reasonable. But if there is instructional value in doing the work before it is due, in most cases I would suspect that there is also instructional value in doing the work after it was originally due. Is there as much value in doing the work after it was due? Perhaps not as much. But I doubt very much that there is none.

The fact of the matter is that if due dates and not accepting late work are supposed to teach students to be responsible then by the time they get to high school they should all be turning their work in on time. But they don't. Many do. But many do not. The ones that don't still need to practice the skills, even if they do so after the fact. So I stopped enforcing due dates in my classes.

Here's what happened. Students would, from time to time, fail to complete an assignment by its due date. Many of them would make up the work without being reminded to do so. Many of them would make up the work after being reminded to do so. And only a handful made a habit out of not completing work on time. It was, at worst, still better than before.

Reminding students to complete missing work sometimes happens with a quick email. Other times with a quick conversation during class. For the students who require a bit more prodding, I take time during class to talk with them about their work, ask if everything is o.k., and start a conversation about using their time strategically; i.e. budgeting their time in ways that help them get what they need and want. That, after all, is the life skill; looking at what you have to do, looking at what you already have going on, and then prioritizing what matters most to you.