If you've read Dan Pink's bestselling book, Drive, you know that the average homework assignment does not entice most students. According to Pink, students respond poorly to homework, because the don't view it as valuable.
Consider for a moment the homework you are assigning.
To paraphrase Pink, you should ask yourself three questions about any homework assignment (Drive p. 174):
- Does it give your students autonomy?
- Does it promote mastery of a skill by offering an engaging task?
- Will your students understand and believe in the overall purpose of the assignment?
I must confess that I have been guilty of assigning mundane homework, just to generate a grade. In recent years of contemplating homework, though, and even more so since reading Pink's Drive and A Whole New Mind, I've come to believe that homework has got to be more than just a time-consuming activity that generates points for a grade.
A promise and a question
As someone who teaches using a classroom web site, student web pages, a message board, blogs and other forms of social media, I have promised myself that this year, more than any in my nearly two decades as a classroom teacher, these tools will take on a larger role outside of school, making homework meaningful to my students.
So, what do you think? Are your homework assignments valuable?
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