The Homework Queen

Terry C. Ley


	Although I taught for forty years, I recall only one student asking for more homework.  Maria was assigned to one of my ninth grade classes that pedagogues of the day called “slow-moving." Because I preferred to monitor and help students in Maria’s class while they worked on tasks I assigned, I issued modest homework assignments only once or twice a week. One day in late September, Maria lingered after the other slow-movers had stampeded out the door.

	“How can I help you, Maria?” I asked.

	“Mr. Ley,” she began, “my mother and I wonder if maybe you could give me some more homework.”

	Stunned, I asked what sort of homework she had in mind.

	“My mother thinks I need to study grammar more,” she said.  “Could you give me some grammar homework every week?”

	Amazed by what I thought I had heard, I said, “Grammar?  You want grammar exercises to do at home?”

	“Uh-huh,” she replied.

	That was surely one unique request that I could fill!  I possessed an arsenal of seldom-used grammar books, brand new workbooks, even some grammar games that I was pleased to loan Maria for her self-improvement project. 
 
	For several months, Maria dropped off her grammar homework and picked up a new assignment each Monday.  She insisted that I mark her errors and give her a percentage grade for each week’s effort.  Sometimes we talked about concepts she didn’t understand, but it soon became clear to me that Maria and her mother were collaborating on those grammar assignments and that her mother was a great help to Maria.  I was pleased that grammar had become a common ground for communication between mother and daughter.

	Her relationship with her mother provided a second vivid memory from the year that Maria was in my class.  One aspect of the curriculum for her English class was a very practical one:  completing forms similar to those they would complete in the world of work.  To serve that objective in an authentic way, I obtained some actual job application forms from a local business, distributed them to the class, and asked students to finish them in class.  I asked them to bring the forms to me for inspection when they thought they had finished.

	Maria was among the first to submit her application.  While she stood beside me, awaiting my assessment, I noted that she had printed her responses neatly and that she had provided her name, address, and phone number in the correct blanks.  Where it asked for the name of her parent or guardian, she had printed “Mrs. Mary Armstrong.”  Where it asked for “relationship,” Maria had written “I love my mother very much.”

	After reading her response, I smiled but did not meddle with Maria’s interpretation of the question.  If the job were mine to give, I would have hired Maria on the spot!