Here’s something many teachers overlook that may actually improve the quality and quantity of homework your students produce…

Tell your students the purpose of the homework assignment.

That’s right…let your students know why you are giving a particular homework assignment. For example, “Tonight for homework I want you to write a 1 page journal entry as if you were an immigrant during the early 1900s. Make sure to include the name of the country you are coming from, the date, and several ‘push-pull’ factors. Remember, identifying several push-pull factors was the objective of today’s lesson. By writing this journal entry you will be reinforcing those objectives and really gain a deeper understanding of the reasons why people left their home countries and decided to come to America.”

This simple homework strategy will greatly increase the number of students who actually do the homework AND it will also improve the quality of the homework.

Why?

Simple…many, if not most, students just don’t understand why they are assigned homework. Most think that all the teachers really care about is that they just complete the homework. That the purpose of homework is for the teachers to have another grade in their gradebook.

By letting the students know the true purpose of homework they will see the importance and relevance of the assignment and therefore put in more effort towards that assignment.

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Are you still having problems getting your students to complete homework?

For more homework strategies that you can start applying to your very next class make sure read eTeach: A Teacher Resource for Learning the Strategies of Master Teachers @ www.TeachingTeacher.com

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