Homework by: Spencer Hill

When I’m working through my homework, I often feel more frustration or cluelessness than actual understanding. I don’t have the greatest attention span in the known universe but having to truck through a packet of content that I have basic to no understanding on is plain discouraging. The majority of my homework assignments end up feeling more like spillover that the teacher didn’t address in class than a tool to help me learn. I’m not opposed to homework per se, but when it becomes a trek through my notes, searching for any remotely similar questions, it feels like a waste of time. To practice and develop a skill at something, one must have familiarity with the skill first and then build off that. Having a large amount of information dumped on me and being told to reproduce it won’t do anything. Teaching and telling are two separate skills. If there is nothing about teaching or retainment done in a class, I guarantee that most students will forget the content by the time they get home.


In my math class, I struggled with working through the daily homework packets we were assigned, rarely even finishing a page. Because nearly every packet started out with the basic information that I’d been able to retain and quickly accelerated to challenging questions that called for more than a basic understanding of the subject. In 4th quarter however, the packets we’ve been doing have been much shorter, about 8-10 word problems per packet. A couple of them I remember, and the rest, I looked through the notes for. Even though it was a similar amount of work, having everything packaged up helped me motivate myself.


On the other hand, I’ve had a science class that is supersaturated (pun intended) with information. During the whole class, which was a lecture, we covered vocab and multiple types
of problems with maybe 2 examples the whole class. There was so much information bouncing around in my head, I would walk out with a headache. The homework would be 2 pages of word problems that required most of the vocab to be memorized, all of the formulas tucked in your head, and have an understanding of where to start. Even when my teacher explained the next morning, I didn’t understand.


To properly utilize homework as the valuable tool it is, just slow the pace down and make it humbler. I would recommend giving out the homework at the start of the class and working on each skill as it comes up in the packet. Leave a portion of the packet for homework and give them a little bit of information on where to start. This way, the homework will be significantly less intimidating, as every student as already seen it and worked with it. Even if it becomes impossible to discuss every topic, it’s better that the students can comprehend and be confident with one skill than have meaningless jumbles of multiple skills in their head.