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Homework Done Right
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Homework Done Right
Powerful Learning in Real-Life Situations



November 2012 | 216 pages | Corwin
What is the rationale for homework? How can you design meaningful homework, and how can changing homework influence your practice? Homework Done Right: Powerful Learning in Real Life Situations provides answers to these questions and other issues surrounding the hot topic of homework and the impact it can have on both students and teachers.

Written in an accessible, practical style, this resource provides a general overview of homework and a brief look at traditional approaches, along with concrete examples of how homework can be made meaningful. The authors take an in-depth look at authentic homework—assignments that are engaging, motivational, and promote real-life applications of knowledge leading to deeper levels of learning.

The book is filled with concrete examples across grade levels that demonstrate the process of matching assignments to the goals and major understandings associated with specific course content. The authors invite classroom teachers and building leaders to rethink out-of-school time and reclaim at least part of it as learning time in order to regain spirit and passion for teaching and learning. Readers will find:

- Guidance for designing out-of-school assignments that are authentic, meaningful, and tied to real-life experience

- Sample homework assignments for various grade levels and subject areas, examples of student work, reflection questions, discussion prompts, protocols, and reproducible forms

- Richly-detailed vignettes describing teachers' evolving beliefs and practices around homework.

 
List of Tables and Figures
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
1. Introduction: What Is so Important About Homework?
 
Part I. Realize the Purpose
 
2. What Is the Rationale for Homework?
 
3. What Do the Experts Say about Homework?
 
4. How Does Changing Homework Impact Your Practice?
 
Part II. Assemble the Plan
 
5. How Can You Design Meaningful Homework?
 
6. How Can You Put Meaningful Homework into Action?
 
Part III. Examine the Possibilities
 
7. How Can Meaningful Homework Look in the Early Elementary Grades?
 
8. How Can Meaningful Homework Look in the Upper Elementary Grades?
 
9. How Can Meaningful Homework Look in Middle School?
 
10. How Can Meaningful Homework Look in High School?
 
11. Still Not Convinced?
 
Appendix A
 
Appendix B
 
Appendix C
 
Appendix D
 
Appendix E
 
A Guide to Your Professional Learning
 
References
 
Index

"Homework Done Right takes a fresh look at how to create homework assignments that students will be motivated to complete, not based on the grade alone, but on the real-life applications of the assignments. I have already begun using the information presented in this text to tweak existing assignments to make them more intellectually rewarding for my students!"

Jessica Purcell, Science Teacher
South Fargo High School, Fargo, ND

“The topic of homework is an important discussion for educators to be having in this age of increased competition and higher standards. What is the best way to extend learning for students of all ages? This book, based on a set of beliefs about teaching and learning, manages to address this topic in a well-considered and carefully researched format that will be useful to educators who are looking to improve their results with students.”

Mary Johnstone, Principal
Rabbit Creek Schools, Anchorage, AK

"The book caused me to reevaluate my own homework assignments in a new light and begin to think about what I can do to get my own homework 'done right'!"

Sally Koczan, Science Teacher
Wydown Middle School, Clayton, MO

"Just like their students, modern teachers want to know how what they learn is going to help them. Homework Done Right shows readers exactly why meaningful homework is best for students and provides teachers with answers to those perennial student questions: ‘Why do we need to know that?’ and ‘When am I ever going to use this?’”

Tim Tharrington, Sixth-Grade English teacher
Wakefield Middle School, Raleigh, NC

Sample Materials & Chapters

Preface

Part I: Realize the Purpose


Janet Elaine Alleman

Janet Alleman is a Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. She is author and coauthor of a range of publications including Children’s Thinking about Cultural Universals and a three-volume series entitled Social Studies Excursions, K–3. In addition to serving on a host of committees at the state and national levels, she has been a classroom and television teacher, actively working in school settings, and has taught at over a dozen international sites. More About Author

Jere Edward Brophy

Jere Brophy was a University Distinguished Professor of Teacher Education and Educational Psychology at Michigan State University. A clinical and developmental psychologist by training, he conducted research on teachers’ achievement expectations and related self-fulfilling prophecy effects, teachers’ attitudes toward individual students and the dynamics of teacher-student relationships, students’ personal characteristics and their effects on teachers, relationships between classroom processes and student achievement, teachers’ strategies for managing classrooms and coping with problem students, and teachers’ strategies for motivating... More About Author

Barbara L. Knighton

Barbara Knighton is an elementary school teacher with over 20 years of experience in the classroom, including 16 years concentrating on the early grades. She currently teaches fourth grade in the Waverly Community Schools in Lansing, Michigan. Barbara has coauthored or contributed to several books on education, including two with an in-depth look at teaching in the primary classroom. More About Author

Robert T. Ley

Rob Ley has taught third and fourth grade in both urban and suburban districts. He received his BA and MA from Michigan State University and is currently teaching in the Haslett Public Schools in Haslett, Michigan. He has presented research at state and national conferences related to making curriculum more meaningful for students by integrating community resources. He also directs an enrichment cluster learning context that focuses on creating a time and place for real-world, student-driven learning. Outside the classroom, he leads hiking and cycling adventures in various locations throughout the world. More About Author

Benjamin C. Botwinski

Benjamin Botwinski is currently enrolled as a full-time graduate student at the College of Education, Michigan State University, where he is studying educational policy and administration. Prior to becoming a full-time student, Botwinski served as a high school social studies teacher in west Michigan. He currently lives in East Lansing, Michigan, with his wife and two children. More About Author

Sarah C. Middlestead

Sarah C. Middlestead is a middle school teacher with seven years of experience in the mathematics classroom. She obtained both her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Michigan State University and spent the first seven years of her teaching career at at a middle school in mid-Michigan. Sarah is passionate about teaching mathematics in an innovative and creative way, guiding students in exploring how mathematics is used in the world in which they live. She is currently enjoying time at home with her two young children while tutoring and writing. More About Author

Also available as a South Asia Edition.

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ISBN: 9781412976534
$42.95