Student beliefs about homework (pd 7) continued
From my initial “Chemistry Homework Survey #1” (Artifact 2A) given to my 2nd period class, 11 out of 27 surveyed students responded “I had other things going on at home” which interfered with their ability to do their chemistry homework. The concerns about adolescent well being in relation to homework addressed by Zuzanek (2009) seemed to surface through student surveys although due to oversight I did not ask students to further elaborate on the responses they chose. Responses by students who said homework is “a waste of time” or “something I have to do” suggest that these students seem to see very little or no connection between homework and academic success (Artifact 6). Furthermore my observations seem to indicate that students who may not appear to care about their grades often become very concerned about their grades when their grades are presented to them. To ensure that all students had equal access to their grades I began posting updated grades weekly by student ID number in order to maintain anonymity. Some students checked the posting daily even though grades were updated weekly not daily. The number of students who asked for make up work increased, which suggested that students expected that the work they turned in would raise their grade. Why then were they not doing their work initially?
I thought it was interesting that the amount of homework in the surveyed countries, in the Zuzanek (2009) article, either changed little or declined over the past 15 years. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the 2014 Brown Center Report on American Education also supports the finding that the homework load for students has “remained remarkably stable since 1984” (p. 20). Furthermore, in Finland and other countries the declines in amount of homework seemed to be due to the incorporation of homework to class time. This practice appears to be similar to what I next implemented in my classroom.
After analyzing the survey responses from my 2nd period class and implications from the Zusanek (2009) article and Brown Center Report (2014) I decided to provide students with more time to complete homework assignments. In addition to providing more nights to complete homework, I also built in roughly 5-10 minutes of class on days when homework is assigned to let students start the homework assignment. This provided students with the opportunity to get some homework done in class but more importantly it gave students the opportunity to ask me clarifying questions before they leave my class. After reading student responses to the “Chemistry Homework Survey #1 (Artifact 2A) I was surprised when some students packed up and told me they wanted to do their homework at home when they were given time in class to work on homework. Some of these students did complete the homework at home yet others did not. I believe built in homework time was a proactive practice to reduce student excuses about not understanding the homework assignment. If students did not choose to use their time wisely then at that point I should have made working on homework required in order to do everything in my control to support them. According to Kralovec & Buell (2001), “the all-important principle that should guide a redesigned schedule is that all assigned schoolwork should be completed at school, where all students have equal access to educational resources” (Noll, 2004, p. 342). I think there is some value to this statement although I am not sure about the practicality of such a practice. Additionally I used homework packets, a practice discussed in the introduction, as an organizational tool for both my students and myself. For students who often misplaced papers there was incentive to hold onto their packets until they were collected because students received points just for keeping track of their packet for a week.
I thought it was interesting that the amount of homework in the surveyed countries, in the Zuzanek (2009) article, either changed little or declined over the past 15 years. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the 2014 Brown Center Report on American Education also supports the finding that the homework load for students has “remained remarkably stable since 1984” (p. 20). Furthermore, in Finland and other countries the declines in amount of homework seemed to be due to the incorporation of homework to class time. This practice appears to be similar to what I next implemented in my classroom.
After analyzing the survey responses from my 2nd period class and implications from the Zusanek (2009) article and Brown Center Report (2014) I decided to provide students with more time to complete homework assignments. In addition to providing more nights to complete homework, I also built in roughly 5-10 minutes of class on days when homework is assigned to let students start the homework assignment. This provided students with the opportunity to get some homework done in class but more importantly it gave students the opportunity to ask me clarifying questions before they leave my class. After reading student responses to the “Chemistry Homework Survey #1 (Artifact 2A) I was surprised when some students packed up and told me they wanted to do their homework at home when they were given time in class to work on homework. Some of these students did complete the homework at home yet others did not. I believe built in homework time was a proactive practice to reduce student excuses about not understanding the homework assignment. If students did not choose to use their time wisely then at that point I should have made working on homework required in order to do everything in my control to support them. According to Kralovec & Buell (2001), “the all-important principle that should guide a redesigned schedule is that all assigned schoolwork should be completed at school, where all students have equal access to educational resources” (Noll, 2004, p. 342). I think there is some value to this statement although I am not sure about the practicality of such a practice. Additionally I used homework packets, a practice discussed in the introduction, as an organizational tool for both my students and myself. For students who often misplaced papers there was incentive to hold onto their packets until they were collected because students received points just for keeping track of their packet for a week.