You're Finished Already? Are Your Sure You Want to Turn It in Just Yet?

Some of the problems we experience in class may be all too easy to overlook, but doing so will only harm students in the long run. Problem 2 is just one of these. Most of us will have students with this poor work habit at one time or another in the course of our professional lives. Fortunately, with a bit of time and effort, we can usually redirect our students' energies in a positive direction to stop this bad habit.

Problem 2: Some of Your Students Rush Through Their Work

Some of your students are always the first to finish every homework or classwork assignment, every quiz, and even every test. These students do not take the time to check for accuracy or careless errors in their rush to get their work over with. Often these students do not misbehave when they finish their work, but quietly go to work on the next assignment. The problem lies not in their efficiency, but in the poor quality of the completed work.

Your Goals

• To help these students understand the importance of taking the time to complete assignments well
• To work with students to improve their task management skills
• To encourage students to continue to work efficiently
• To help students manage their anxiety at not completing their work on time

Mistakes to Avoid:

• Not working with students to help them understand the importance of checking their work before turning it in
• Not honoring the students’ legitimate attempts to complete work quickly and efficiently
• Not addressing this issue quickly when it first appears to be a negative work habit
• Not helping students develop their own methods of making sure their work is of good quality
• Arbitrarily refusing to accept work that appears to be done in haste
• Confronting or embarrassing students in front of the rest of the class
• Not having an accurate clock in your classroom so that students can learn to time themselves
• Discouraging students from working quickly and efficiently when they are confident that they know the material

Strategies to Consider

• Provide checklists for all students to complete and staple to their work when they turn it in. (See Sample Checklists You Can Adapt for Your Students below.)
• Hold a conference with speedy students to discuss their task management skills. Focus on showing them how to use their strengths at working efficiently to improve the overall quality of their work. Praise them for the techniques that appear to be working well and work with them to overcome the ones that are not as positive. (See Suggested Conference Talking Points below.)
• Be sure to provide feedback on assignments as quickly as you can so that students can understand the negative effects of their haste.

Sample Checklists You Can Adapt for Your Students

One of the most productive ways to manage this issue is to help students learn how to double check their work before turning it in. Just advising them to “look it over” will not work as well as giving them more specific help in the form of checklists. One of the advantages of a simple checklist is that you can easily adapt it to meet the needs of your students. Another even more important advantage is that using a checklist will encourage students to develop the habit of checking their work before turning it in. Finally, checklists appeal to those students who like to work quickly and efficiently because they provide specific and concrete directions.

Provide this checklist for all students to complete before turning in a test with an answer sheet to be bubbled in.

1. ­____     Did I put my name on my paper?
2. ____     Did I put my papers in the correct order so that they can be graded easily?
3. ____     Did I check my answer sheet for bubbles that may not be correctly filled in?
4. ____     Did I use the correct side of the answer sheet to answer questions?
5. ____     Did I check to make sure that I did not skip any questions?
6. ____     Did I erase all stray marks that could confuse the scoring machine?
7. ____     Did I reread all of the directions for each section of the test?
8. ____     Did I double check any question that I may have found confusing?
9. ____     Did I write and sign the honor code on my paper?

Provide this checklist for all students to complete before turning in an assignment to be completed and turned in during a class period.

1. ____     Did I put my name on my paper?
2. ____     Did I put my papers in the correct order so that they can be graded easily?
3. ____     Did I check the directions one more time?
4. ____     Did I make sure that my paper is neat and easy to read?
5. ____     Did I follow the directions for formatting my paper correctly?
6. ____     Did I check for misspelled words and grammatical mistakes?
7. ____     Did I check for careless errors by skimming each part of the assignment again?

Provide this checklist for all students to complete before turning in homework assignments.

1. ____     Did I put my name on my paper?
2. ____     Did I put my papers in the correct order so that they can be graded easily?
3. ____     Did I check the directions one more time?
4. ____     Did I make sure that my paper is neat and easy to read?
5. ____     Did I follow the directions for formatting my paper correctly?
6. ____     Did I check for misspelled words and grammatical mistakes?
7. ____     Did I check for careless errors by skimming each part of the assignment again?
8. ­­____     Did I make sure not to leave any papers in the printer?
9. ____     Did I make sure that I packed this assignment so that I won’t leave it at home?

Suggested Conference Talking Points

When you begin talking with those students who are inclined to rush through their assignments, consider these talking points. You should allow about ten minutes for this conference.

• Ask students to tell you how they approach their assignments so that they finish so quickly. Be positive about the efficient techniques that they use. Their productive efforts should be honored and not discouraged.
• Ask students to tell you some of the negative effects that they have experienced from turning in their work hastily.
• Ask students to tell you some of the ways that they could improve the quality of their work. Work together on creating a list of suggested ways to improve so that students can learn to manage this for themselves.
• Show students how to time their work in sections so that they allot enough time for each part. Be aware that some students work quickly because they are afraid that they will not finish on time.
• Discuss the importance of double checking work before turning it in.
• Show students how to use a checklist or how to develop one for themselves.
• Be sure to recap by discussing the positive techniques that they are using wisely and the techniques that they can use to improve their papers.

Thinking Ahead...One Problem at a Time

For most of us, school is over for the summer! Even though this happy time provides a chance to sleep a bit later and at least some relaxation, it is also a time of renewal for many teachers. We spend this time thinking through the events of the last school year and making plans to improve our teaching practices. Most of all, we tend to mentally work through the problems that we had to manage during the past year and try to work them out.

In the blog posts that follow, you’ll be able to read about some of the  issues that teachers face during the course of a school year and perhaps learn some quick strategies and techniques for solving classroom problems while making sure that all students achieve the success you want for them.

Problem 1:

You have a student who is convinced that he or she already knows the material and does not want to participate in any activities that you have planned for the day, the week, or even the unit.

Goals:

• To engage all of your students in meaningful and relevant learning activities
• To make sure that all of your students have mastered the material in the mandated curriculum
• To work with the student so that he or she can demonstrate mastery and then move to enrichment material

 
Mistakes to Avoid:

• Confronting the student directly in an effort to prove him or her wrong
• Allowing the student to opt out of mastery of necessary material
• Offending the student by not taking his or her claim seriously
• Allowing the issue to have a negative impact on other students

Strategies:

• The easiest way to avoid this problem is to make sure that you begin a unit of study by not just activating students’ prior knowledge, but also by giving an overview of the material that will be covered. By doing this, your students will know that while they may have a good grasp of the material going into the unit, there is much more material to be learned. Showing students the “big picture” of what they are going to learn is often an effective way to direct their thinking so that they can focus their attention on learning new material.
• A brief pretest of skills and content at the beginning of a unit of study is another way to assess your students’ knowledge and to focus their attention. It does not have to be long or extremely difficult in order to engage your students.
• Be flexible when you can. By differentiating instruction to meet your students’ needs, you will be able to individualize as much instruction as you possibly can. Remember that it is not your place to enforce compliance, but to reach as many students as possible.

A Final Word:
While it is tempting to just ignore a student with this attitude, neither of you will gain if you do this. It is reasonable to assume that you will have students who feel this way at various points during the year. With that in mind, try to prevent the problem and to honor the students' concern by assessing prior knowledge and using differentation strategies for instruction.