I have started a new tradition (assuming it lasts) of letting students work on that night's homework while the homework for that day is checked. Mrs. Nolan and I like the system so far. First, it reduces the workload for our overworked students. Second, it is a quiet time where I am sure that students are actually reading the material themselves and attempting to answer the questions themselves. This is so important. On parents' night I talked about our effort as a team to reward and encourage effort above sheer ability. I think that students want to make the effort but too much HW curtails their attempt and makes them take shortcuts. This is a little way to pay into that system of rewarding effort.
SJ.
