Monday, December 1, 2008
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TAP
Welcome to the Issaquah School District blog for TAP teachers! We will use this blog to share our learning as we progress through the year.
18 comments:
Hm. I find I've got a pretty strong opinion on this. I think having credibility as teachers lies in the balance here. It may be more obvious with my (EBD) students, but the suspicion that homework is pointless make-work will erode trust in the validity of what a teacher is teaching and how that teacher is working with them. Students need to see that it reflects the work they have done, and find that it prepares them for the work they will be doing - soon. Even our journal topics each morning relate to some topic, usually more writing, during the day. I don't want students to think I'm just shutting them up so I can do attendance, I instead want to spread that thinking time, so they come prepped for the lesson it's aimed at. I deliberately refer back to homework or journal in the course of the lesson: "Remember when you...? Well, it's just like that:..."
2c,
Michel Plemmons
I'm going to start spending a few minutes at the end of class to go over the homework and make the purpose and value of the homework clear. I think students will be more able to work independently at home that way. When we self-correct in the mornings, I'm going to tell students that they need to see me if they got more than three problems wrong. I'm going to continue to have students discuss their homework in their teams and issue team points for teams that all have thier homework. I feel good about my homework policy and level of communication and feedback.
I believe that the homework I assign my students is an important supplement to what we've studied in class. This allows them to practice and review skills and concepts that we have learned, while being able to do so at their own pace. Because I do not want to assign meaningless homework, the work load each week varies slightly depending on what we are studying. The homework helps me know where individual students are at, and what I need to spend time reviewing in class. A lot of the response questions I ask on reading logs also allow students to make connections in their reading to other areas of life and other subjects. I plan to continue with the amount of homework I'm assigning as well as the policy I encourage. I am also in agreement with what we discussed at our last meeting- the value of writing comments and maintaining that dialogue with students about their thoughts behind their answers. I will make it my goal to do that more frequently.
I give my students very little homework. This comes from my student teaching wherein I was part of a formative/summative pilot program. Formative work did not have any impact on the grade, so I spent considerable time contemplating if the work was truly summative or practice. If it is practice - it seems to work just as well allowing students time in class, that way they can get help (from myself or a friend) right away. I find that students who do not take advantage of this time tend to either miss the mark or never turn it in.
The homework I do assign and have strong feelings about usually comes under the headings of lab preparation, lab reports, or quiz/exam prep. This is what you HAVE to get done, and it needs to be done on time - it shows that this is important, prepares them for college and for life.
Since the homework/classwork is usually comes straight from the days work/lab or feeding into the next day, I personally struggle with students whose IEPs specify extended time for assignments. If the assignment are not completed, the student is not prepared. How do I jigsaw together an extended time frame that makes any sense?
-Lena
Homework gets tricky for my resource room students. Many of them already have required homework from their general education classrooms, and they are the last students to need MORE homework than their peers. Also, because many of my students have a harder time grasping and retaining information, I am leery of giving them homework that covers relatively new material. Research indicates that assigning homework that practices a skill with which a student is unfamiliar may result in misconceptions or having them learn the concepts incorrectly.
In my 4th and 5th grade math classes I generally try to make sure the students can demonstrate some independent proficiency in an area before I assign homework that reflects those skills.
One of the things that struck home with me regarding homework is how important it is that students understand WHY they are doing their homework. I would like to take a little bit of time when we are introducing homework and make sure students know the purpose of the homework. Another ‘take-away’ for me involved the significance of giving timely feedback on assignments. When students turn in homework that does not get corrected during class, I want to improve at getting their results back to them in a timely manner.
In first grade, my team gives students the same homework each week, all year long. The students build on skills/lessons from class (Making Words). EDM homework is sent home with the corosponding math lesson from the day. I believe the math that first grade sends home is designed to fill the mind, yet still make is enjoyable for the students to engage in learning.
I believe that homework that fills the mind is sort of like "busy work" in the classroom. It is a time-filler, rathar than a learning opportunity.
The greatest thing I took away from our meeting was probably related more to effective time management skills when it comes to grading rather than the two different types of homework listed in the title, so I have been trying to work on that - stamping, codes of corrections for students to refer to rather than leaving lengthy comments on each page. However, I know the article we read stated that students glean the most benefit from homework which is returned in a timely manner with personal comments, so I am still seeking a balance there.
As far as the difference between the two I think it comes with assigning a managable amount of homework and then like others have mentioned making sure the students see the connection in class during work and tests that shows them the homework is a valuable part to their learning. However, I am finding it somewhat challenging with all of the materials necessary to cover in a MS humanities class - for example 6 novels in addition to personal reading the students must do - that we can make a connection to every nightly homework assignment in class the next day or two. Most of my colleagues assign the reading at home and rarely have time to connect the reading to class time. Any suggestions?
