How to Leverage Your Homework Profile
As the school year gets underway and students swing into managing a full schedule of academics and after school activities like sport and clubs, homework can feel like an after thought. To make matters more difficult, we’ve all heard the complaints, “Homework is boring,” “it’s just busy work,” and countless others.
Too often homework emphasizes the wrong aspects of learning, like rote memorization and mechanical intake, and not what matters most about learning: process, experimentation, and iterative improvement. But what happens if we think of homework as process? Homework becomes an opportunity to cultivate study skills that help us become motivated, self-directed learners.
You can start by opening a conversation with your student about their learning needs and preferences. This will enable you to build a “homework profile” for your student and unlock what processes are needed for their individual success. Below are a few areas to consider!
Environment
Where we do our homework is a detail too often overlooked! Where we focus matters tremendously for getting the most out of studies. Does your student work best in the quiet of a library or their private bedroom? Or do they prefer a space with a little chatter, like a coffee shop, a common area at home, or in the company of a friend?
Try to establish a regular, routine location to do homework, so that when your student arrives at that place, their brain can switch into learning mode.
Energy
When we focus is just as important as where we focus. What time of day is your student most ready to learn? Right after school, or do they need some time to unwind? What types of snacks and drinks need to be available so your student can feel comfortable, alert?
Breaks
Students don’t have to do everything all at once! Think of homework sessions as established blocks of time and punctuate those blocks with clearly designed break time. To do this, make a plan, and schedule out the tasks and the expected amount of time it will take to complete tasks.
Make sure breaks are defined! Don’t get sucked into a movie or into scrolling on your favorite social media.
Goals
It is important to remember that homework is one important step on the path to reaching our long term goals! Mastering learning outcomes, earning high grades and test scores, and gaining acceptances to desired universities and colleges all involve putting in the day-to-day effort of homework.
Have a check-in conversation with your student about goals. Set a time, like at the end of a term, to follow up on how your student is progressing toward their goals!
With these thoughts in mind, we can start to reframe homework. Studying is about the way students learn in addition to the what they learn.
At North Avenue, we want to help your student create a lasting relationship to learning and an understanding of their own individual learning style and preference. Get in touch with our team to explore how we can help!
