Differentiating Homework Using Edmodo
by mrsapia
A tool that has simply transformed how my classroom operates is Edmodo. If you are unfamiliar with this platform do yourself a favor and follow this link. In short, Edmodo is a secure learning management system that can be used to form groups, share links, embed videos/projects, track progress, organize uploaded content, join support communities, share folders and resources, distribute parent codes, connect with others around the world, back channel, and so much more. Many teachers and students from around the world have dubbed it “Facebook for Education.” While I use Edmodo for many reasons in my daily routines, this post will only focus on differentiating homework using Edmodo.
How I Use Edmodo to Differentiate Homework:
Meeting the varied needs of students in any classroom is one of the most difficult aspects of teaching. Teachers work tirelessly gathering resources, analyzing data, collaborating with grade level peers, and connecting with their Personal Learning Network on Twitter to meet the needs of their students. Needless to say, differentiation requires hard work and a significant time commitment to implement it effectively.
Enter Edmodo.
Each student in my class has a teacher created username and password. In addition to having individual student accounts, I also created a google doc for each student, which are housed in their “backpack.” The “backpack” feature is available to all students and provides a great way for students to maintain organization of materials they upload or save. Students are the only ones that have access to these resources, so privacy is maintained.
The google doc acts as their online notebook. Literacy homework usually consists of students responding to reading in an open-ended format, answering text-dependent questions, and typing reflective entries. Homework is strategically assigned and aligned to meet student’s needs. The power of using the google doc comes from students having an ongoing record of their responses, with purposeful feedback given by me that always highlights strengths, as well as offers suggestions for improvement. I can’t stress the importance of giving purposeful feedback to students. Gone are the days of just saying “Good Job,” or “Nice Work.” With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, it’s imperative purposeful feedback becomes a daily part of our practice because of the heavy focus of text-dependent/evidence based questions being asked. Furthermore, parents have unprecedented access to their child’s work, via google docs, with teacher feedback, to assist in building the home/school connection to help their child grow.
Small Groups:
Teachers can create small, flexible groups to send homework assignments to. For example, I have 3
“Teams” in my class. Depending on the needs of students I can send three different homework assignments to those individual groups. It’s as simple as uploading a file from my /Edmodo library/desktop/flash drive/Dropbox, or a link from the internet, and sending it out to the appropriate teams. After students complete the assignment, they click “Turned-in,” and I have a record of who has submitted their work. Diving deeper, if a student needs significant readiness or enrichment activities, I can also send assignments to those students individually and not as part of a team.
SIDE NOTE: Thanks to some great questions, I will clarify most post even further.
NO ACCESS TO TECH AT HOME:
If students do not have access to tech at home, I give them the assignment in their response notebook or worksheet.
AMOUNT OF TIME PER ASSIGNMENT:
Depending on the complexity of the assignment, I determine the length of time per assignment. However, it is usually one day. Once I begin literature circles, the time to complete assignments will increase.
IF STUDENTS ARE NOT COMPLETED REQUIRED HOMEWORK ON EDMODO:
If a student does not hand in their Edmodo homework because they could not log in, I will forgive them a couple of times. If it becomes a greater problem after that, I will call the parent and speak about this method of homework delivery. If it’s becoming problematic or not feasible to complete because of after school activities, or inability to log in to Edmodo, I would revert back to having students complete homework in their notebook or worksheet.
If you have any questions or need clarification, please drop a comment below. I am always looking to improve my implementation. I’d also love to hear about the exciting ways you’re using Edmodo to reach the varied needs of your students.
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Periods of Reflection 
I certainly like your story. Als à storting user of Edmodo, I cn see the advantages of the webtool. Could you be more specific in how you organised google docs in this workflow?
Regards,
Dico Krommenhoek
Rotterdam area,
The Netherlands
Hi Dico,
Thanks for your comment. In terms of the google doc, each student has one in their backpack, which is only accessible by them, in their Edmodo account.
Google Docs is powerful for me as a teacher because I just open my google drive shortcut on my computer at school or at home, and I have all student’s google docs housed in one central location for easy correcting. I always make comments back to students in a different color to differentiate their words and mine. Additionally, google docs saves work automatically so students don’t have to worry about saving. If for some reason google is not working properly, I can access their revision history because I created the original google docs.
Let me know if this information was helpful or you need more clarification.
Jimmy
Hi Jim,
This is my first year using Edmodo. So far I have used it for general homework assignments to allow them practice using this wonderful tool. I envision also using it in the morning to assign daily tasks. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the kids had a private agenda, a to do list to work on in between instruction. I expect it will take me some time to perfect this, but it would also allow for true differentiation as well. Perhaps I will begin with your homework idea.
One concern I have revolves around those students who do not have internet access at home – what would you do for those students? Do you give 2 nights to complete or are the assignments do the next day? And lastly, what is your protocol when a student does not turn in their “Edmodo” homework? Several of my students have stated that they “couldn’t login”, “couldn’t use the computer because an older sibling had homework too”, “our computer wasn’t working”. Would love to hear your ideas.
I am hooked. I don’t know what took me so long to sign up my students – but it is a great tool.
Thanks for sharing.
Nancy
I love your idea of having a private agenda. That would work really well I believe as long as you have access to the technology in your classroom.
Great question about access at home. If students do not have access to tech at home, I give them the assignment in their response notebook or worksheet.
Depending on the complexity of the assignment, I determine the length of time per assignment. However, it is usually one day. Once I begin literature circles, the time to complete assignments will increase.
If a student does not hand in their “Edmodo” homework because they could not log in, I will forgive them a couple of times. If it becomes a greater problem after that, I will call the parent and speak about this method of homework delivery and if it’s becoming problematic or not feasible to complete because of after school activities, or inability to log in to Edmodo, I would revert back to complete homework in notebook/worksheet.
Let me know if you have any other questions. I’d be more than happy to try and help the best I could.
Jimmy
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I am wondering if you have run into issues of students feeling like they are different because they have different assignments then the other students? Also, what grade are the students?
I came across your article posted to Twitter just as I was contemplating writing a similar post myself! As an English teacher, the most difficult aspect of differentiation comes in my writing instruction. This year, I used Edmodo’s small groups to differentiate my writing in two ways. Students were placed in a “Writing Group” based on their ability level (but only I know that). So when I give assignments or tutorials, I can post different readings, questions, or expectations on each of the groups’ walls to push my advanced students and scaffold my struggling students.
Then, I have them in a “Peer Review Group” which I have scaffolded to have both strong, medium, and weaker writers. This way, my strong writers can help the weaker ones by providing good feedback on their writing.
The students don’t know my reasoning for the groupings other than I told them that the people in their writing group had similar writing goals for the year. But I now have a way to differentiate the instruction. I love this tool and its potential to further individualize instruction without causing me 10x the work.
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