Homework Tips – Increasing The Number Of Students Who Complete The Homework
I have recently written about the importance of designing more creative homework assignments as a way to increase the percentage of students who actually complete the homework.
For example, I often have students write journal entries or letters as if they were someone from the time period we are studying. Of course, I set guidelines for the assignment, but I allow them to be creative at the same time. I see many more students complete their homework when I offer these types of assignments.
Well, another great way teachers can improve their homework completion rate is by giving the students a choice of homework assignments.
Here’s how my own students taught me this lesson…
One day a few weeks ago my homework assignment was to create a journal entry when one of my students asked if she could write a letter instead. I told the student that it would be fine as long as she followed all the same guidelines as the journal entry assignment. A few other students then asked if they could do the same and of course I told them they could.
Then, just this past week, we watched excerpts from the movie Glory about the first African-American regiment in the Civil War (great movie by the way). After watching the movie I was going to have the students write a journal entry as if they were one of the soldiers in the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. However, at the last minute I decided to give them a choice of three different assignments. The students could either write a journal entry, a letter to or from one of the soldiers, or they could write a movie review. In all cases though, they had to include the date and certain key terms that I picked out. In fact, the objectives of each assignment were exactly the same.
The result was great! Not only did I have a high percentage of students completing the homework, but the quality of their homework was very impressive.
Granted, the fact that the students loved the movie certainly contributed, but I can’t help but think that the major factor was that they had a choice in the assignment.
How do I know for certain?
They told me! Several students actually thanked me for giving them a choice…now when’s the last time a teacher got thanked for a homework assignment?
By: Adam Waxler