Friday, July 12, 2013

Homework as Practice


A Few Questions to Consider

Homework should be practice of essential skills and essential learnings.  So......

1.  Do students need practice?

2.  Should practice be graded?

3.  Perfect practice makes perfect.  How do we make sure students perfectly practice?

4.  Do all students need the exact same practice?

5.  Do all students need the exact same amount of practice?

6.  What should feedback look like?


If we don't grade homework......
1.  How do we make sure they do their homework (is it important that a student who has mastered the content do the homework)?

2. How do students and parents know how the student is doing?

3. What are the assessments that are graded and how frequent are these assessments?


If homework is practice, which of the following makes sense?
  • Word Finds
  • Homework every night, no matter what
  • Homework over a topic that hasn't been taught yet
  • Homework over non-essential learnings
  • Extra Credit over non-essential learnings (or extra credit in general)
  • Completion grades
  • "D+" written on the practice assignment by the teacher (or A+ or B-) 
  • One opportunity to practice an essential learning
  • Late work is not accepted
  • Feedback on homework is infrequent or not given