Homework - Is it always meaningful and relevant?

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Comment by Andrea B. Minor on October 15, 2010 at 22:32

I have reviewed this article before and I feel that math homework is a must in order for students to master the concepts. I always assign the even problems because the answers for the odd problems are in the back of the book. This year I have begun to use the differentiated assignments based on my students pre-test scores. Some of the problems overlap, but most of the multiple step problems are done by the more advanced group of learners. Making the assignments relevant is very important cause students always want to know "When am I ever going to use this?".

Comment by Angela Leiphart on October 14, 2010 at 9:11

I would love to, but I'm not sure how to. I'd have to scan it into my computer but after that I don't know how to upload it here. All I did was take a caterpillar and each of his sections I put a proportion for the students to solve, then on the back I put a bunch of numbers and what color each should be. Some of the numbers were used twice, some not at all. Pretty easy to find any old picture that has different sections that you could put a problem in.

Comment by Sandra Norton on October 13, 2010 at 18:01

Angela - could you share the color by number proportions sheet that you made. I love this kind of purposeful learning. I think that in the world of education we sometimes overuse the phrase "learning is fun." When teaching literature, I often remember my teachers saying that reading is fun. I also remember thinking that it could be fun and is fun until someone makes all these questions and worksheets with little importance to the main ideas of the story. I have learned in my literature class that when I tell the kids that reading is fun, I also need to explain. We often do two books. One is to cover all the extras that go along with reading for content expectations, but the other one is just to read and talk about. I would love to make math more fun. In fact, just reading the articles and your post has inspired me to try making worksheets like yours. It will take me a bit, but with help, I will get there.
Thanks in advance

Comment by Angela Leiphart on October 13, 2010 at 16:48

Thank you very much for this post! I found the ideas concerning homework really interesting. In the article it mentions the math teacher who assigns p 27 1-23 odd, and I was that teacher. The article made sense when it said that we as teachers need to rethink our homework assignments; are the questions assigned to check understanding, practice, or just assigned because the students needed homework. I have rethought several assignments after reading this article, not only the number of problems, but the content they cover, and why they are assigned.
The one thing I found really interesting was about the aesthetic appeal of homework, and i tried something with my Algebra 1 class. Usually they get a worksheet and have to circle the assigned problems. Instead of the boring, hard worksheet I made them a color by number where they had to solve the proportions to figure out what color that part was supposed to be. I got nearly every homework back the next day completely done!! I guess it does matter what the assignments we give look like.