Homework and Increasing Student Achievement Essay Example

never assign new concepts for homework, unless I want to see how well the class already knows something, so I can gauge how much time to spend on it in-class. I try to avoid giving too much in-depth or analytical work, because ESL students in particular do not usually reach out for help, and I do not see them daily. In addition, if they found the concept confusing, some will bring questions to class, and others will just ask a classmate. I think that they do reinforce the lesson, and give them a chance to do some creative work that we might not have had time to do in class. Such as drawing pictures of the images used by curative language in a poem. This is according to the surveys done across the globe, homework tasks for the students in all academic levels is important in improving the knowledge, skills and understanding for the students (Cooper, 2006)

There are other given purposes that the homework tasks have towards the achievement of the goals of the students in academics. The idea of homework tasks for the students by the lecturers serves the purpose of pre-learning in which it gives a provision to the introduction of a given new topic in classroom. The lecturer can give the students homework to research on a given topic for them to get the background and the basics of the topic before the lecturer introduces the topic in classroom. This helps the students to get an inner depth of what the topic is all about and the students who complete the task are able to ask questions in regards to the topic

in the next lesson. The issue of pre learning by the students makes the student have the ability to do researches independently. This is one of the advantages of homework tasks since it gives the student the courage and skill of understanding new concepts without help from the lecturers (Cooper, 2006)

Secondly, the checking for the understanding of the students in the various disciplines in education is one of the neglected purposes of the homework tasks. This gauges the students on how well they have understood a given subject or topic and consequently gives the teachers a clear insight on how the students are faring in their studies. This is a clear indication that the homework tasks help the students in achieving the academic goals they set since the completion of homework is successful makes the student improve in their talent and understanding. Talented students use the homework tasks to improve their understanding on the issue of learning and this helps the lecturer to correct them whenever they are wrong. According to survey and research across the field of academics, homework tasks increase the students achievement in regards to skills, knowledge and understanding in which this is an indication from the students that the lecturer has done a credible job. Teachers use these tasks to gauge the understanding of the students in whatever aspect and consequently know the areas in which they need to put emphasis on during the next lesson if majority of the students did not fare well in the homework task (Phi Delta Kappan, 2006b).

In addition, practice is the other purpose served by the provision of homework tasks to students in schools. Survey

shows that homework tasks are made to help the students in practicing whatever lesson or concept they have learned in the classroom. Learning of a concept in class is one issue, getting the concept is another purpose homework tasks serve to the students. This shows that the homework tasks served to the students by the teachers help the students in the manner of increasing their understanding through practicing on the new concepts. Whenever student goes home with a homework task, this is way of having the student engaged in all levels and teaches the student the way to work either in classrooms or at their homes. Making the students to be engaged all the time with classroom work is one way of keeping them on toes and this can be achieved through the issue of homework tasks that increases the capability of the student inside and outside class work. Therefore, the issue of homework tasks increasing the achievement and capability of the students is true and the homework tasks given to the students serves to extend their understanding from the classroom to their homes (Phi Delta Kappan, 2006b).

In cases of new concepts in the classroom, teachers or lecturers prefer to give few homework tasks for the students to do a research on them to see and gauge how well they know about a given concept (Kralovec &Buell, 2000). This helps the teacher to know how much time he or she has to spend on the concept in the classroom. The issue of homework tasks for the students according to survey and research shows that, they help the students in participation and preparation of the next

lesson. Some of the homework tasks are cumulative on the final grading of the student and being successful in all homework tasks given in the class makes the difference either positively or negatively.

This helps the students in increasing the manner in which they achieve their academic goals with the use of the homework tasks. A good example is the aspect of the talented students in the classroom in that, if they do not get the habit of reading and making critical thinking through the issues of these tasks, the skills acquired from outside class are important and they cannot excel without them. Therefore, the issue of homework tasks helps even the talented students in improving their knowledge and the acquiring of new skills to make them excel in their studies (Kralovec &Buell, 2000).

In some of the subjects I did the study, this is the response in regards to the given survey; in the United States history homework, yes it does because we just read over the lesson in advance. In Math: yes because we go over more problems on our own to understand it better. In the English: not really I mean all we do is read and do vocabulary which I highly recommend we just do in class because students always get different answers. In the Spanish: in a way because she's not a very understanding teacher or patient so her how is okay, we just all end up going on a translating website to search for help.

In the Religions: it is very helpful because we are the asked questions about the lesson. In the Biology: yes because we are just asked questions about

the lesson so we get a better understanding, for the notes it is okay because we end up just going over it in class (Bennett & Kalish, 2006). This helps the students to increase their knowledge further in classroom work and create a good understanding of the concept prior to the deep insight by the teachers. This clearly shows how the homework concepts given by the lecturers to the students help them increase the manner in which they achieve their academic goals and makes it a fact in that it helps the students a lot.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the issue of homework tasks helps the students in the manner in which they achieve their goals at all given levels of their education. Based on the survey and research findings, homework tasks are of great help to the students and can be described as gifts from the lecturer to the students since it builds conceptual understanding and knowledge for the students. Homework tasks help create a link between the students and their education outside class work and leads to the lecturer understanding the areas to emphasize on during the next meeting between them (Bennett & Kalish, 2006). Therefore, it is clear that, the homework tasks given to the students by the lecturers serve an important purpose for them in helping them achieve their much in regards to grading, knowledge and goals. Homework tasks increase student achievement in great prospects in all levels of education.

References

• Bennett and Kalish (2006) Case Against HW: How HW is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It
• Cooper and colleagues (2006) comparison of HW vs. no HW shows that the average
  

student in a class in which appropriate.