Assigning Purposeful


Homework & Practice

Suzanne Whisler
Esu 4
Johnson Brock Public Schools
January 25, 2012

esu4instructionalstrategies.wikispaces.com
Session objective . . .
• What will I do to help students
practice and deepen their
understanding of new knowledge?
• Best practices in assigning
homework & designing practice
assignments
Almost All Teachers at One Time or
Another Give Homework
Assignments.
If you were King or Queen,
what would homework look
like in your school?
 Ave. Effect Size Percentile
Category gain

Identifying Similarities and differences 1.61 45

Summarizing and note taking 1.00 34

Reinforcing effort and providing recognition .80 29

Homework and Practice .77 28

Nonlinguistic representations .75 27

Cooperative learning .73 27

Setting objectives/providing feedback .61 23

Generating and testing hypotheses .61 23

Questions, cues, and advance organizers .59 22

What is effective homework?
 5 Characteristics of Quality
Homework

1. Clear academic purpose

2. Efficiency
3. Ownership
4. Competence
5. Aesthetic appeal
 Aha’s & Questions
• Form a group of 4
• In your group letter off A-D
• Each partner will silently read a segment of
the article “5 Hallmarks of Good Homework”.
• A – Hallmark 1 Purpose
• B – Hallmark 2 & 3 Efficiency and Ownership
• C – Hallmark 4 Competence
• D – Hallmark 5 Aesthetic Appeal
• As you read, record any Aha’s or questions you
have regarding your segment.
• Share you Aha’s and questions with your group.
Let’s explore the 5 qualities of homework
in depth.
1. Clear Academic Purpose
The ultimate goal of the assignment
should be clearly communicated to
the student.
(Marzano, Pickering and Pollock, 2001)
 Students shouldn’t have trouble
connecting the purpose of homework to
classroom learning.
Four Purposes of Homework

• Pre-learning
• Checking for understanding
• Practice
•Processing Busy
Work
Pre-learning ~ Cues
• Provide an introduction to a topic
• Provide background information
• Find out what student already know
• Stimulate interest in a topic
• Read a chapter and complete an advance
organizer
• Write down questions you have about the
topic
• Watch a video
• KWL Chart
Check for Understanding
• Homework should provide feedback to the
teacher and student about the student’s
understanding
• Adjust instruction
• Reteach concepts
• Example assignments
• Do 5 math problems, explain the steps
• Have students complete a journal
assignment about a class science
experiment to check students’
understanding of what happened and why
 If homework is assigned, it should be
commented on.

• Homework is assigned, but not

commented on has an effect size of .28.
• Homework is assigned and graded has an
effect size of .78.
• Homework is assigned and teacher
provides written comments has an
effect size of .83.
(Marzano, 2007)
 Practice
• Practice should be assigned only after the teacher is confident
that students fully understand the concept.
• Don’t skip Check for Understanding
• Students may practice skill incorrectly
• Distributed practice is better than mass practice.
 Two–tiered Homework
• Part 1
• Assign 3 problems to check for
understanding of a new concept
• Part 2
• Assign 10 problems to practice and
reinforce a concept previously taught.

Practice is more effective when

distributed over several days.
(Marzano, 2010)
 Processing
• Used when the teacher wants students to
reflect on concepts
• Think of new questions to ask
• Apply skills or knowledge learned
• Often a long-term project
• Summarizing major concepts in a unit
• Writing an original poem
Write an editorial defending or
criticizing the actions of the participants
of the
Homework Does Not Teach Responsibility . . .
• Parents do! (says Debra Pickering one of
co-writers with Robert Marzano).
• Students need to be taught organization,
time management, stress management,
goal setting, etc.
Aha’s and Questions

• What Aha’s and questions do

you have regarding clear
academic purpose?
2. Efficiency
Some tasks are well-intentioned
attempts to create fun or interesting
tasks, while losing sight of the
academic focus.
(Vatterott,
2010)
Efficiency
• Do students clearly understand the
assignment?
• Does the assignment help students learn?
• Color the map
• Writing the definitions of the words
• Read Chapter 4
• Solve the word puzzle
Efficient homework examples . . .
• List the 3 most important ideas in
Chapter 4.
• Write a reaction to what you read.
• During your reading place post-it notes
on the parts of the reading you had
questions about.
• During your reading place post-it notes
on the parts that you found most
interesting to discuss in class.
 10-Minute Rule
The maximum amount of nightly homework
should not exceed 10 minutes per grade level
per night, all subjects combined.

• 1st -3rd grades = Assign homework to teach

good habits
• 4th – 6th grades = 30-45 mins.
• 7th – 9th grades = 50-120 mins.
• 10th – 12th grades = 60-120 mins.
3. Ownership
• Personally relevant
• Give students choices
• Self-assess and reflect about their
learning
• Circle the part of the spelling word that is
the trickiest.
• Determine the best way for you to study
your multiplication facts.
• Assign corrections as homework after a test
• Students state why they missed questions and
find the correct answer in their notes or book
 Ownership
• Promote ownership by . . .
• Offer students an opportunity to personalize
their work
• Allow students to share information about
themselves or their lives
• Tap emotions, feelings, or opinions about a
subject
• Allow students to create products or
presentations
Aha’s and Questions

• What Aha’s and questions do

you have regarding efficiency
and ownership?
4. Competence – Tasks are doable!

Homework that cannot be done

without help is not good homework
and is demotivating to students.
(Vatterott, 2007)
4. Competence
• Homework should instill a sense of
competence in the mind of the
learner.
• Students feel positive about learning
 5. Aesthetic Appeal
• The way homework looks is important!
• It’s important to younger students and
academically challenged students.
• Overwhelming
• Small spaces for writing
• Worksheets with too much information
on a page
• Five page worksheets
• Endless lists of definitions
Aha’s and Questions

• What Aha’s and questions do

you have regarding
competence and appeal?
What about parent
involvement?
Parent Involvement from Dr. Marzano
• Parent involvement in homework
should be kept to a minimum.
• Parents should know what homework
their children are responsible for
completing.
• Parents’ role should be to facilitate
homework not to do the homework
for students.
• Parents’ role should be defined and
communicated in a homework policy
from the teacher and school.
Does Johnson Brock have a
homework policy?
 Every School and Teacher Should Have a
Homework Policy (Guideline) and It Should Be
Consistently Observed!



• What is the purpose of homework?
• How much homework will be
assigned?
• What are the consequences for not
completing homework?
• What types of parental involvement
are acceptable?
• How will I communicate my
homework policy?
Let’s Move!
• Please stand up.
• Move around the room and form a
group of three-ish.
• Discuss what important information you
learned about using homework
effectively.
 Teachers should not abandon
homework. Instead, they should
improve its instructional quality.
(Marzano and Pickering,
2007)