Last week I discussed the importance of designing more creative homework assignments and how this can increase the percentage of students who actually complete the homework.

Another great way teachers can improve their homework completion rate is by giving the students a choice of homework assignments.

Here’s how my own students taught me this lesson…

One day a few weeks ago the homework assignment was to create a journal entry and one of my students asked if she could write a letter instead (read last week’s post for more on these types of assignments: http://teaching-tips-machine.com/blog/?p=94 ). I told the student that it would be fine as long as she followed all the same guidelines as the journal entry assignment. A few other students then asked if they could do the same and of course I told them they could.

This got me thinking…

Then, just this past week, we watched excerpts from the movie Glory about the first African-American regiment in the Civil War (great movie by the way). After watching the movie I was going to have the students write a journal entry as if they were one of the soldiers in the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. However, at the last minute I decided to give them a choice of three different assignments. The students could either write a journal entry, a letter to or from one of the soldiers, or they could write a movie review. In all cases though, they had to include the date and certain key terms that I picked out. In fact, the objectives of each assignment were exactly the same.

The result was great! Not only did I have a high percentage of students completing the homework, but the quality of their homework was very impressive.

Granted, the fact that the students loved the movie certainly contributed, but I can’t help but think that the major factor was that they had a choice in the assignment.

How do I know for certain?

They told me! Several students actually thanked me for giving them a choice…now when’s the last time a teacher got thanked for a homework assignment?

******
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

*******

Share