Homework Apps - transforming my life :-)

Show My Homework works really well for DS1. He has dyspraxia and struggles to remember things. So it's a lifesaver for him.

It's only great when it works though - it was down nationally (I was told by school so assume true?) for a couple of weeks in September. And a couple of DS's teachers have repeatedly failed to put the homework on there until the day or evening before it was due in, causing a mad panic when DS has checked and spotted it last minute! Yes, it was mentioned in class beforehand probably, but he relies on it appearing on the app asap afterwards so doesn't write it down (he also can't write very fast at all).

I'm a teacher at my own kids' school. I absolutely love SMHW. DS (Year 7) is dyspraxic, and highly anxious. The fact that his homework is put there by his teacher takes the stress away for him at the end of the lesson. As a parent, I can see exactly what he has to do.

As a teacher, I only set reading or revision homework. I love that you can link to revision materials without printing tons of sheets for them to lose.

Big thumbs up from me. Big thumbs down to teachers who don't use it, I hate that. I tell the kids I teach if it's not on SMHW, it doesn't officially exist, whatever I might have said in lesson.

Issabella - he may be able to but would need explicit teaching on how to record it himself in detail enough to know what he had to do! Also be given time to do it rather than the usual end of lesson “bye homework is .... and due ....”.

yournotkiddingme, do you think your child would cope as well with the ability to record his homework on his own electronic device?

Personally, I think if you've missed the lesson and can still do the homework (without catching up missed work) the homework wasn't really extending the learning done in class. If you can catch up the missed work (usually by catching up with a classmate in school) you can see the teacher to see what the homework was too.

youarenotkiddingme
It's brilliant for some students. I teach a few like your DC. Ony boy's mum loves that she cam manage from a distance.

I like certain features of it.

There are benefits of the systems, on balance i don't think they outweigh some of thr negatives.
Like for me students worked out fairly quickly that I'm fair but don't take any crap
e.g. i couldn't do my homework because YOU didn't upload a spare etc doesn't wash with me. If i have an electronic copy then i'll stick it on but if it's a print resource i don't
Or i'll message mrs pops at 8pm thr day before thr deadline saying i can't do it/don't understand. Hmm no. You've had almost a week.
But when there's real tech issues or I've forgotten to upload (rare but happens) then I always alter the deadline for them.

What annoys me is it takes longer to get homeworl routines settled with a system vs without as there's more start of year piss taking from students and parents

For my ds its a brilliant app. He has an ASC and severe problems with executive functioning as well as illegible writing.

He no longer has the anxiety of trying to get someone to write HW in for him whilst worrying that’ll make him late for next lesson.

Being a one step action to check and do homework (click on app!) I’ve been able to teach him independence and organisation and he is really good now.

He even had the for-thought to message a teacher at the weekend who set HW the day he was off to find out what the Poster (had abbreviated title) was.

Ok it’s was the weekend and he had no reply! But he’s doing things for himself and forward panning - and I never thought I’d see the day

There may be a minority like the OP's child who is now managing with it due to parents taking at least partial responsibility for the organisation of it. And I'm not convinced how much that helps long term. It simply takes more of the responsibility for a child's learning away from the child him/herself.
This.

It doesn't make a massive difference other than increased workload.

However, it's good for the following things:

• setting multiple choice quizzes which self mark and can be used with later years (if designed well. If they are poirly designed they are a waste of time)
• being able to set an extended task and attach links to help ig students get stuck
• being able to upload loads of revision material for ks4/5 that thry can use independently rather than photocopying loads when only 50% used it

And of course none of this helps when you get 2 y8 homeworks as ds had this week - both given on friday, due in on wednesday - make a working model volcano and to finish off his concrete light for dt - his first set of lights were blown up by the dt teacher trying them without checking there was a resistor in them or something so they had to be redone - and although he brought home some wires and bulbs and bits to do them, we have thise at home - what we don't have is the concrete. Couldn't go out to get it due to the snow, school is closed today and if it opens tomorrow and he can get it, it's not going to be set in time... And I am not going out today as the roads are so bad... Bless him he has tried realky hard with this project and has tried staying after school or in break times but sometimes things seem cursed not to pan out easily!

Dd reckons the kids who never did their homework are still not doing it

I found that to be the case too. All it has done is give the teachers an extra admin task and some students an excuse not to do it. There may be a minority like the OP's child who is now managing with it due to parents taking at least partial responsibility for the organisation of it. And I'm not convinced how much that helps long term. It simply takes more of the responsibility for a child's learning away from the child him/herself.

