written by Theresa M. Pepe
Pre-Algebra Page
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��� Math homework and practice dates back to approximately 1800, B.C. where a Sumerian scholar inscribed in small tablets that resemble algebraic related numbers. Homework appears to have been completed almost 4000 years ago. Pretty impressive! Traditionally, homework is assigned to reinforce what students learn in class. Teachers feel that through drill and practice students will retain more information. This is certainly true for math homework. What would it be like in school if children did not go home and practice multiplication, for example? It would be a nightmare for math class perhaps!
��� Homework has been a controversial issue, states Bryan Tanis, PhD and Karen Sullivan-Burstein (1999). Together, they wrote an article entitled "Teacher Selected Strategies for Improving Homework Completion." Tanis and Sullivan-Burstein worked collaboratively with teachers for two years to build strategies for math homework completion and to improve spelling. Their study included students of average ability to children with learning disabilities and they found a positive relationship between completing homework and academic achievement. What is disconcerting is that many students do not complete their homework.� Tanis and Sullivan-Burstein?s study showed that average-achieving students not only did better on their math tests than students who were learning disabled, they also did more math homework.
��� Students spend approximately 20% of their time for academic tasks on homework. It is emphasized as being an integral part of making course content more challenging while also creating more productive class participation and raising academic standards. Homework reinforces classwork and gives students more practice for a better understanding of many subjects, especially mathematics. Homework also gives students the opportunity to complete incomplete classwork.
It is a concern of teachers throughout the country that students do not complete their homework satisfactorily, and it results in poor academic performance for youth with learning disabilities and youth at risk. ?Poor assignment completion is often among the criteria for students? referral to special education programs.� Independent work by students, and their ability to be motivated to complete assignments is necessary for students to master the content that teachers present in class.� There can be significant gaps for subject knowledge and skills when classroom assignments are not completed,? (as cited in Tanis and Sullivan-Burstein, 1998).
� Many students need the repetition of skills learned at school. ?Practice makes perfect,? we were always told. So why is it not that be true for homework completion? It is a fact that most children and adults do not enjoy math and do not understand it. Would it not just make sense to practice and improve our skills? This is purely common sense!
It is too often the case that children consider homework as drudgery. Homework is boring and it is not fun.
Yes it is work but that is what life is all about Hard work has its rewards, and children need to hear this from their parents. If parents do not support the teacher's efforts to have children complete their homework, the teacher loses respect from the student. Parents need to teach their children to become responsible and to complete their homework whether it is fun or not! A great deal of life is being responsible for one's own work. We all need to deal with it.
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Math fear can be conquered better when parents do not show their own fear for math to their children. Past experiences can put more pressure on kids when their parents' rage about how they did not do well in math, themselves. This may not give children the support they need, but rather, more fear. In turn, their homework is not completed with the care it needs.
Parents do have a point when homework puts stress on family life. When teachers overdo their assignments and give too much work during holiday time off from school, it just builds resentment. Both the parent and the student feel overwhelmed. Homework puts such a burden on the time out of school, free time at that. Teachers should assign homework and school projects more reasonably by not taking time away from vacation or holiday breaks from school. Let vacation time be just that, vacation time.
Quality homework completion, a primary task, is also important. Another problem with practicing skills at home is with secondary activities, such as media use. A background distraction from television, for example, can hinder student?s learning performance. Attention capacity competes between the two tasks. Difficult assignments interfere with homework performance more than with easy assignments.
Algebra homework accounts for 10-20% of the student's grade, depending on the teacher's requirements of his or her students. Some teachers go as high as 30% of the student's total average. This is because teachers feel students need to have a repetition of what they learned in class because they just do not retain the information after they leave. Donna Rehing (2000), an Algebra I, Part I teacher requires homework to be completed every almost night. It is to be done completely and credit is given for the effort shown, not for the correct answers. Three demerits (three points off the quarter average) will be given if students do not have notes that are sent to parents signed within two days. A strict rule for homework completion shows how serious Ms. Rehing believes in her homework policy.
There are software programs being experimented with students to see if drill and practice is helpful in algebra. Real World attempts to make algebra problems appealing, and relevant by building them into program's narrative, in which children play music-video directors who must film a band tour and produce a video within a budget set by the studio, states Davidson & Associates (1995), producers of the software. It is still under debate if students need drill and practice but math teachers alike agree that students need more repetition, including drill and practice, as part of their homework.
There are several different reasons for the problems of incomplete homework. Students need to be aware of the importance of homework even when they have other responsibilities. They need to be aware of the consequences, such as low test scores, that results becasueo f missing assignments. It is necessary for teachers to keep reinforcing the importance of homework completion. Handing out one policy notice at the beginning of the school year is not sufficient.
Students lack motivation and simply are not interested in doing math, in class or out. It is a subject not enjoyed by students and many get frustrated when they cannot solve math problems. Althpough many teachers continuously approach algebra with their own enthusiasm and interest, students do not appreciate the teacher's attempts to teach them. If ther is a true lack of understwanding, students need extra-help, perhaps in the form as tutoring. Don't make them wait until it is too late!
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Verbal praise from a teacher to his or her student is a very effective way to affect a student?s motivation for continuing to complete homework, which in turn promotes academic achievement. Students react positively to approval from his or her teacher. When homework is completed there is improved comprehension, better use of in-class time, and improved test grades. Independent homework practice and positive verbal praise for homework completion have positive effects on student motivation and learning.
Other causes of incomplete homework assignments occur because teenagers have ideas of their own when out of the classroom setting. These interests include extra-curricular activities and personal activities. There is no routine for homework in many households of teenagers.� Some students are employed outside the home and have other responsibilities beside those of school and home. Students are confronted with the importance in doing their homework yet they continue to miss assignments. Although students seem to want to improve their grades there is evidence that extra-curricular activities interfere with homework completion, such as football or chorus.� When some students have these other activities they completely ignore that other requirements for school need to be met.� It simply isn?t an excuse that they have other activities.
It may also true that parents are not aware of just how important some teenagers still require parental support and approval of homework completion. Parents seem to be in very surprised when teachers speak to them about their child?s work. Many parents need to be an active part of their child?s development and guide them to be responsible students in high school and college, and most of all adulthood. One of the reasons the problem of homework completion has not been resolved is that parents lack information on homework policies. Parents believe their children are old enough to be responsible for their own homework, yet parents continually complain about their child?s grades. Therefore, it is up to the teacher to keep in contact with the parents to communicate the meaning and importance of homework completion?before report cards go home.
Other difficulties include lack of understanding of a subject, such as in algebra, taking poor class notes and not asking questions in class. There are also students who lose their homework when worksheets are given out to the class. A particular problem is that students often begin their homework in class and do not complete it at home therefore making their homework grade seem higher because of partial credit given. Some homework grades are for homework completion and not mathematically correct answers. Can homework grades be accurately measured?
��� It is simply unfair to a teacher for students to not practice what they were just taught in class. There are very few students who come back to school the very next day remembering all the previous days facts and new concepts. It isn't realistic to believe that students do not need any practice at home. While completing homework is a controversial issue, the fact remains that homework is important and necessary. Check your students or children's homework today and thanks!
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Wagoner, C. (1997). Parental involvement makes better students. [Online]. Available: http://archives.nytimes.com. [2001, July 28
Copyright 2001