WHO gets homework?

Students get homework!- It’s part of school, especially ELA & Math, and it only grows in amount as you go through middle school, high school, and beyond. Homework will also increase in the areas of Science and Social Studies as you move further on in your education.

Parents get homework. Yes, it’s true. Your work applies to the other W’s below.

Teachers get homework, I promise! Planning and preparing for tomorrow’s  lessons, next week’s unit, grading work, updating Genesis, updating Google Classroom, SGO’s, PDP’s…

WHAT is homework?

This simple answer is “work you do at home,” but this isn’t the whole truth. Homework  is work that is assigned to be completed outside the classroom and brought back at a later date. Homework is often completing work not done in class, so  if you want less homework, get more done during class! Homework can be studying vocabulary for an upcoming quiz, completing reading checklist activities, workbook pages, writing assignments, benchmark practice activities,  MobyMax ELA/Math/SS/Science practice, ALEKS, Spanish conjugations, Lab reports, Math problems and the list goes on… so checking Google Classroom and Genesis is where to find what the homework is if you didn’t write it down during class. If you still aren’t sure, phone or text a friend!

PARENTS- homework is  work students do at home. It’s their work. If they are having difficulty with homework, have them review the work completed in class that day. If that doesn’t help, phone or text a classmate. If that doesn’t help, I’ll be in my room by 7:55 ready to help students.

WHERE is homework?

Homework isn’t something that has to  be completed at home. We have homework assistance offered Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays every week for all grade levels, and we have Study Hall during lunch period Monday through Friday. I am not a fan of homework, so I do as much of my work in school before I leave each day. Most of the homework I complete at home is on the weekend. Yes, we even have homework on the weekend.

PARENTS- This is part of your homework. Knowing where your child is doing their homework. If they say they are doing it at school, ask to see it, especially in the first month or so. Kids are kids, and some kids are more cooperative and compliant with homework than others. I’ve been the parent of both. My less compliant child needed to do his homework in plain sight at the kitchen table until he was in high school. I needed to see what his  homework was and needed to see him do it or show me it completed. Most days it took more time “discussing” doing the homework than it would have taken for him to do  the work. It wasn’t easy, but it was my homework to give my child a place to do his homework, and for him it had to be a very public setting.

WHEN is homework?

The answer to the question “when is my homework due?”  will always be found in Google Classroom and Genesis. You also have an agenda/planner, and you should be writing it down there too, especially a parent wants you to and checks to see that you do. Some assignments are due the next day, larger assignments will be given further  due dates. If you check your Google Calendar for your school gmail account, you will see your due dates from your teachers if they are using Google Classroom.

PARENTS- Yes, this is your work too. For my “challenging” child, he needed homework to be done right after school because if he took a break it was way more difficult to bring him back to the table to work. My other child was the complete opposite; she needed to decompress after school and on most nights didn’t start her homework until after dinner and actually liked waking up early to complete homework. It worked for her.  What best works for students is when they consistently do their homework at the same place and time. Homework is a routine and should be treated as such. It’s great to get the rare night off, but homework should be viewed as a daily event during the school  year.

For some students, weekly schedules can be busy to say the least, so the scenario  described above may not apply daily. Try to create routines that fit the weekly schedule. Completing as much work over the weekend can be a good option for those long-range assignments.

WHY homework?

School is serious work, we are trying to prepare you for high school, and high school will be preparing you for the adult version of you! That is serious stuff, even though it may not seem so right now.

The New Jersey Student Learning Standards are challenging, and no school  day gives us enough time to cover everything that needs to be covered and mastered in just our daily class periods. The NJSLS are designed to be competitive. Students who routinely do their work achieve better results than those who do not. We want you to do your best, and we promise we have done our best work to prepare you to do your best work. In preparation, we need you to do the homework  for you to achieve your best results. We also promise you we NEVER give homework without a real reason. It’s an essential practice that  helps you achieve mastery, and without it, you haven’t given yourself enough practice to do your best work. And while you may not be doing your homework, many of your classmates are, and remember when I said that the NJSLS are designed to be competitive? To do your best, you have to do your best!

If you give homework its needed time, you will be just fine!