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Dominick Recckio, a student in a high school in Central New York, presents in his Edutopia blog, a student perspective on homework-- its importance, and a "a few fresh ideas" from his classmates.
He mentions the use of social media, such as creating groups for classes in Twitter, Facebook, etc. as one of the ways to make time spent on homework more meaningful for his classmates. Since using computer/mobile does not "feel like" school, youngsters may be more inclined to complete the assigned tasks.
Making real-world connections is another way, he mentions, to get students to get hooked on the task and feel more interest toward getting it done. He emphasizes that if teachers put more weight on homework, perhaps students would take it more seriously.
I welcome your thoughts!
Hi Rita,
ReplyDeleteI think Dominick has a point. An article that I read for class this week talked about using Twitter for students to ask/answer each others questions. Something I never thought about.
As far as weighting homework more, I find with my high school students this is not always appealing. Instead of nightly homework, I weight long projects as more and let students work on these in class and at home. Thoughts?
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DeleteUsing Twitter in Q&A (reposting)
DeleteCari, good point about Twitter. I have never used it as a teaching/learning tool, but may consider it in the near future.
The whole issue of homework -- aa far as how much weight it should carry -- does not really apply to language learning as we do not have a "point system" for tasks completed at home.
In the EAL field, we assess performance based on the knowledge our learners acquire through daily tasks, including homework, rather than the completion of the homework itself. Does this make sense?
Hi Rita! Everything is so technological and it seems as though everyone is connected. It would be great to use these new forms of technology in our classroom.
ReplyDeleteYet, we also have to think about those that don't have the means to have access to that technology. I'm just thinking of your EAL students, that are new to the country & adapting to our culture. Some of them might not have the means to purchase or have access to a computer or cell phones & so forth. I'm even thinking of my Grade 3 students, who have limited access to the computer, based on parental consent.
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DeleteDominick has a wonderful point. Since, I teach on the elementary level I would not increase the worth of homework because young students may need assistance and may not get any at home. I think he brings a valid point on making it more interesting. I found that when homework was a project by the due date I had plenty turned in. Great things to consider.
ReplyDeleteHomework: Making it Interesting
ReplyDeleteHi LaToya, making homeowork interesting is key to getting it completed -- I totally agree with this principle.
I, myself, hardly assign homework; instead, I provide "independent studies" time once a week for everyone to go over doubts/concerns, and for me to have a one-on-one chat with each student.
After learning more about online teaching and learning tools in this course, I will incorporate some of the ideas for online work to be done at home.
I welcome everyone's ideas in this regard -- what tools would you recommend or have you used so far?