Tips for Homework

Do your students struggle with homework?  Or do you have trouble getting students to turn in their homework?  Here's a great guide for Helping Your Students with Homework, which includes 18 tips for getting homework done.

Learned Helplessness

I was in Charlotte, NC this week for the High Schools that Work national conference.  Two of my presentations centered on Working with Students with Special Needs.  One of the topics we discussed was learned helplessness, or students who aren't even willing to try to do anything without help.  You probably teach one of these students; they raise their hands immediately without even attempting to answer the question or do the assignment.  Here's a seven step process to minimize learned helplessness:

Learned Helplessness:

1.            Determine if learned helplessness exists.

2.            Explicitly model the preferred academic behavior.

3.            Teach the student a strategy for displaying the preferred academic behavior.

4.            Provide practice for the strategy.

5.            Set a cue to remind the student to initiate the strategy.

6.            Allow the student to succeed.

7.            Facilitate the student’s problem-solving strategy. 

Seven Myths of Instructional Rigor

Instructional rigor is one of the most discussed topics in education today. But there is much debate over what rigor is and is not. Let's look at seven myths, then a concrete definition of the actual meaning.

Myth One: Lots of homework is a sign of rigor.

For the rest of the article, click here.  

Beginner's Guide to Rigor

Interested in instructional rigor?  Looking for something to share with teachers to prompt a discussion of rigor?  Try my Beginner's Guide to Rigor (scroll down)!