Update: August 2016
Key approaches to homework I’ve tried in 2016 with lower level maths classes include:
- 1 key question per week (rather than lots they don’t do!) – get them to explore this one question deeply, think about different ways it could be solved and also possible mistakes.
- the ‘homework assignment’ advocating-forms I adapted from saravanderwerfdotcom about helping students develop their ability to ask for help
- I also like Lane Walker’s thoughts around not creating too much extra work, but using random sampling to check / keep accountability
NB> for junior students, check out the homework letter!
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Stuff below here was published in Jun 2012
Couple of possibly useful websites:
– http://davidwees.com/content/25-things-kids-can-do-instead-of-homework
This is one particular page of his… more to be explored. He’s a maths teacher too!
– http://www.edutopia.org/ OR http://www.edutopia.org/assessment
which gives ideas such as: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/assessing-common-core-standards-real-life-mathematics
NB> One idea I’m keen on re: homework is to get the students to prep for the next lesson by researching something about it, with particular emphasis on practical applications of the topic (e.g. how are logarithms used in daily practice?). I can see how this will help get their minds engaged early and see the relevance of what we’re looking at!