Homework Tips

Posted by Mr. Marchionda on Sep 7, 2009 in Classroom News, Classroom Procedures | Comments Off

Here is a bit of information on homework. In my class almost 90 percent of kids take home no work every day. Out of the remaining 10 percent, about 5 percent have less than 15 minutes of work to do. The other 5 percent tend to have quite a bit more. It is my practice to give kids an appropriate amount of time at school to finish their classwork. Whatever does not get finished is the responsibility of the student to finish and turn in at the beginning of school the next day. I found this information in regard to homework and would like to share it with all of you.

“Schools should teach kids how to learn, and parents should teach them how to work by establishing work rules and work ethic at home.” – Dr. Mel Levine, Co-Founder and Co-Chair, All Kinds of Minds

Homework provides an opportunity for parents to reinforce and build upon what a child learns at school. Follow these tips to help your child achieve success during homework time.

1. Set a consistent time each day for doing homework. During this time, distractions should be limited (e.g., television should be off; other family members should be doing quiet work too).

2. Encourage your child to make a homework checklist. The checklist should include estimating how long each assignment will take, setting priorities, collecting materials for the first task, setting a timer, completing the task, collecting materials for the next task, resetting the timer, and placing the completed assignments in his backpack.

3. As needed, provide assistance to help your child get started on a task. Support might include providing the first sentence of a paragraph or clarifying directions.

4. Help your child make a list of all the materials he needs to gather before starting his homework.

5. Provide materials only as they are needed. For instance, instead of distributing an entire package of pencils, give your child two pencils at a time.

6. Break large tasks into smaller, shorter, or simpler “mini-tasks.” Allow your child to take a brief break after completing each mini-task.

7. Before beginning homework, encourage your child to decide which assignments can be done without assistance and which require the help of an adult. The simpler assignments should be completed before the more complex tasks.

8. Ask, “Why do we need to learn this?” and answer it seriously. Connect the concept with “real life” to establish relevancy and interest. If you need help making the connection, ask your child’s teacher.

9. Check work in progress. If an assignment that is given on Monday is due on Friday, ask your child to show you what she has finished each day or to show you a plan of what will be done each day between Monday and Friday.

10. Encourage your child to follow a writing process. For instance, use the C.O.P.S. proofreading strategy (capitalization, organization, punctuation, spelling) to create a checklist.