Busy Sunday & reflections on homework.
Mark Tennant
Sunday 12 March 2006
Well folks, I've certainly been busy today! Managed to get woken this morning at 6:30am by the #@!&#$ beeper, only for the callout to be cancelled 15 minutes later (as I'm bundling myself, half dressed, a rucksack, boots and jacket into a car. That reminds me: really need to tidy it out. Anyway...)
Having got out of bed I decided I may as well do something productive. First task was to continue writing some new homework materials for the higher computing course. For the past two years I have been making do with various booklets and exercises in the public domain, as well as some past paper questions from the old higher computing course. I don't feel this is doing the pupils justice and without doubt they have not had any settled homework routine in the subject this year.
I have always placed a great deal of emphasis on homework as a teacher. I firmly believe it can make a difference to the majority of pupils in what they attain. It gives them autonomy over their learning, develops a positive work ethos and teaches them to be self-disciplined learners. From the teachers' point of view, it makes sure pupils are at least doing some level of revision each week and perhaps also taking topics further than would be possible in class.
Many teachers, I have no doubt though, believe they are simply swimming against a tide of apathy when they issue homework, with many pupils well aware we cannot legally punish them for not doing it. However consider this: In the past two years only one pupil in my two standard grade classes has failed to submit homework; in my current S3 class homework has been late from a maximum of two pupils per week, and on over half the occasions all homework was handed in on time. So how have I achieved this? It would be difficult to go into huge levels of detail in a blog, but here are some of the things I consider to have helped towards this.
- Pupils are told about my expecteations about the level of effort in homework at the start,
- We discuss the importance of the homework tasks they are given, and how they relate to their learning, and also what will happen if pupils do not do the work,
- Each pupil copies the expectations onto the front page of their homework book, including the requirement to seek help if stuck.
- Each pupil is given a large A5 sticker inside the ir book cover to chart their homework progress,
- Progress is recorded in terms of the effort made, with an "A" being Excellent and a "D" being poor. I maintain a database showing their awards, so that trends or issues can be spotted.
- Pupils recieve rewards at certain stages (e.g. getting two "A" awards will earn a positive referral),
- The homework is marked and returned within 3 days. Correct answers to any problems are written in by me, and a personalised comment on their effort and areas for development given at the end of every homework exercise,
- A small variety of tasks relevant to the time of year are given, such as ink exercises for revision, past paper questions in the months before an exam, informal investigations at the start of new topics, etc.,
- Amount of homework, the time taken and what the pupils feel went well or they had difficulties with is discussed frequently,
- Most importantly, homework is seen by the pupils to be given a high priority by me, and the pupil's seem to respond well to this.
Of course, that is just a snapshot of what I'm doing to promote homework in my classes and the department. If you want to discuss these ideas further then please
get in touch .
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