Homework Rationale

Homework is an important piece of a child’s education.  Although it seems that children spend a majority of their lives in school, students only spend about 13% of their waking hours in school (Hill, 2006).  Homework and independent practice are ways to assure that students are practicing and reinforcing skills that they learned while in school. 

What constitutes meaningful homework?

Homework can easily become a meaningless practice if it is only used to assign students busy work.  Homework should be connected to what students are learning in class throughout the day.  For English language learners, this could involve additional vocabulary practice to help students stay in the loop as the class studies a topic.  Regardless of what the specific assignment is, homework will only be meaningful if students can connect it back to classroom learning.  Teachers can also make homework meaningful by honing in on specific skills for specific students.  Not every student should have the same exact homework assignments for the sake of fairness.  To maintain relevancy, students should receive homework based on what skills they have, and what skills they need to continue developing.

What are your intended homework objectives for your students?

When I assign homework, I want to make sure that each student clearly understands what he or she needs to do.  I also want students to know the purpose behind their homework.  I believe that students often don’t take homework seriously because they see it as busy work.  However, if students can understand the purpose of their individual homework assignments, they will likely take it more seriously more often.  I also think it is important to give students a chance to ask questions about their homework.  They should know that they could receive support from the teacher, or a peer tutor. 

How will you provide specific feedback?

Providing students with feedback is key in helping their learning come full circle.  Ideally, students will be able to orally share their homework/individual learning with their classmates.  I envision this being done while students are doing centers in the classroom.  The teacher can monitor the homework-sharing center to monitor student progress on homework, and provide individualized feedback in a small group setting.