As an aside, does anyone work in a school where this policy has been added and they have been allocated time to do it?
Nope.
It's just an extra task to take responsibility away from students who we expect to ge grade 8s, do a levels and get to uni but who have parents who think we should upload aĺl but the answers online.

I keep it mininal. Aka.
'Write 2 analytical paragraphs answering thi's question: How does Priestley present Birling in Act 1?'
Or
'Complete poetry revision grids. Electronic copy attached'

I've explained it in class, given material in class so I'm not spending ages writing loads (after all, I had great homework rates before a system was introduced). Funnily enough once I get past thr start of the year rubbish, people just get on with it.

On thr rare occasion I've put something on late (more than within 24 hours of the lesson but nornally it's on that night), I extend the deadline by a day.

Ha - nope, we're all on the very minimum PPA time. I think they'd laugh at the mere suggestion. You're right though, it is an extra admin task.
Do all our own photocopying at our place too, there's no repro person.

As an aside, does anyone work in a school where this policy has been added and they have been allocated time to do it? I must spend 40-50 mins a week putting homework online, so by my reckoning I should be getting an additional PPA lesson to do it.

Badbadbunny
The teacher should have uploaded it.

But a student is more than caapable of organising themselves to complete a task issued in class with resources given to them.

I have major issues with an increasing culture (of which online homework platforms are part if it - hence my irritation) where schools are increasingly allowing students to take minimal responsibility for their learning and progress. Wasted y7-9? Don't worry we'll give you a reduced ks4 timetable to catch up english and maths. Pissed about in y10? It's fine, staff will stay back and sort your work out with you. Not bothered working in class and are underperforming? We'll put you into intervention. Students missing homework deadlines and losing sheets? Don't worry, the teacher should spend twice the time setting homework in order to duplicate what they've done in class to an online system so that you can start it thr nighy before it's due, get stuck and send a message to the teacher at 8pm saying you're stuck and then when you've not done your homework your parent can write a note saying 'timmy asked for help but didn't get it'.

OMG at teachers being publicly ranked by amount of homework set. Nothing about quality there!

So raise your concerns to your head teacher if you have problems with it. No point in just doing your own thing as some kind of protest

1. I have raised my concerns about thr way some parents are highly unreasonable about it.
2. What part of 'i am very good at using thr system' translates to 'doing my own thing in protest'?

IsabellaDMC You are right on so many tbings.
you need the flexibility to change the homework based on how the children got on with the work in the lesson. I wouldn't just plough on with a task in a lesson if the students were struggling, I'd change tack, or do more examples or a million other things. I need to be able to do the same with homework if it is to be effective.
This.

I upload homework last thing the same day, but occasionally that might be 7 or 8pm. Students are told in the lesson and expected to do it regardless, and it is never due in the next day so there is plenty of time for them to get it done.
This. People going all 'you should do it in the lesson' would probably be the first to whine that 'DC didn't understand a key concept for the homework because they say the teacher is too busy ignoring them on the computer'.
What I can't be doing with is the parents who say "but SMH wasn't clear enough".
This. SMH and similar platforms are there as a log to students etc. The instructions on SMH need only be the same as thr instructions for homework pre-tech platform.
Well, no. Because I went through the task in detail in the lesson, told the students to highlight the work that was required and offered the opportunity for them to ask questions if they didn't understand. I'll be damned if I then spend another 20 minutes typing up what was said simply because little Jonny cba to pay attention.
This x100

Online platforms can be great.
Some parents/students seem to think that thr existence of an online platform means the teacher should spoon feed in class, the write word for word what was said in class, nd have it uploaded early for parent convenience (sod teaching sequences), then have spare copies of worksheets etc (one parent even said their DC wouldn't have a detention because I had failed to explain terms in the homework. The concepts were in the child's exercise book. At 14 it is not my problem if they choose to take poor notes. Parent felt I should upload my powerpoints and lesson material!)

99% of my students know my line on homework but boy did it take longer to get therr when we have an online platform vs not having one.

We (staff) get a monthly email to all staff with SMH data, ranking which teachers have set the most homework. There is a target to meet.
It feels a bit arbitrary tbh.

DDs school don’t have the app, all seems to work fine without it and a I am blissfully unaware of most of her homework until the odd occasion when she chooses to ask for resources or materials.

