Homework Hurdles

There have been several identified hurdles for students' participation in and completion of homework, as well as hurdles for teachers in making homework purposeful, meaningful, and effective. If we are going to assign homework for student understanding, achievement, and success, we need to overcome these hurdles.

Hurdles faced by students

Students Practicing Incorrectly
Sometimes, a teacher will complete a lesson and believes (maybe through formative assessment) that the students "get it". They did guided practice, worked together to do some problems or a task, and, perhaps, even completed some independent practice of problems and an exit slip. The teacher considers the work and assesses student understanding and believes the majority of students are understanding the content, and assigns homework problems accordingly.

Let's say we are teaching students to graph lines in standard form. We provide some direct instruction, we guide students through a couple of problems, we give them a group activity matching graphs to equations, and assign 4 independent graph problems. We give an exit slip with one more graphing problem. When we look at the independent practice and exit slip, we note that most students are able to correctly graph most lines in slope-intercept form (perhaps with some errors on graphing negative slopes and plotting "b" on the x-axis rather than the y-axis). We then assign students 10 problems, asking them to graph given equations. Sounds great. Right?

The reality is that, by the time students begin their homework (maybe after 3 more classes with new instruction, soccer practice after school, helping cook dinner, and then doing their English homework), they look at the problems and don't remember what to do or how to do it. They will become frustrated and will either decide not to do their homework or reinforce their errors by doing 10 problems incorrectly! Neither of these promote growth and understanding.

It is far better to assess student understanding and errors and adjust instruction (reteaching as necessary and addressing common errors) before assigning practice problems. When students are understanding the content, assign, perhaps, a few problems reinforcing foundational knowledge, and spread out practice on the key concept (graphing in slope intercept form) with a few problems over several days (perhaps varying type of problem and gradually increase complexity each day).

Hurdles faced by teachers

Homework is an inherently difficult topic for teachers. Some questions that come up for them include:

How do I (or DO I) grade or check all of this homework every day?

See the prior discussion on this, but briefly, you should at least "look through" the homework (for correctness, understanding, and common errors) on any homework you assign. You may choose one or two questions or problems to focus your grading and/or comments on for each assignment. If it's not important enough for you to look at, it's not important enough to assign to your students.

How do I know that this is the student's own work or thinking?

You can help ensure that student are doing their own work by giving them some choice (use the method of your choice, or choose any 3 problems on page ___). You can occasionally ask them to write their own problem or ask questions about problems.

How do I (or DO I) count homework as a part of a student's grade?

You can "count" homework, but it should count for a very small portion of a student's grade. Remember that homework is inherently inequitable, so we have to be careful about rewarding students who have more resources, more help at home, access to Internet resources... We need to find a balance between encouraging students to "practice" (which often results in some mistakes), and just encouraging students to "write something down" for credit.

Is it good practice for all students to complete the same number and type of problems for homework?

Homework provides a great opportunity for differentiation. Students do not need to do the same problems or the same number of problems. If you learn (from formative assessment) that some students really "get it," there's no reason to make them do fifteen more of the exact same problems. Thinking about giving them a couple of challenge problems, or asking them to create their own problems, or asking them to explain their reasoning or do a problem a couple of different ways. If you know that a student is struggling, you may give that student fewer problems with less abstract thinking. You may also ask student to choose, say, at least 2 problem from section A or B or C. In other words, the more targeted your assignment is to individual needs and abilities, the more likely students will complete homework and benefit from it.