Teacher Tips Dealing with Late Homework

If you are a teacher, one of the problems that you could encounter is dealing with late homework. You could approach it using the carrot or the stick method.

The carrot method is about giving rewards or merits, while the stick method is about giving sanctions or demerits. Studies about these two methods however, has shown that the carrot method was more effective in dealing with late homework.

To assist you in collecting late assignments, here are some teacher tips you could adapt.

*Give additional points for early homework submission 

You can reward additional points to students who could submit earlier. You could assign a specific point per day, like two-point merits per day, or one-point merit per day. You could also include designated points for the submission in your total score for the homework.

Below is an example: 

Submission – 10%
Content – 60%
Originality – 10%
Presentation – 10%
Overall impression– 10%

If the student does not submit on time, then he has lost already 10% of his score. Before you implement this method however, you have to inform the class about the criteria first. You can modify the categories and the corresponding percentages to fit your subject.

*Talk to the student to know the reason why 

If the student is still unable to submit his homework on time, even with the merits given, then you may want to look for the root cause. There may be a more serious psychological reason, like lack of attention, which your student is experiencing.

A heart-to-heart talk could reveal the true reasons of his late homework submissions. There could be other vital reasons, like the student being a slow learner. In this case, you may want to tutor him until he could catch up. By knowing about the root cause, you can proceed in resolving the problem appropriately.

*Talk to the parents 

In a few situations that the student does not open up, you can arrange a meeting with his parents. They could help significantly in determining if the problem lies at home or not. Sometimes, the true cause stems from the students’ home environment.

If the student’s home is the source of the problem, then you could talk to the parents so they could cooperate in providing a conducive environment so he could accomplish his homework successfully. You could adapt these teaching tips, or implement other methods in collecting late homework.

Your method should depend on your students’ learning abilities, and on the type of subject you teach. It is best to determine the root cause of late homework submissions, so you would be able to solve the problem permanently.

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