A significant number of students face a challenge when it comes to doing assignment at home. Their educators assume that all learners have a good support system at home that can assist them with their assignment. Unfortunately, this is not always the case because some of the students come from families where their parents and guardians do not have, or have limited time and energy to assist with homework. This is because some of the parents work more than one job in order to support their family. In this case, students become stranded whenever they need assignment help at home, which may affect their overall performance in school. Even though educators cannot control the situation at home, they can implement a number of behaviors to help reduce homework stress in students. This can be done by supporting and assisting them at school before they release them to do their assignment at home.
Student faced with homework stress
Seven practices that teachers can apply to help reduce homework stress
Write the assignment down: Teachers should not just read out the assignment to the learners, but should print it out on a handout or write it down on the blackboard. In addition, the teacher should ask the students to write the homework down on their books.
Assess comprehension: Educators should explain the homework and check for understanding by asking students to paraphrase the directions.
Check for legibility: Teachers should ensure that the printed out worksheet is legible and that the assignment makes sense. Additionally, educators should make the learners to read the worksheet and ask any question in case of a query.
Give relevant examples: The examples will provide a reference for students to use at home. In addition, parents will be able to use them to direct the scholar to the answers the teacher is expecting.
Have an underlying principle: Some tutors just give homework to ensure that students are busy with schoolwork at home. In this case, they may give assignments that may not necessarily help the students achieve success in their grades. Teachers should therefore have a valid reason for giving the work and for the learners to be doing it.
Assess the homework: There are a number of ways to check the assignment. Some teachers may choose to check if the work was done, while others may take their time to mark it, correct it and award a grade. Whichever, the choice of mode of assessment, the educators should assess the work in order to show importance of the assignment to the students, which will motivate them to do homework in future and to do it correctly.
Commend good work: It is important that educators give sincere praise to students who hand in their work in time and those that acquire high grades. This practice may not seem like much but those that did a good job will appreciate it and be motivated to do better next time. Unfortunately, the teachers focus their attention on those that did not do the homework. These students in fact love the attention because they tend to care less about schoolwork. Instead of encouraging this attitude, tutors should commend the hardworking students, hoping that the others will desire the praises and rewards and make an effort to do the assignment in future.
