Lesson 2: Help for Teachers
In this lesson we'll take a look at some homework helps teachers can use in school.
Set up for Success
Teachers, there is a lot you can do to help your students be successful with their homework. How you begin the school year and how you set up your guidelines are both instrumental in student success.
Set it up Right
Set your homework policy up early in the school year. I started to emphasize the importance of homework right on the first day of school, and even gave a short homework assignment that first day - get some books covered and get those school supplies into school. We usually began school on a Wednesday, so I set Friday as the "due day" for all book covers and supplies.
Whatever policy you intend to use, setting it up early and making it clear to both students and parents is a must.
Instrumental in my homework expectations was the use of a planner. See Lesson two for more on this. On the third day of school I'd set up how to use the planner, and I'd also begin our classroom calendar. Check with your own school policies regarding homework and then develop your own plan. It helps to actually write it down and send home copies to parents. Some years I even had parents sign off that they had seen my policy and that they understood it and would work with their child to ensure homework success.
Make it Clear
In order for students to meet your homework expectation and be successful in completing their assignments, you need to be sure that everyone understands the assignment, and that you've set clear expectations. At the end of each class, I'd try to set aside five minutes for giving homework assignments. I'd clearly write the assignment on my chalk board list, be sure that students copied it down as I wrote it, and then I'd take time to explain it and give an example before the class ended.
Having students copy the assignment correctly is a big part of the "battle". For example, if the assignment was
"Math text book, page 24, even numbered problems 1-20. Show your work"
that meant that students needed to do problems 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 on page 24 in their math textbooks and show their work for each one. In looking at students' planners, I often would see a range of "shorthand: that might look like this:
Math text book, pg. 24, evens
evens 1-20, show work
Math book, pg. 24, 1-20, show work
What is wrong with these? Well, the first student had the page number right and the idea of even problems, but didn't include the show work part. And if there were really 30 problems, that student would do more than was needed.
The second student didn't include the page number, or the book needed, a big problem if she also has an old worksheet in her folder that happens to have 20 problems on it. And the third student didn't include the idea of even numbered problems. All of these shortcuts can lead to students doing the wrong assignment, or an incomplete assignment. I found in over 25 years in the classroom that these kinds of "shorthand" assignment notes caused the most homework difficulties for my students. If they had the assignment written down properly and if they clearly understood it, that was easily half the battle.
