How to Get Kids to Do Homework

The biggest frustration of any teacher across the board is students failing to do their work. It’s normal for a student to miss to take an assignment once in a time for a concrete reason. If the habit is persistent, problems crop in. It’s frustrating to have a class where students don’t take assignments. 

What actions will you consider enabling students take assignments? Let’s focus on the concrete strategies for getting kids to do homework alone.

  • Request the students to take their work in your office at lunchtime

It can be hard to skip lunch but worth the course. Any student will do homework when cornered in your room, and the only exit is to have a completed assignment. You can seek support from your colleagues to help you watch the students as they tackle the work. 

  • Make use of the class dojo

A class dojo is a better system of tracking behavior. Give positive points on completed work. The negative points are for unfinished or missing work. It’s even better to set it to notify the parents in case of any missing work from the respective students. 

  • Grade and return assignments

If you take a long time to return any collected work, students will perceive it as unimportant. Try to collect, mark and return the work within two days for the students to see the essence and where to correct. 

  • Over-communicate

Post the assignment everywhere in class. Post on the school website and in class. You can even email parents for them to assist in the follow-up. You should train or teach kids to have the desire to get homework answers fast. 

  • Reduce homework

If students are performing in classwork, there is no need to give them excessive homework. Too much homework is tiresome and doesn’t guarantee 100% improvement in academics. You can opt to replace the homework with pop quizzes. You will need to be innovative in time management to achieve this. 

  • Talk about goal setting and growth mindset

We can threaten, nag and cajole, but it’s the student’s responsibility to do work. Invest good time in discussing growth mindset and helping students to set their own goals. 

  • Demand students to complete significant projects

Make it a rule that students must complete significant projects for them to pass your course. If they don’t complete it, they won’t pass your course. They will make an effort to complete the work for them to move to the next level. 

  • For any late submission, deduct points

Make it a rule to deduct points for any student who delivers assignments late. 

  • Create help sessions

Create help sessions for learners before school, at lunchtime and at study halls. The session will aid the students who need help to make good use of it. You will have a reason if parents complain of poor performance. You will assure them that their children failed to use the help sessions. 

  • Print students reports

Print out the grades reports and highlight zeros for any missed assignment. At times, students don’t understand the need for assignments. Print the grade reports every week highlighting the zeros. Students will understand the effect of missed marks on their final grade. 

  • Build strong work ethics in students

Though it will take time, use any chance you get to build a strong work ethic. Remind them that the habits they are creating while in school will translate into real life. 

  • Give incentives

Give better incentives for the top leading students in homework submission. The students will struggle to appear on the list and thus submit the work in time. 

Conclusion

It’s taunting to have learners who don’t take assignments. It’s a common problem in many schools. Be keen with students who take homework simply because they don’t have an option. The above list of best tips to motivate kids to do homework are good to put into practice.

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