Doing Less for More in the World Language Classroom: Homework, Assessments, and More

Have you ever wondered if there’s a way to be effective inside the classroom without taking work home or feeling guilty or stressed because you’re not taking work home? Need an idea for this? In this post, I’m diving into four transformative ideas that can help reduce your workload in class without sacrificing effectiveness or impact on your students. To hear even more about this topic, listen to episode 67 of Growing with Proficiency The Podcast. I’m sharing ideas of things that you can eliminate or streamline in your class. It’s not going to be just adding a new strategy or a new activity.

Recently, I’ve taken some time away from my classroom, but I’m ready to return. And, I want to be able to come home and not bring work, grading, or planning home with me. These strategies are going to help me do just that, and I want you to be able to benefit also. This is why I wanted to share these ideas with you.

It is also why I created a teacher guide with my biggest insights about how to shift to being a comprehensible and communicative language teacher. This teacher guide is available in English and Espanol. You can get this guide for free here. 

Idea 1: Less Homework

Homework is something that I have already eliminated in my practice. The reason is because I got really frustrated with homework. I saw so many students walk into my class with their phone in their hands, completing the homework. How beneficial is it going to be for students to do homework five minutes before the class? Also, I had a big group of students who didn’t even finish their homework. 

Then, I started doing some research about homework. And what I found is that there is no solid evidence about the benefits of homework. It’s also been shown to be the cause of a lot of stress for students. If you do homework, Mike Peto has some innovative homework ideas, like reading to parents, illustrating readings, and using interactive platforms like Padlet.

Idea 2: Streamlining Assessments

I use to dedicate a lot of time on assessments and even when I wasn’t working on the grading, I was thinking about the grading. It was so stressful! Ask yourself, “Do we need to give big, long unit assessments at the end of each unit?” When I go back to the classroom, I’m planning to keep doing more interpretive assessments, either listening or reading. And, I want to do them as a multiple choice that can be automatically graded. There’s extra benefits too. I don’t have to go over it, and my students can get immediate feedback.

For my lower level Spanish one, the questions are going to be in English. And the reason I’m doing that is because I really want to assess if my students are understanding the text. Next, for my AP class, I’m going to be using this question guide that I created a year ago. The text is going to be different, but my questions are going to be the same. I’m going to ask for the main idea while also asking for details. 

I’ve discussed assessments in previous episodes of Growing with Proficiency The Podcast. In Episode 57, Dr. Florencia Henshaw’s discussed her approach to presentational writing, emphasizing efficiency and engagement. For presentational writing or speaking for my level one, I’m going to keep doing what I did last year because it worked really well for me. I’m going to do one interpersonal speaking activity, and it is going to be at the end of the year. Additionally, I’m going to do it as part of my station. I started doing stations last year, after many, many attempts. I finally discovered how to do a station that worked really well for me.

One of the sessions is the interpersonal assessment, and I love it. The part that I love the most is that I am able to really have conversations with my students in a very small group so I am able to hear their voices. Listen to more details about how I do this in episode 67. You might also want to listen to Episode 31 to hear more interpersonal ideas. 

Idea 3: Delegating Classroom Responsibilities

First, if you haven’t heard episode 20, you need to listen to my conversation with John and Annabelle about classroom jobs. With classroom jobs, basically you want to think of the activities or tasks that you complete in your class that can be done by a student, and then you need to assign them. 

For example, keeping up with makeup work created so much anxiety and frustration on my part. Then, I assigned a student in each class to be the secretary. The role of my secretaries are to take notes of everything that is happening in my class. I have one notebook per class. As soon as my secretary comes to the class, they grab a notebook, and start writing everything. If I have a student who is missing class, I always say, “Go to the secretary, get the notebook, and take pictures”. That is makeup work for me. 

Next, I also have my organizers. At the end of each class during the last two or three minutes, they look in my classroom and organize my chairs, pick up everything, and clean up my classroom. So, think about the things that you’re spending time doing in your class that you don’t have to, something a student can do such as organize papers, put a paper clip on some papers, pick up the markers, distribute markers, collect and organize homework, just little things that you will be released from doing, and then you will gain so much more time. 

Idea 4: Structured Class and Unit Design

The idea of a structured class is the concept of starting your class in the same way and having some structure where you move from activity to activity with the same processes and routines that you repeat so many times that you and your students become experts. Basically, you start the class the same way and finish the class the same way. You have some activities that you are going to do on a daily basis, and it is going to give you structure and eliminate decision fatigue. If you want to know more about my structure, listen to episode 11.

The second part of this idea is unit design. I don’t know how many times I have found myself redoing units. Then, I began designing readings, mini units, and a variety of resources every month in the Spanish Teacher Academy. These have not only helped so many teachers but also myself. 

For a unit, I have pre-reading and listening, input (reading and listening), IBA, shared writing or model text (write and discuss), more reading, and, finally, supported output. You can hear details about this in episode 67. 

More Ideas From Guests

In the resource section below, you’ll find links to guests of the podcast who have shared some of their ideas on these topics. For example, Meredith White talked with me about student feedback. We chatted about the empowerment that comes from giving students a choice in the type of feedback they receive.

Next, Christina Margiore shared about IPAs. Christina explained how streamlining presentational speaking using ACTFL rubrics can save time and increase effectiveness. Bethanie Drew also discussed essay writing with me. Her method starts with a class essay, moving to group essays, and finally individual essays, with an emphasis on in-class feedback to minimize outside work. Find bonus ideas in episode 67 of the podcast by listening here, clicking above, or on your favorite podcast player.