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My children have been in school for several weeks now and they are accustomed to their daily routine: do their homework right after they get home from school because, “that is their most important job.” While parents may use this refrain throughout the year to get their children to do the work, there is a quiet question below the surface in most parents’ minds as they scan their children’s assignments…
Is this really necessary?
My version of that question: what is the likelihood that homework will improve achievement?
This concern about homework connects to Myth #3 delineated in my most recent book Breaking Free from Myths about Teaching and Learning (ASCD, 2010): The point of an assignment is to get it done. Students who take on this myth typically feel like they are drowning in events – there are always more problems, more readings, more tasks. They become stressed out not only because of feeling overwhelmed by time pressures, but also because they feel insecure about the quality of their work.
If students treat assignments as bureaucratic exercises, what is the likelihood that they will have an impact on achievement? The key is to make it clear to both students and families alike why the homework is necessary by revealing the instructional blueprint to them: how this assignment is connected to the larger aims within the unit, course, or program.
Consider the following suggestions to guide your individual practice or staff conversations.
- Directly connect the daily assignment to the larger aims of the unit and/or course.
- What essential questions should students be considering as they complete the assignment? Based on the assignment, how did it deepen their understanding? Adding a reflection box at the end of the homework for students to make generalizations or deepen existing generalizations is a signal to both students and families that learning requires deep thinking and analysis on the students’ part. Teachers and parents cannot give that type of wisdom away; it is vital that the students make sense of key concepts while continuing to practice the key knowledge and skills.
- What authentic task will this particular assignment lead up to? By emphasizing the task upfront for a given unit or course, it incentivizes students to focus their attention on the daily assignment in preparation for the excitement and messiness of the application.
- Be clear about your intention on the assignment. Identifying assignments in basic categories, such as note-taking, practice, critical thinking, or application sends a message to parents about what the assignment is intended to do. If we want parents and family members to be more meaningfully involved, we need to give them suggestions about how they can best support the learning — when is it appropriate to help and when is it more appropriate to have the student struggle.
- Provide the estimated time that the assignment should take and leave space for the student or parent to fill in how long it actually took. Time windows might include: <10 minutes; 10-30 minutes; 30+ minutes. This creates a “communication space” between teacher and families to discuss assignments that may be inappropriate for the learner (too easy, too hard, or not using the strategies to make the assignment more efficient).
- Be careful of sending home assignments based on material that you haven’t taught yet. Assignments should reinforce concepts, knowledge, and skills taught during instruction. If the assignment is to pre-assess what they already know, again be clear about the intent because you are intrigued about their generalizations, accumulated knowledge, and possible misconceptions so that you can be more responsive in the design of the instruction.
- Eliminate “busywork” whenever possible.
- Is every problem or question really necessary?
- If the assignment is to reinforce practice for students, can you distinguish between students who need such reinforcement and those who don’t before you send the students home? Consider giving a sample problem, reading passage, or question toward the end of the class (similar to the “do now” routine at the beginning of class), observing the students’ responses, and then providing them an appropriate assignment that is both respectful and rigorous.
- Can you provide at least one question that has students make predictions or create relationships? These questions reveal how students generalize information as the basis for understanding and application.
As we continue to understand the learners we have in front of us, there is still room to modify our individual and collective homework practices. If our intention is to clearly communicate the value of homework based on the learning goals we have identified, then we need to have good information about what is happening on the other end—when they go home.
What additional suggestions do you have about homework based on your experience?
For more information and ideas, check out my latest book: Breaking Free from Myths about Teaching and Learning (2010)