Last Nights Homework, Todays Equity:

Using a Homework Feedback Form to Guide Classroom Discussion

Sue Zielinski, a teacher at St. Pauls School, gave me the idea to use a Google Form to

track students homework completion. During the Winter Term of Precalculus Honors, I piloted a

homework feedback form. On the course website, students could follow a link to a Google Form

that would ask them to input their name, the HW assignment, how long they spent, which

exercises they struggled with, and any questions or comments they had. Their responses

populated a spreadsheet that I could look at before class. Some students regularly filled out the

form, but most did not. I found that the students who did fill out the form benefited because I

could tailor class to meet their specific needs. So, in the Spring Term, I made filling out the

homework form mandatory by attaching points to it. Once students got the hang of it, near

perfect participation was attained. I emphasized to students that the most important part of the

homework form was the comments section, where they were encouraged to ask mathematical

questions, give an update on their progress, or give me feedback about the course.

I am going to continue using the homework form because it has the following benefits:

Makes it more likely that students will meaningfully engage with the homework: the

homework form brings accountability. In order to adequately fill it out, students must

have done all the required problems and checked and annotated their solutions before

class time.
Allows me to prepare lessons that better target students misunderstandings: The structure

of the class sessions is first doing a warm-up that reviews that concepts from the previous

nights homework, then doing an exploration of a new topic. I decide what to do for a

warm-up based on what I read in the homework form the morning before class.

Sometimes, students have questions that are quick and easy to answer. I can either reply
 to them in an email, have a quick conversation with them when they come into class, or,

for good questions, start off class by posing them to the group. Next year, I will involve

the students in the question and answering process by incorporating Piazza.

Gives me a record of each students progress and study habits, which helped immensely

in writing progress reports: Student did badly on a particular topic on the test? I can go

back and see whether or not the student did that particular homework assignment and

how long he/she spent on it, and what questions he/she asked.
The process of writing questions in the homework form helps students learn: this is

supported in the literature (Schmitz 2011, NCTM 2000). Also, I have received feedback

from students saying that the process of trying to write a question in the homework form

helped them reach a particular understanding.

Perhaps most importantly, by giving students a chance to reflect at home and

communicate with me directly, I increased equity in the classroom. As this is a more

nuanced point, I will do my best to argue it here.

Roughly speaking, a math class is equitable if female students and students of color have the

opportunity to be just successful as white or Asian male students. Some features of equitable

classrooms are:

1. Use of high demand tasks

2. Modeling of high level thinking

3. Providing opportunity to justify and explain thinking

4. Access to resources

5. Clear expectations

6. Providing opportunities to share work publicly

7. Answering questions with questions

(Perry 2013).
 Classroom discussions support (2), (3), (6), and (7). But, following Smith 2011,

discussions should not be show and tell. They should be properly anticipated and sequenced to

promote the most learning possible. Using the homework form allows me to pose good

discussion questions (and give credit to the students who helped me generate them) and give

students a chance to articulate their reasoning to the class.

I give students think time to work on a problem and figure out how to express their

reasoning. While they are working and discussing, I move around the room, offering hints and

encouragement, and asking students to explain their reasoning. Once most of the class is finished

with the task and ready to have a class-wide discussion, I apologize to the people who are still

working and remind everyone that math is not a race: when we do problems in class, some

people wont always have time to finish and that is okay. I warm call on students to participate

in the discussion. Usually, I say something like I saw you doing something interesting, can you

share with the class? So, I compliment them and then invite them to share, knowing that they

will have something to say. I do my best to bring the less confident students into the discussions.

I make a point of encouraging students who got things wrong to share too. Everybody makes

mistakes, and we learn when we think about why we made the mistakes.

The homework form guides my decision of what to do for a warm-up or class discussion.

It also supports equitable features (4) and (5). If I know how a student is doing because Im

seeing a daily update from him or her, I am in a position to better help him or her access

resources. When I make a suggestion to the class about a particular resource, I can make eye

contact with that particular student and get a nod to make sure my message has been understood.

Clear expectations are built into the homework form because students the homework
expectations are written in the homework form. And, if an expectation is unclear, students can

privately send me a message using the homework for to ask for a clarification.

Resources
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). (2000). Principles and standards for

school mathematics. Reston, VA.

Perry, Ayanna. (2013). Equitable Spaces in Early Career Teachers' Mathematics Classrooms.

North Carolina State University.

Schmitz, B., & Perels, F. (2011). Self-monitoring of self-regulation during math homework

behaviour using standardized diaries. Metacognition and Learning, 6(3), 255-273.

Smith, M. S., & Stein, M. (2011). Five Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics

Discussions. Reston, VA: The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Rachel Lotan on Building Equitable Classrooms. Youtube. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=6b-WnJ3c2lo>