Seriously, are you a college student or is this is joke? Your English is horrible and you’re talking very unethically. I am a teacher, and I would NEVER give homework for healthy competition! Homework is a means of getting the students to practice important concepts taught in class. Competition should NEVER be a factor. God help the student who may not understand. Also, “I have started to grade…..” You mean you would just pass it back ungraded before? Or throw it out? Again, unethical.

Now to answer your question…..it totally depends on what age level the kids are….I can’t even answer this question because my answer depends on that.

UPDATE: Good answer, Puzzler. I can tell by your word choice and suggestions that you are a true educator…who is fair and considerate to young children.

There are at least two major educational goals that are involves.

1. You want the student to do his assignments

2. You want to penalize lateness and promote responsibility.

Giving a student an F for a late assignment will encourage no late assignments to be handed in to you since the grade will be the same whether or not the student eventually does his work.

I therefore opt to lowering the grade and I would indicate how much the grade will be lowered for various days that the assignment is late. You may also tell the student that the parent will be informed.

The letter or telephone call to the parent may go something like this. Your son received a ___on his assignment. if he handed it on time it would have been a ___. This was because the assignment was ____days late.

When you give them the assignment, tell them that you will deduct marks (or lower their grade points I guess it’s called now) for late submissions – a point a day. If they have problems, tell them to ask you for help before the assignment is due. If it’s still not handed in after a week and his parent has not sent a written reason, find out what the problem is. If he won’t do the work, either deduct two marks a day for the next week or detention or an F. An F after the second week. It’s not fair to those students who have submitted on time to have to wait for their assignment to be taken up in class. It’s up to the student to make the effort, and if he Won’t do the work, he should not get the marks. It’s not up to the teacher to pamper him, though it is the teacher’s job to find out why he hasn’t handed in his assignment. Mine didn’t pamper me and I’m sure your teachers didn’t pamper you.

If he Can’t do the work, you should find out why. Maybe he doesn’t understand it. Maybe he’s afraid to ask for clarification and help. Maybe he has distractions. Maybe something is bothering him at home. Maybe he has learning problems or needs glasses (I had poor grades in Grade I spelling and arithmetic partly because I could not see the figures on the board clearly.)

I think the norm is to have a set time period where there is a reduced grade. If you just give zero credit for late work, no one is going to turn in late work. There really is no point to because nothing is being gained. But if you accept it late and take, say 10% off, then there is still an incentive to doing and turning in the work.

However there are a few sticklers out there who do not accept any late work, unless the student has a vaild excuse. Usually these are college profesors though.

Most schools have a late work polocy that is school wide and all teachers follow. You may want to make sure what the policy at your school is before you make any decisions.

I think lowering the grade is a good idea.

I’ve raised 4 kids and worked in public schools for years.

Lowering the grade has two advantages:

1) it motivates the students who “still” have some interest in getting good grades, but had some hassle doing the assignment, and

2) it doesn’t discourage the student entirely, as an “F” would.

In other words, it meets the criterion as a good behavior modifier, and is fair.

Lower the grade one complete grade for each day the assignment is late. That usually works.

Well, something that my teachers and lecturers used to do at high school and university, is to minus 1% from the overall grade for everyday that the assignment is late.

So you could say : minus 1% for every late day.

Or some students may feel that 1% isn’t that much of an incentive. In which case you could make it : minus 5% for handing in your assignment late, and minus 1% thereafter for every late day.

And this the 5% one is the best option, because it’s not too much, but it’s not too much so that you feel like a monster, but it’s a significant enough incentive for the students.

Good luck

I’m not a teacher, but I remember one that I had growing up use to lower the grade by a certain number of points for each day homework was late, not a straight out F. It would sting when you should have gotten that A, but got a B instead because it wasn’t turned in on time. Good luck and Thank you for teaching!!!

I used to be on DeviantArt everyday until the nude women “artists” took over. Even if it isn’t the entirety of your work, it appears to be if you only have a few other things. And quite frankly, it’s annoying. It’s like showing everyone “Hey, I like women!” and trying to pass it off as art. I’m not saying you should not have any female nudes. But the majority of your work should be VARIED, and unique. Which females nudes are not! They are possibly the most cliche things ever in the art world, been done to death since the beginning of art history (but back then people had the foresight to have sweet backgrounds and themes. Whereas nowadays so many “artists” are trying to pass their sexual attraction off as more than it is.).

Students who do not turn in assignments on time are making a choice.

They will continue to do so until they are held accountable for their choices.

An F is the consequence for their choice, plain and simple.

Some may need that lesson once or twice to take their teachers serious, and respect them.

Kids/teens respect, and accept fair boundaries when they are enforced across the board without exceptions.

I agree that failing a student who don’t submit their assigned work on time is too harsh.

However, learning to meet time requirements responsibly is also an important part of education for life, and your students need to know it, and as soon as they begin classes with you. It is part of the unwritten contract a teacher makes with his students to tell them what is expected, and what will occur if those expectations are not met.

Tell them that their grades for individual assignments as well as their final grades will be adversely affected by failure to submit homework on time. And then follow through with that decision. Your students may not like it, but if they understand the reasoning behind your decision, they may learn to respect it, and be grateful in retrospect.

P.S.–I do not believe in rewarding students for doing the expected. Rewards can be given for surpassing expectation.