What is homework for?
Homework is always optional and there is no penalty for failing to do it. I do believe it is important to help you develop your skills on your own outside the classroom.
Some tasks are best done on your own away from the classroom and others are naturally done better in the classroom.
The kind of tasks I generally set are:
- preparing for the next lesson
- exercises from books to check your own knowledge
- watching videos and listening to programmes
- answering exam questions
- writing extended pieces
- preparing a presentation for class
Marking homework
Some types of homework need me to give you my opinion on them. I view this kind of marking as engaging in a dialogue with you about your work and offering advice to you. This is rarely the end of the matter and you are welcome to discuss strategies and ways of improving your performance either before or after class or by email.
I try to return the work as soon as possible and will write on your work comments on it to guide you forward.
Most homework I do not mark as I believe that if you have the answers in the back of the book you are capable of checking the answers after completing the exercise. If you decide to look at the answers and write them down as if you have done them – that only cheats you of the opportunity to learn and improve.
when you have marked your own homework
There are three conditions you will be in after you have completed the homework and marked it yourself. You will:
- have got the answer right. That is good for you to know as you then know you know it.
- have got the answer wrong but:
1. you know why you went wrong – that is also useful for you to know.
2. you don’t know why you got it wrong. This is the kind of problem you can bring to the class to discuss as this is where learning can take place and it is useful to everyone.
I will ask if you have had any problems with the homework and I am especially interested in the last type where you don’t know how they arrived at the answer.