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Designing Effective Homework. Presenter: Debra Pickering. The Homework Ate My Family KIDS ARE DAZED, PARENTS ARE STRESSED BY ROMESH RATNESAR. The Case For and Against Homework. Misrepresentations and Valid Concerns. Topics for Recommendations.
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Designing Effective Homework Presenter: Debra Pickering
The Homework Ate My FamilyKIDS ARE DAZED,PARENTS ARE STRESSEDBY ROMESH RATNESAR
The Case For and Against Homework Misrepresentations and Valid Concerns Topics for Recommendations
On a day to day basis, how much time should students spend on homework? • What is the role of parents when their children are working on homework? What should parents do if their children cannot complete the homework on their own? • What do you consider to be the major purpose(s) of homework? • What makes homework effective? What makes homework ineffective? • How did homework impact you as a learner?
Misrepresentations and Valid Concerns "Missing Out on Their Childhoods" "The Creation of the Homework Potato" "So Much Work, So Little Time"
Headlines Teachers mull ending homework for pupils After years of teachers piling it on, there's a new movement to ... Abolish homework (San Francisco Chronicle, October 8, 2006) Other countries do better with less homework
Misrepresentations and Valid Concerns In The Case Against Homework (2006), there is page after page of heart-wrenching testimonials, such as: “I had to quit ballet and I don’t get enough sleep and I don’t have time to read,” says Caroline, a fifth grader in a Memphis public school who does seventy to eighty minutes of homework each night.” “My first grader would love to participate in our family’s ‘Game Night’ with her grandparents, but often can’t because of homework…’ NO TIME TO SOCIALIZE Children fourteen and under spend an average of only twenty-five minutes each weekday socializing with family and friends outside of school, according to a 2004 study conducted at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research.
Misrepresentations and Valid Concerns THE STUDY “Changing Time for American Youth, 1981-2003 (Juster, Ono, and Stafford, November, 2004). Studying 49 minutes Playing 45 minutes Computer activities 25 minutes Watching TV 111 minutes “Skyrocketing” Today Show 6-8 year olds went from 8 minutes a day spent “studying” to 29 minutes a day in 2003. That same group spent an average of 103 minutes a day watching TV and engaging in other passive activities; and, another 74 minutes per day playing.
Misrepresentations and Valid Concerns From Kohn: “Most attentive parents can testify that their children are chronically frustrated by homework—weepy, stressed out, and fed up… But only an individual squirreled away in the proverbial ivory towercould deny—and only someone bereft of human feelings could minimize the importance of—the fact that an awful lot of homework is emotionally trying for an awful lot of children”. (emphasis added) There is no mention of the data Kohn knows well that in a national poll of parents, Percent Beliefs about homework 64% About right 25% Too little 10% Too much (as reported in Loveless, 2003)
Misrepresentations and Valid Concerns Are there valid concerns?
Topics • Time • Purpose • Feedback • Parent Involvement • Accountability
Homework Assignments Issue: Time A B Learning Goal: Increase competency when multiplying 3 digits time 3 digits. Assignment: Do all of the even numbered problems on page 100-101. Bring your work to class with you tomorrow morning. Practice this skill tonight by using the problems on page 100-101. Do as many as you can accurately in 15 minutes tonight. Bring with you those you were able to do in the 15 minutes. What are the pro’s and con’s of each approach?
Harris Cooper: 10 minutes x grade level?????? From: “The Case for and Against Homework, Marzano and Pickering, Educational Leadership …within their analysis of homework versus no homework studies Cooper, Robinson, and Patall found studies at grades 2, 3, and 4 demonstrating positive effects for homework
Harris Cooper: 10 minutes x grade level?????? The Cooper (1989a) synthesis reported that for secondary students the benefit of homework continued up to 1 to 2 hours per night. After that the benefits decreased. Similar findings were reported in the Cooper, Robinson, and Patall (2006) study. Specifically, the authors reported that 7 to 12 hours (per week) produced the largest effect size. After that the benefits decreased. They suggest that for 12th graders the optimum amount of homework might lie between 1.5 and 2.5 hours per night but caution that no hard and fast rules are warranted. From: “The Case for and Against Homework”, Marzano and Pickering, Educational Leadership
Issues and Recommendations • Time Key points: • Time constraints should be identified when assigning homework. • If students cannot complete the assigned work within the time constraints, they should have the opportunity to complete the work in class.
Necessary—sometimes difficult---conversations When homework is assigned, to what extent am I/are we confident that students are spending an appropriate amount of time? How could we monitor this?
Homework Policies Issue: Purpose A B You can expect homework each evening, Monday through Thursday. It is your responsibility to complete the assignments to be prepared for class the next day. There often is just not enough time in class for each of you to study and practice what you are learning. When it seems that there is a clear need for further individual work beyond what we do in class, you will have homework. For some learning goals, frequent homework might be assigned; for others, there might be no need for homework. When there is homework, it is your responsibility to complete the work and be prepared for class the next day. Pros and Cons?
