Help Your Students Get The Most Out Of Homework.

Homework is a teachers’ way of evaluating how much students understand what they’re taught in class. Many teaching and learning research indicate that children who spend more time on regularly assigned, meaningful homework, on average, do better in school, despite the many debates that have gone up about the relevance of homework in a student’s life.

The goal shouldn’t be to eliminate homework, but to make it authentic, meaningful, and engaging (Darling-Hammond & Ifill-Lynch, 2006).

As teachers, we give homework based on all that has been taught in class. This is not wrong at all because we want our children to fully grasp and show an understanding of a topic taught, but have we carefully sat down to analyze the main purpose of homework and how to present it to our students?

Well, here are the 3 R’s you need to pay attention to when you are giving homework to your students.

Research
As teachers, giving homework should be intentional and not just a classroom norm. What do you really want your students to achieve or learn? Every homework should include an element of research; a short research. Putting in two tricky words for the student to find the meaning in homework pack is an example of a short research. Thus, the child does not need to spend more than a few minutes on it after school and start to lose interest. Homework that may include longer minutes or an hour of research should be given during the weekends and holidays.

Reinforce
Although, a believer in homework, I have realized that some homework is of little value to students. They sometimes are irrelevant to the learning in class, include vague instructions or expectations, or cover material that has not yet been taught. It’s time to change the way we think about homework.
When I am considering giving homework, I think about the following points when preparing the assignment.

Homework is an essential part of the learning process but should be assigned with care. The assignment should be meaningful and should contribute to student learning. Think,” What is my goal in assigning this work to the student?” It should always be quality over quantity!

The homework should be directly related to the ongoing instructional process of the classroom.

Homework assignments should be given to reinforce concepts already taught in class, not as a means of covering new material because the teacher ran out of time.

Consider how much time will be required to complete the assignment, in planning what needs reinforcement specifically, remembering that students have homework in most of the subjects they offer especially the ones in upper grades.

Results
And finally, whenever you are giving out homework, think about the results you would like to get back. Clear and concise directions for completing the assignment should be given to ensure they help the students excel at the task. Students need to know specifically what they are expected to accomplish and the objectives of the task.

If the homework is important enough to assign, teachers should take the time to discuss the assignment and to answer questions about it. That will mean leaving enough time at the end of class to explain directions and answer questions before students leave. This is very important. This way, you are equipping your students to work independently when they get back home, rather than have their parent or home tutor teach them all over again.

When the assignment is due, the teacher should take the time to do one or more of the following:

• Take it up and grade it
• Give individual feedback
• Give some sort of credit for completion
• Ask if there are any questions about the assignment
• And plan the next homework.

I hope this provides food for thought to help us become better teachers.

Good luck in your teaching and making an impact!

This is a publication of Jordan Hill Creative Writing & Reading Workshop, a center designed to excite children’s reading and writing interests.