Navigating Late Work Policies in the Classroom: Setting Clear Expectations and Allowing for Flexibility

I don’t accept late work in my class except for when I do. Let’s talk about it. All student work must be turned in on the due date, with no exceptions. If they are going to be absent that day, and they are aware that they’re going to be absent that day, they can still turn it in on canvas. All of my assignments are pre loaded in canvas from the beginning of the year. So they know when the due dates are and should be able to plan accordingly. Computer emergencies do not constitute an excuse for late work being turned in. Again, you know when it’s due, and you should be able to plan accordingly. So if you’re trying to turn it in at 11:59 p m. And your computer conks out, do have some Grace. So if an assignment is due on Tuesday, it is due by the following Tuesday. That is the week of Grace period that I will accept it. There might be a letter grade penalty, just depending, but it’s got that one week Grace period. But that penalty doesn’t always happen. I also understand that life does not move at the speed that it’s supposed to most of the time. So if a student is noticing that we have a paper due two days out or three days out or whatever it is, because, again, remember, all of these dates are on their calendar from the beginning of the year. If they realize That they’re not going to be able to get it turned in on time because of whatever is happening in their life. I don’t even have to know what’s happening in their life. They just need to come to me, communicate, say, I’m having troubles making this due date by this time, but here is the day that I can turn it in, and then we’ll work together to figure something out to make it happen on that next day. This works in my class because my students have a lot of time in class to work on things. I work with a 3 2 instruction schedule, which means three days a week is when we’re doing direct instruction. Two days a week, I have open office hours and tutoring. This is an English 1 O 1 class on a high school campus, so I try to structure it as much like a college course as possible. There are things in place to help them make up points from previously in the year. And each assignment is a major writing assignment that covers a lot of the same skills. So they might be able to gain some of those points back if they missed it. What’s your late work policy?