How to Set Up the Homework Center of Math Workshop
After my students finish their rotation at the teacher center of math workshop, they go directly to the homework center. This time is a critically important time for students. This is where they get to practice what they have just learned independently. In some years, I have let them work with a partner, but that depends on the specific group of students. Students have the choice of working at their seat or finding a spot by themselves around the room.
The homework center of math workshop
What you assign for this independent work time will depend on what curriculum you are using and what you have available. We have had a math curriculum we use at my schools and my homework assignments are usually a set of about 10-15 odd numbered problems (so students can check their own answers!). For a lot of my lessons, I actually give students two assignments to choose from. Homework A is the regular homework and Homework B is more challenging. I let students choose, but sometimes I need to push certain students to choose Homework B if I feel like they can handle it!
I also recommend sharing a homework list with students and parents before each unit begins. This was a game changer when I first began sharing these assignments ahead of time. It takes some preparation to have the homework assignments for each unit ready to go before we start, but it is a great way for parents to keep track of what homework is due. It can easily be shared as a Google doc and then updated with due dates as you go!
Need some quick review assignments for 5th-8th graders? Try out these math review packets for 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, and 8th grade math.
Which group starts at the homework center?
One downside to math workshop is that one group always needs to start at the homework center without meeting with the teacher first. It turns out this really isn't too much of a problem. You will want to have one of your more advanced groups begin with homework. Before we break into the math center rotations, I usually give the whole class a quick mini-lesson on whatever concept we are learning (maybe 5 minutes tops!). That is usually enough for this group to get started on their own.
Finally, one extra note about homework that has been too effective not to mention! After the first 4-5 weeks of the school year, my sixth graders in previous years weren't the greatest at getting homework completed on time. At one of my previous schools, we decided to start implementing a new system that was extremely effective. Students who weren’t finished with their work would go to work on finishing it at lunch on that day. They grab their lunch and bring their math stuff to a separate room where they can get some help finishing up that day's assignment.
Another fun idea for increasing homework engagement is to start tracking your students’ homework completion by class. This tracking homework data idea is a fun one to implement at the middle school level.
I'd love to hear any questions about how I am using homework or ideas you have about what works in your classroom in the comments section below! For a complete guide to getting math workshop started in middle school, join me in my Making Math Workshop Work online course. The course is self-paced and includes close to 3 hours of video lessons to help get math centers started in your classroom.
