PDC Thursday
Roundtables—September 24, 2013:
Topic: Effective Homework
Attendees: Rachel Stone, Zoe Blatt, Ann Williams,
Solomon Fleckman, Sarah O’Neil, Hans Doerr, Maria Bowditch, Rob Merrifield,
Eric Lunger
Reading: The
Atlantic focus on Homework, September 2013
Thoughts: There are challenges with any one approach to
homework – does the assignment engage all students? How does one assignment address the variety
of learning styles present in each of our classes? Do we know how to construct the most
effective assignments? How do our
assignments integrate with assessment?
The conversation was fruitful and raised more questions than it provided
answers. That said, the issue how we
best use student time, energy, and focus beyond the classroom is clearly one
that deserves consistent conversation and attention by the faculty.
Particular questions and issues that were raised:
- AW, RS, and others noted that reading is a
challenge for kids. HD suggested more
focused work on efficiency in reading and homework as part of a study skills
curriculum.
- Should we teach kids that there is a natural
time limit to effective work? EL noted
that he tells his students to work for 45 minutes and then stop. This helps kids prioritize the work and provides
valuable feedback to the teacher about the amount of time an assignment
requires. SO asked if our kids are
over-loaded and thus have too much work?
AW noted that the best Blair
students have a tendency to not stop, they keep pushing to complete assignments
regardless of what they are told.
- SF pointed out that the most important part of
any assignment is providing explicit directions and immediate feedback. Kids should always know why they are doing an
assignment. Movements exist to make sure
that nothing new is covered in homework while others suggest that homework is
the primer for the actual practice of the discipline in the classroom.
- Rachel asked if we are preparing our kids to be
Good Students or Good Learners? With
life-long learning as a goal, how do we help students earn an appreciation for
our disciplines? We don’t want to create
a culture of dishonest students, but long homework assignments do lend
themselves to cheating. AW noted that
90% of AHC cases revolve around overwhelmed students.
- Do we as teachers actually understand the
demands made on a Blair student’s time?
- Should we focus more effectively and
intentionally on reading skills and learning skills?
- SF asked how much we are meant to prepare kids
for the kid of instruction they receive in college, especially if that kind of
instruction isn’t always as good as what we can provide here?
- Let’s ask our alums about their college
experience to get a real feel for how prepared they are and understand what
types of skills they really need!
- Stress vs. Challenge: do our kids know the difference?
- If we enforced a lower limit on homework
(Hotchkiss has a strict 30 minute limit per class), would that help? Do our grading policies help or hinder kids
in their approach to homework?
- What do college professors want from their
students? How can we best prepare them?
Action Items:
- Encourage departments to have regular
conversations about homework types and policies that work best in their
disciplines.
- Continue to reflect on how we can best prepare
kids for the types of work we ask of them – reading and study skills.
- Encourage departments to reach out to college
professors to get a sense for what they are seeing in their classrooms and what
types of preparation they would like us to cover with our kids. (The History Department hopes to undertake
this task in the Spring.)
