Author: Naimish Gohil
Posted: 30 Apr 2013
Estimated time to read: 2 mins
Setting homework isn't easy; it has to be engaging & worthwhile. Teachers need to keep a number of things in mind when creating and setting a task at home. How will students complete this at home? What will they do if they get stuck? How long will they need to complete it? These 5 tips take into account the roadbloacks teachers encounter when designing homework.
Here are my 5 tips for setting homework
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Make it interesting
If homework is boring, students won't do it. It's that simple. It can be difficult to make homework entertaining and engaging but with a bit of creativity (or googling homework ideas) it can be done. -
Make it worthwhile
What will students gain from the work? Is it furthering their understanding of the subject? Is it setting them up for an assessment? Ensure you're provifing something valuable in homework tasks, not setting work for the sake of it. -
Keep it short
Everyones attention spans are decreasing, not just students. Keeping them engaged through a long and unguided homework task is bodering impossible. Keep work short and sweet or consider breaking it into smaller chunks to make it more managable. -
Give feedback promptly
If students have forgotten what the homework was about, the feedback they recieve is going to be useless. Try to get feedback to them as soon as you can after the hand-in day. This will encourage them to make improvement promtly too. -
Set it in advance, never in class
Homework should be created in advance, giving yourself ample time to build a suitable task. Creating homework in class means you're not giving it enough mind. How do you expect students to engage in a task if you aren't?
Repeat consistently and create the habits you want your learners to have. I think homework and starter activities go well. It provides an opportunity to use the starter to go through the homework set. For those that did not do it, it gives them a chance to find out what they missed out on. It gives the learners that did do it, an opportunity to share their knowledge.
It also provides a forum for students to learn from each other. Keep it short. Move on. When setting homework, it's important to keep in mind whether or not it will be worthwhile for the students; at the same time you also want to engage parents in the home-learning process.