I know a teacher at a school that uses SMHW and she says the downside is the SMT at her school don’t use it for the benefit for the pupils but to get data on what teachers are setting for homework and there seems to be some sort of sanction for teachers who don’t set homework even if they feel the class need a break for a week etc, there is little room for discretion and adaptation and when used in this way it can cause problems with homework that spans several weeks such as a project as whilst it may appear in SMHW for that entire period depending on the metrics it may not work for the school’s targets so again another area it can work against our lovely teachers who know their class and what will work best for them. I appreciate so don’t have the full picture but this is one angle that was explained to me.

Setting homework in advance isn't always a good thing. Planning homework is good, but you need the flexibility to change the homework based on how the children got on with the work in the lesson. I wouldn't just plough on with a task in a lesson if the students were struggling, I'd change tack, or do more examples or a million other things. I need to be able to do the same with homework if it is to be effective.

I upload homework last thing the same day, but occasionally that might be 7 or 8pm. Students are told in the lesson and expected to do it regardless, and it is never due in the next day so there is plenty of time for them to get it done. What I can't be doing with is the parents who say "but SMH wasn't clear enough". Well, no. Because I went through the task in detail in the lesson, told the students to highlight the work that was required and offered the opportunity for them to ask questions if they didn't understand. I'll be damned if I then spend another 20 minutes typing up what was said simply because little Jonny cba to pay attention.

My school has stopped giving kids diaries because £££. If I don't put the homework online then they've no way of recording it.

My son's school likewise stopped giving out homework diaries. The teachers know this, yet some still don't put the homework on the online system (always the same ones who can't be arsed). But give credit where it's due, most of the teachers put homework on every time and include links to web resources or a .doc/pdf of any worksheets etc for the ones who may have missed the lesson).

It's only a minority of parents but it really pisses me off because i have more issues now having a damn online system (should add I'm good at using the system) than before.

So raise your concerns to your head teacher if you have problems with it. No point in just doing your own thing as some kind of protest.

Hang on, so the teacher could give matetial in class, spend 10 mins setting it and making it clear what needs to be done and if your child doesn't do a clearly set piece of homework you'd be blaming the teacher for not uploading it?

Yes, if the teacher hasn't followed the school's published homework policy.

If my son missed a homework that wasn't on SMH then he wouldn't be getting punished or told off for it, I can assure you, and if the teacher tried, they'd be told otherwise in no uncertain terms, regardless of whether they'd told it in class or not

Hang on, so the teacher could give matetial in class, spend 10 mins setting it and making it clear what needs to be done and if your child doesn't do a clearly set piece of homework you'd be blaming the teacher for not uploading it?

This sort of crap is exactly why I'd be more than happy for my school to get rid of our damn system.
Maybe it's just me but I had excellent turn in rates on homeworks, had procedures in place for those who strugfled to record it in planners/had send needs and it all worked brilliantly

Now i have to set it in class, then set it online because if we set it online with bullet point instructions some parents have called and complained that some staff aren't setting it in class so 'how do ypu expect my child to know what to do...'
Oh and then you set the task online but child loses their worksheet so some parents complain you didn't put spare copies of the worksheet online too (because obviously it's too much to ask a teenager to glue a sheet in their book and not lose it!) with no concept that some of our homeworks are from print resources so those parents think we should spend more time scanning in sheets to then upload them as well all so their darling doesn't hsve to think for themselves, organise themselves or look after a single piece of paper.
And then we've had the influx of parents who think they know loads about homework setting and like to call SLT/HOD because they don't think their children get enough homework/think they have too much homework/feel the need to chip in with their thoughts on homework tasks etc so those of us in leadership posts end up having to catch colleagues to ask about homework because so and so's mother wants to know why you've set literacy skills as homework when you've studied war poetry in class when really taking one look at their child's book proves why they need literacy skills refreshing

It's only a minority of parents but it really pisses me off because i have more issues now having a damn online system (should add I'm good at using the system) than before.

Lots of our students hate SMH. They refuse to engage with it and pretend to have logging-on issues (it can be glitchy or go offline sometimes tbh). I teach over 250 students a week and haven't got time to investigate these issues, they are expecting to let Student services know themselves.
They'd much rather be handed a worksheet in class. So I do both. I'm meticulous about deadlines and record keeping. And yet I still get some parents on my back. You can't win.

If you know anything about teaching, you'll understand that the profession desperately needs more 'mavericks' and fewer yes men.