Managing HomeworkAdvice about assigning, collecting, and

assessing homework.

Homework can help students:

develop mastery by practicing what they have learned.

acquire effective habits of self-discipline and time management.

learn to work independently.

gain a sense of personal responsibility for learning.

develop research skills such as locating, organizing, and condensing information.

research indicates that homework is effective for student learning in Middle School and High School, but not in elementary school.

4 categories of homework

Memorization

Increase in skill speed, used for improving students’ abilities to apply these skills in more complex problem solving

Deepening understanding of a concept

Preparation for the following day’s class

(Focus on Effectiveness, Researched-Based Strategies)

Assigning Homework

End of section problemsUsually repetitive in nature

Often plug and chug

Lower order thinking skills

End of chapter problemsLarger variety, intermixed

Variety of difficulty

Internet homework sites

Collecting Homework

Collect every assignment?

Random?

Weekly problem/question sets?

Unit problem/question sets?

Never collect?

Assessing Homework

Assess for completion/attempt

Spot check

Assess for accuracy

On-line assessment

Returning Homework

Needs to be returned in a timely fashion

Provide feedback on assignments?

Have students correct missed portions?

Reviewing Homework

Teacher works problems on board and or leads discussion

Whiteboarding homework assignments

Students work problems on board and or leads discussion

All solutions provided on teachers website after assignment due date

Problems with homework

Time “vacuum”

Student copying

Time constraints for students

Should all students (within the same class) have the same homework assignments?

Successful implementation

of homeworkTeacher must convey importance of homework,

Ensure homework is appropriate

Ensure no mixed messages are implied concerning homework

Consistent assignments

Apply consistent consequences

True student motivation should be intrinsic not extrinsic

Homework IdeasIndividualize homework problems in some way.

Table talk (student discussions with parents).

Do-at-home experiments.

Don’t forget about the Modeling Method of Instruction worksheets; they are a tremendous source of great problems for homework and follow-up in-class presentation and analysis.

Diagnoser.com and Just-in-Time-Teaching