Teaching Tips: Homework
Homework has never been welcomed with open arms by students. Viewed as additional work, assignments are most often than not greeted by complaints and groans by the students. But homework does help improve the learning experience of students. It teaches them about responsibility and encourages them to study on their own.
Here are some tips you can use to encourage your students to do their homework:
- Create homework that is challenging and exciting1
One reason why students complain about homework is that they think it is boring. Change their mindsets by assigning them work that is fun, provocative and intellectually stimulating.
- Work with parents2
If you can monitor your students’ activities even when they are home, then you probably would not have any problems making them do their homework. But you can’t. This is why you should enlist the help of your students’ parents in ensuring that their kids do the work assigned to them. Ask the parents to guide the kids and motivate them to do their assignments while at the same time reminding them to not actually give the kids the answer to the questions.
- Reward students who do their work3
Students need to have their good work and efforts acknowledged and praised. This brings their self-confidence level up and further encourages them to do the tasks assigned to them. You can give them extra points for passing their assignments on time, tell the entire class about the good work they did or exempt them from doing other assignments. You can also hand out certificates to students who got the highest grades in their homework at the end of each term.
- Give them options4
Instead of giving your students just one task, give them two or three assignments they might choose from. By giving the chance to choose the assignment that is more interesting to them, you make the assignment easier and more enjoyable for them, thus increasing the chance that they will complete and submit their assignments.
- Explain the purpose of each assignment5
If your students know the purpose and importance of each assignment and how doing it will benefit them, you can be sure that they will be more willing to perform the work.
- Match the assignments to your students.6
To ensure the completion of their assignments, you should match the level of complexity of the homework to the skills and knowledge of your students. Assigning them work that is too difficult for their grade level will only make them view homework negatively while assigning easy assignments will not stimulate their minds and be deemed too boring.
Sources:
We would like to acknowledge the following sources for this article:
1, 2 Education World, “Help! Homework Is Wrecking My Home Life!”
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin182.shtml
3 Education World, “Help for Homework Hassles Volume 4: Blue-Ribbon Homework.”
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/homeworktips/homeworktips004.shtml
4 Bafile, Cara, ““Help for Homework Hassles Volume 8: Freedom of Choice.”
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/homeworktips/homeworktips008.shtml
5 “Tips for Getting Homework Done,” http://www.ed.gov/pubs/HelpingStudents/3purpose.html
6 “Tips for Getting Homework Done,” http://www.ed.gov/pubs/HelpingStudents/9match.html
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