1. Assigning Purposeful Homework & Practice
Suzanne Whisler
Esu 4
Johnson Brock Public Schools
January 25, 2012
esu4instructionalstrategies.wikispaces.com

2. 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

3. Almost All Teachers at One Time or Another Give Homework Assignments.

4. If you were King or Queen, what would homework look like in your school?
As kings and queens of your school work in a group of 3ish and jot down 3 of your best hopes for what homework would look like in your school.

5. Category Homework and Practice 28 .77 Ave. Effect Size Percentile 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
Setting objectives/providing feedback
.61 23
Generating and testing hypotheses
Questions, cues, and advance organizers
.59 22
When looking at Marzano’s 9 instructional strategies you can see that homework and practice has the 4th largest effect size. .77 is considered to be a large effect size. So the question we have to ask ourselves is . . .

6. What is effective homework?
Examining best practices in homework can challenge your assumptions and cause you to be reflective in your practices
What is effective homework?

7. 5 Characteristics of Quality Homework
Clear academic purpose
Efficiency
Ownership
Competence
Aesthetic appeal
Cathy Vatterott has identified 5 characteristics of quality homework. Today we are going to examine those 5 characteristics and discuss implications in assigning homework

8. 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.
Directions for the article

9. Let’s explore the 5 qualities of homework in depth.
Let’s explore the 5 qualities Dr. Vatterott identified in her article in more depth and as we explore them we’ll share your Aha’s and questions.

10. 1. Clear Academic Purpose
The ultimate goal of the assignment should be clearly communicated to the student.
(Marzano, Pickering and Pollock, 2001)
The first quality is that there must be a clear academic purpose for homework. The purpose should be clearly stated to students. They need to understand the goal of the homework.

11. Students shouldn’t have trouble connecting the purpose of homework to classroom learning.

12. Four Purposes of Homework
Pre-learning
Checking for understanding
Practice
Processing
Busy
Work
Cathy Vatterott has identified 4 purposes of homework

13. 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
Homework can be used to set the stage for learning or used as cues. Homework can be assigned to activate a student’s prior knowledge about a topic or to stimulate their interest. It can you feedback as to what students already know about a concept or topic.

14. 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
Another purpose of homework is to see if student have grasped a new skill or concept. Checking for understanding can provide feedback to the teacher and to the student.

15. 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.
As you can see feedback on homework assignments has quite a large effect size. Feedback on homework increases student learning.
(Marzano, 2007)

16. 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.
In addition, homework can be used for practice but only after students have a clear understanding of the concept and skill. If we assign practice too early, students will practice skills incorrectly reinforcing errors and misconceptions. Keep in mind that research shows that distributed practice is better that mass practice.

17. Two–tiered Homework Practice is more effective when
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.
Here is an example of practice that is distributed.
Practice is more effective when
distributed over several days.
(Marzano, 2010)

18. 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
The final purpose of homework is processing. Processing typically involves a long-term project. Processing assignments usually require students to apply skill or knowledge.
Write an editorial defending or criticizing the actions of the participants of the
Boston Tea Party.

19. 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.
Responsibility is not a purpose of home. Homework does not teach responsibility Parents do!

20. Aha’s and Questions
What Aha’s and questions do you have regarding clear academic purpose?

21. 2. Efficiency
Some tasks are well-intentioned attempts to create fun or interesting tasks, while losing sight of the academic focus.
(Vatterott, 2010)
2nd quality is efficiency. Are the task we are asking students to complete showing what they know about a concept? Does the assignment help the student learn?

22. 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
These tasks do not assess what the student has learned.

23. 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.
Better examples of efficient homework include These tasks inform teachers about what the student has learned in completing their homework assignment.

24. 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 = mins.
7th – 9th grades = mins.
10th – 12th grades = mins.
How much homework is too much homework. Keep the 10 minute rule in mind.

25. 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
The third quality is ownership. How can we make our homework assignments personally relevant to students. Can we give the students choices? Spelling words, math facts, 20 min. of reading. What about having students make corrections as homework after a test.

26. 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
Here are some additional suggestions to promote ownership of homework.

27. Aha’s and Questions
What Aha’s and questions do you have regarding efficiency and ownership?

28. 4. Competence – Tasks are doable!
Are the tasks we assign doable? Homework that cannot be done without help is not good homework and is demotivating to students.
Homework that cannot be done without help is not good homework and is demotivating to students.
(Vatterott, 2007)

29. 4. Competence
Homework should instill a sense of competence in the mind of the learner.
Students feel positive about learning
Homework should instill confidence in students and help to create a positive feeling towards learning.

30. 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
The way homework looks is important especially for younger students and students that struggle in school. Some homework can look very overwhelming.

31. Aha’s and Questions
What Aha’s and questions do you have regarding competence and appeal?

32. Parent Involvement from Dr. Marzano
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.
How should parents be involved with homework? Dr. Marzano recommends that parents take a minimal role in homework. Facilitators of homework. If you have a homework policy he recommends that the parents role be clearly defined in the policy

33. Does Johnson Brock have a homework policy?

34. 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?

35. 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.

36. Teachers should not abandon homework
Teachers should not abandon homework. Instead, they should improve its instructional quality.
(Marzano and Pickering, 2007)