Element 16

Desired Effect

Students can describe how the homework assignment will deepen their understanding of content or help them practice a skill, strategy, or process.

Purpose

• Homework and practice are related, connected by the context when students are learning on their own and applying new knowledge. Effective teachers approach this kind of learning experience as any other – matching the planned activity to the learning goal.
• Effective homework should have reasonable time requirements, clear alignment with identified learning goals, and a clear purpose such as: .
  • Homework That Helps Students to Deepen Their Knowledge – Extend and refine students’ understanding by using strategies such as comparison, classification, creating analogies, and error analysis. .
  • Homework That Enhances Students’ Fluency with Procedural Knowledge – Assign exercises, activities, or performance tasks designed to enhance students’ fluency in using specific skills, strategies, or processes.

Meaningful Homework

• Ensure students have a way to check how they are doing with a specific procedure or skill as they practice it independently. .
• Explain to students how the homework is designed to help them improve on the learning goal(s). .
• Complete homework assignments yourself before assigning them to students.
• Estimate how long it will take for students to complete them and anticipate questions that may arise while students are working on the assignment. .
• Give students feedback about homework assignments.