I seriously hate keeping up with due dates. It is my least favorite part of being a teacher – by far! In this episode of the All Star Planning Podcast I kind of grapple with the idea of turning in assignments on time and collecting late work in my high school chemistry classroom.
Should I Collect Late Work from my Students?
Collecting late work is something that I have grappled with for all of my teaching career. I always want to help my students and give them the benefit of the doubt. I know that they are people, just like me, and things come up. Sometimes they really do forget their homework. Maybe a dog actually did eat their homework (like the time my dog ate the homework that I brought home to grade). But I always try to be flexible with my due dates.
The reason it’s really a struggle for me is because I want my students to get value out of the work that we do. If a student turns in work weeks after the due date, the assignment doesn’t really have the same amount of value as it did when I first assigned it. I mean, think of it this way. If I give a few assignments on lab safety in the first week of school, and a student turns in the assignment weeks after the due dates have passed I’m not sure that the assignment is worth much.
I really need my assignments to hold value for a long amount of time, so I try to only give assignments with a good amount of longevity.
How Many Points Should I Deduct for Assignments Turned in After the Due Dates?
This one is really hard to judge! I have had a policy of ten points per day for assignments turned in after the due date. But I honestly, don’t really enforce it. I told you – this is my least favorite part of being a teacher. Trying to figure this out has been an ongoing struggle for me.
I don’t grade every single day in order to keep my workload down. I will sit and have a grading block. For the days that I don’t grade, I use this stamp to put the date I received the paper from the students. This way I know how long it has been since the due date has passed that I received the paper and how many points I should deduct (if any).
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