Issues and Recommendations • Purpose • Avoid assigning homework simply as a matter of routine. “Expert teachers…do not report rigidly adhering to regular homework schedules so much as flexible use of what they view as a means for furthering collectively defined curricular goals. …[they] see policies requiring rigid homework schedules as undermining their ultimate curricular goals…” (as reported in “Homework is a Complicated Thing”, Lyn Corno)
Issues and Recommendations • Purpose • Avoid assigning homework simply as a matter of routine. • Students need to understand, and focus on, the purpose of the homework.
Clear Learning Goals? Examples (adaptations) from The Case Against Homework: • Read Chapter 5 and • identify who said the following quotes • find these vocabulary works, circle them, write a definition • make a timeline of events Read pages 62-66 in your textbook, and answer the questions at the end. Read chapters 6-10 in To Kill a Mockingbird. On a 12 x 12 piece of plywood, nail one-hundred nails (size shown in diagram) at precise intervals at the same depth. Take six difference colors of embroidery thread and weave it between the nails in geometric pattern. Circle all the words on this page that begin with the letter A. Then write them out Solve the fifty math problems on page 100.
United States map in 2056 • *Label the states (write them out) • *Write down the population of each of the 50 states for the year 2056 (projection) • 3. *Write the title " United States Population Map in 2056". • 4. Make a key of the following categories20,000,000 or more15,000,000-19,999,99910,000,000-14,999,9995,000,000-9,999,999Less than 5,000,000 • 5. Color the map • ***Use black or blue pen to label***
Assignment Notebook Assignment: Due: Learning Goal: As a result of doing this assignment, I should Know more about…? Understand better…? Be more skilled at…?
Issues and Recommendations • Purpose • Avoid assigning homework simply as a matter of routine. • Students need to understand, and focus on, the purpose of the homework. • The purpose of homework should be to enhance the learning of essential learning goals. • Homework assignments should be appropriate for the learning goals being addressed.
Necessary—sometimes difficult---conversations What is the learning goal? Given the learning goal, is this assignment the right one? Is this worth the time? Are there aspects of the assignment that require knowledge/materials not available to all students?
Mission Project The Alamoc
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“I am sorry I can’t come out and play right now. I have to help my dad with my science project.” “Mom, you got an A!” “Hello. JoAnn’s Craft’s? Do you have Styrofoam balls in the shapes and sizes of all the planets? How late are you open?” “Here is my volcano, son. It was your grandfather’s, too. He would be proud—and it is a guaranteed “A.” Special Topic: School Projects
Issues and Recommendations • Purpose • Avoid assigning homework simply as a matter of routine. • Students need to understand, and focus on, the purpose of the homework. • The purpose of homework should be to enhance the learning of essential learning goals.
Issues and Recommendations • Purpose • Avoid assigning homework simply as a matter of routine. • Students need to understand the purpose of the homework. • The purpose of homework should be to enhance the learning of essential learning goals. • Homework assignments should be appropriate for the learning goals that are being addressed.
Understanding the types of knowledge within Learning Goals…
Types of Knowledge Terms and Details Organizing Ideas Skills and Processes
Know>>Basic Understanding>>In depth understanding Recall>>>>>>>>>Explain/Represent>>>>>>>>>>>Use Terms and Details Organizing Ideas Skills and Processes Basic skill>>>Competent>>>Automaticity/Fluency
Know>>Basic Understanding>>In depth understanding Recall>>>>>>>>>Explain/Represent>>>>>>>>>>>Use Terms and Details (vocabulary, people, facts, places, events, titles, etc.) Colorado has mountains, rivers, and… Mitosis is… George Washington was… World War II was started.. Shakespeare wrote… A symphony is…
Know>>Basic Understanding>>In depth understanding Recall>>>>>>>>>Explain/Represent>>>>>>>>>>>Use Organizing Ideas Principles, Generalizations, Rules • Water seeks its own level. • Topography and natural resources influence the culture of a region. • Animals have characteristics that are examples of adaptation. • Sentences must begin with a capital letter and have end punctuation. • The key to many sports skills is “follow-through.” • Charts and graphs can be constructed in a way that distorts the information and influences conclusions of the viewer.
Know>>Basic Understanding>>In depth understanding Recall>>>>>>>>>Explain/Represent>>>>>>>>>>>Use Skills and Processes Mental and Psychomotor Reading a bar graph Writing to convey meaning Dribbling a basketball Typing on a QWERTY keyboard Adding whole numbers and fractions Finding absolute location on a map Mastery Basic skill>>>Competent>>>Automaticity/Fluency
from… “Basic Skills Versus Conceptual Understanding: A Bogus Dichotomy in Mathematics Education” The truth is that in mathematics, skills and understanding are completely intertwined. In most cases, the precision and fluency in the execution of the skills are the requisite vehicles to convey the conceptual understanding…. The automaticity in putting a skill to use frees up mental energy to focus on the more rigorous demands of a complicated problem. H. Wu. American Educator/American Federation of Teachers, Falls 1999.
