just do my homework

just do my homework

The Importance of Homework in Academic Success

1. Introduction

As the importance of homework in academic success isn’t discussed enough, I would like to talk about homework. Homework is often seen as a waste of time. The reasons given for this opinion often revolve around how people think about the idea of school in general. Kids should be kids as long as possible, they should have fun and play. In the end, it all comes down to the theory of educating children. Some people believe that school should prepare children for life, work, and everything else it will throw at them. If this is the case, then homework is a good thing. Teachers give homework to prepare students for the next day’s lesson. This enables the students to understand or get a head start on the next topic of discussion, rather than when the teacher is discussing it and the student is hearing it for the first time. Now if school is about preparing children for the future, then why is it all so important? The first reason that children should not be given homework is that they need time to relax and take their minds off work. Now, if we put children on the path of the future, is it possible that they will ever have time in their lives to sit and watch television, or go out and play with others? That will essentially contradict what school is trying to do. Now this is a good argument, and people at all ages can relate to the idea of trying to make things easier so they have time to relax. But preparing for the future is something that will never end. Students will always have something to do. Given today’s global society, there is always someone who is not doing their job that can take your own if the need arises. This is a competitive world we live in, and children will never stop preparing. That itself is a great argument for there should always be homework. Time management is something every human must master to be successful at anything. One who is managing their time well can get more work done than someone who isn’t, both effectively and efficiently. Now the best place to start learning time management is at a young age, and it will benefit them in their future. Homework being given to younger children can also be seen as something new to introduce how to do it. Now there are support and arguments for every reason a question arise, whether a children should begin to learn it earlier or learn at a later age. Overall it’s something that will prepare them for their entire lives once school is no longer a necessity. Succeeding in doing homework with the best possible outcome can now become an asset later in life. In that being said that parents can also become involved in partake it help with their child’s homework. Everyone can look back now to the time when they were in school and they asked a parent to help them with something and in return they did it wrong. If homework is being done correctly, teachers can communicate to parents the progression their children are making and encourage for positive and successful work at the best interest of the student. Coming around full circle back to preparing children for the future, it’s a known fact that parents want the best for their children. This is quite the possibility that this will resolve, as homework is a joint effort to improve students learning.

2. Benefits of Homework

To know more about homework and the various benefits that can be extracted from it, we first need to know the definition of homework. According to The Free Dictionary by Farlex (2012), homework is defined as the work or study to be done outside the classroom. It may include varied activities like fine motor skills activities, solving puzzles, coloring, cutting, up to managing time resources and completing projects (Gill & Schlossman, 2001). By knowing the definition of homework, the first benefit that we can derive from homework is discipline and determination. Discipline is an important aspect of living in this hectic world. It gives us the ability to control ourselves toward negative temptation and be focused on achieving our goals. This benefit of homework can shape students’ self-discipline and self-control as they will learn to be independent in managing and controlling their own time to finish the given tasks. Then, they will learn to sacrifice a few hours of their leisure time for studying and doing homework in order for them to maintain good grades. This determination of wanting to achieve better grades can change students’ attitude and mindset towards their future. Homework also helps students to develop time management. According to Azari & Soleimani in Sinau (2011), time management is a way to control and plan how much time we spend on specific activities. Good time management allows us to work smarter, not harder. This is important given the 21st-century trend toward knowledge work and the need for quality experiences in all areas of life (Gaining control of time, 2007). Time management will eventually help students to be well-prepared to organize and plan an effective study strategy for each subject, hence strategy is so important in any examination. This activity also can lead them to understand the potential use of time in daily life. Therefore, homework is a chance for students to learn the art of time management. Practice makes perfect. This idiomatic phrase is known to everyone. It makes second language learners think that there is no other way other than practicing and practicing the target language. In an education context, practice means the repeated exercise to enhance skills and increase knowledge. This is the same case of what homework can offer to students. Completing their homework means mastering the task given to them without the help of others. This will increase the level of understanding toward the specific job. A task that has been understood by students can easily be achieved by utilizing the skills involved in the task. Skills that have been practiced through homework can indirectly boost students’ confidence and self-esteem. Confidence comes from a sense of competence and with confidence, a person can reach a greater height. In addition, homework also can be preparation for future learning and part-time work. This will create a productive and valuable use of time.

3. Strategies for Effective Homework Completion

ORA is another helpful strategy where O stands for organization, R for review, and A for assessment. In organization, a time management plan should be implemented for the specific task, checking how much time he wants to give for the task and planning the task with regular intervals on different days. To decrease irrelevancy in the progression, he will have to review what he has done. While in the assessment, he should continuously check his task with the set time and the achievement against the specific task.

One more effective homework strategy is amending the environment, i.e. making a change in the environment. It has been noted that most of the students who are able, focused, and self-reliable like to read and complete work in bright light. They clean up the area before beginning any type of work. But these are not the same case with other students, and these types of students should change their regular place of study to somewhere else like a library or any other place. The important thing here is not the place to study but the type of environment available there. If they don’t like that place, then their experiences and feelings from the work will be wasted.

The IDEA framework defines some successful strategies that help in effective homework completion. It maintains that when the student works or studies for a particular time period or takes a brief rest or changes activity at regular intervals, it helps in increasing attention span. Just because of this, learning capability improves and he will be able to complete any specific task without any intervention from any external source.

4. Overcoming Homework Challenges

The evidence shows that homework is extremely important and that students need to complete homework regularly in order to succeed academically. There are many reasons students do not complete homework successfully. Listed below are some helpful suggestions to get students on the right track to homework success. Ask the teacher for clarification on any homework he/she does not understand. Students can make a schedule. It is helpful to prioritize homework which is more challenging. Breaking a job down into smaller pieces and allowing sufficient time to complete each part is a good strategy. It is important for students to take time to review their work and make any corrections. Parents can be involved by encouraging and rewarding their child. If parents are concerned that their child has too much homework, there are a few things they can do. They can speak to their child’s teacher or write a letter. If there is no change after this, the principal should be notified. If the amount of homework is not reduced the parent can file a formal complaint. This is extremely rare and should only be done as a last resort. Note if students with learning disabilities do not receive more than the allotted time to complete homework, it may be necessary for parents to speak to the teacher in order to determine what accommodations are needed for the student to successfully complete the homework.

5. Conclusion

The presence of homework is felt in various ways by different people, but for teachers and students, it is an important tool in aiding student learning and increasing student achievement. Students need to complete homework to succeed in school and a significant volume of it each night is essential to better understanding key concepts. Teachers need to assign homework that draws upon the student’s past knowledge or research to exercise the thought process. Assigning homework that is too challenging can cause student frustration and a negative attitude which is counterproductive to learning. By integrating homework in a way that is beneficial to learning, on level with the student’s capabilities and easy to understand, student achievement will increase, in turn improving the future of our society.