Homework that fills an evening does not improve the students' belief that learning and school is valuable. In fact, it often does the opposite and leads them to believe that schoolwork is done "because my teacher said so." I am not sure what my students would say if I asked them what the "point" of homework was. My challenge is: how do I keep the student in the learning process - especially with homework? How do I keep them invested in their own learning? I don't yet have the answers. What does everyone else here do to engage their students and help them believe in the value of work outside of school?
I feel that the homework I assign has value and is more often preparation/elaboration than just straight practice. I think the most important information I have taken home from our session on homework is the helpful hints on grading homework. I have 120 English students and the grading has been overwhelmong at times, thanks for the input!
Since the TAP session on homework that fills a mind, I've begun to do "homework previews" with my students. Before, I used to assign homework with the assumption that students would see the value in the problems, how they reinforced concepts presented during instruction and groupwork. Now, instead of assuming that such assumptions are being made, I am making the connections for my students. I especially try to clarify which problems are practice of skills versus extensions (which require risky thinking and bold mathematical detours). I encourage students to try new strategies and not to become discouraged when the solution is not immediately apparent.
Additionally, I shared the Marzano research about how 24 practice sessions of a new concept results in about 80 percent mastery of that concept. Many of my students were shocked, thinking that it would take less practice. They now seem more willing to complete larger practice chunks of homework since they see the meaning.
I like to use homework as a time to practice the days concepts or to analyse data we have collected form a lab. I know my homework is effective when they come back with questions, both about the homework and about the larger topic we are studying. Homework seems to give my students time to discover where they are struggling and be ready to get help or ask clarifying questions.
My team also gives the same homework each week. We ask the students to complete reading, math links, writing and study their sight words. Most of this work is elaboration however; studying sight words would be preparation for our in-class activities.
I enjoyed discussing helpful hints to grading homework and the value of homework. I am going to spend more time at the end of class going over our homework packet to make it of value and meaningful to the students.
"What is the difference between homework that fills an evening and homework that fills a mind?"
Homework that fills the mind is tangible. It leaves students feeling challenged, excited, exhausted, or even confused. To add to the every growing thought processes of our mind is what we strive for thoughout life (hopefully). Homework should provoke students to want more information, while adding to their knowledge base or skill sets. The challenging part of true worth while homework is in making it specific to each student's likes or interests so that they have buy-in and grow as the individual they see themselves as or want to be.
The most valuable thing I took away from that session was to take the time to give meaningful feedback on my kids homework.
In response to the prompt, I think that if homework has a strong connection to something that was taught in class, then it is, "Homework that fills a mind." Because of the way the EM is designed, math homework always falls into this category and is valuable to student learning.
Homework that fills an evening is like following a tofu and vegetables only diet (no spices or savory sauces) for a year. You would do it to stay alive, but you would walk away from the experience with the knowledge that vegetables and tofu is extremely bland and nothing to look forward to. This is exactly what doing homework for the sake of doing homework is: extremely uninspiring. Homework should always serve a purpose, other than because students are supposed to do homework, and the students should know exactly what the purpose is. Also, the medium should change often enough to create novelty because even a good meal can quickly become old when eaten day after day.
I think that the big difference between homework that fill and evening and homework that fills a head is that students need to see the value and be able to make connections with homework. A lot of times, I assign reflection questions and conclusions as homework because it makes the kids really think about the lab or demonstration that we did in class and pushes them to make connections with previous labs and readings from our books. I also think it is important to show the kids that their homework had a purpose by taking the time to grade it and give the kids feedback on what they have done.
What is the point of homework? I think sometimes we give homework just because that is what teachers do--that is what is expected of us--without really thinking about why.
As a math teacher, I want homework to act as a review and a practice of already learned skills. I want it to solidify the ideas we discussed that day and build students' confidence.
The thought of homework filling up a child's evening is sad to me. When I was student teaching Honors and AP classes last year, students would tell me how they stayed up till 2-3 a.m. just doing homework. Is that really what we want high school kids doing?
This class made me very aware about the type of feedback that I was giving students on thier homwork. I teach Kindergarten and the only homework that our team gives is to complete the Eveyday Math Homelinks and to read 20 minutes a night. Before the class, I was giving very little feedback on the homework. I was told that the point of giving this is to not only have them carrying their new knowledge home with them with extension activities, but also to establish the routine of homework at a young age.
Since the class, I have been giving feedback in the form of questions. This is encouraging students to thinking further, instead of forgetting about it as soon as they hand it in. Even though parents help students complete the homework, I have started giving directions for the homework before sending it home.
I feel like when I talk about it they can see that I do value it and they are doing it for a reason.
In regards to thier reading at night, I have started asking questions about the books they are reading at home. I also have a take-home reading program and talked to parents about coversing with thier child about they are reading.
Homework is becoming much more successul in my classroom!
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