Homework Done Right: Powerful Learning in Real-Life Situations

"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 tweaking existing assignments to make them more intellectually rewarding for my students!"
―Jessica Purcell, Science Teacher
South Fargo High School, Fargo, ND

"This book 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

Turn homework into a meaningful learning experience that excites students!

Homework Done Right shows teachers how homework assignments can connect with the curriculum and with students′ lives. Educators will learn how to design and implement active, creative assignments that promote 21st-century skills such as inquiry, problem solving, and critical thinking. Moving beyond the current "homework debate," this resource provides:

• Effective homework strategies and sample assignments for all K–12 levels and numerous subject areas
• Richly detailed vignettes describing how real teachers have changed their homework practices―including do′s and don′ts
• Insights on how to use homework to promote parent involvement
• Guidance on helping students develop leadership and collaboration skills through activities such as questioning, evidence gathering, and interviewing
• Classroom-ready tools, including homework planning forms and other reproducibles

When homework assignments are challenging and relevant, students have a new opportunity to engage with learning and to succeed academically!

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.

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 students to learn. Most recently, he focused on curricular content and instructional method issues involved in teaching social studies for understanding, appreciation, and life application.

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.

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.

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.