Ways to Differentiate Homework

Homework is a hot topic in my district right now.  Parents complain because we give too much, or not enough, or its too hard.  Homework can be difficult for students who struggle.  They think that they understand what is going on when they are in class, but when they get home, they have no idea what they’re doing.

Don’t Give Homework Just to Give Homework

Make sure that all of the homework that you give is meaningful.  Think to yourself, what is the educational purpose of this homework.  And if you’re not happy with your answer, maybe that isn’t something you should be giving for homework.  I am not arguing against homework, it is definitely necessary for some instances.  I am just arguing that all homework needs to be meaningful.

Giving students homework that is not meaningful is going to make them frustrated more easily.  Yes, repetition is important in vocabulary and math.  Working with math concepts at home is important.  So isn’t frequent practice with spelling and vocabulary.

Let the Students Pick

Using a menu approach to giving homework helps the students be more engaged with the activity.  Give them options that will all help you accomplish what you want the students to get out of the homework.  Have the homework assignments differ for the different learning types.  Maybe have one involve the creation of something, another involves researching something, and a third doing rote work.

When students are able to choose their homework, it will be more aligned to their learning styles and interests and you are more likely to have a higher homework completion percentage.

Give Different Students Different Problems

This is more applicable to math.  You can differentiate homework by having different groups of problems based on the difficulty.  Tell your lower group to do problems in section A, average students in section B and higher students in section C.  This can be tricky because as the students get older you don’t want it to be obvious what you’re doing.

This allows you to challenge the higher students, without frustrating the lower students.  And you are modifying the homework for the lower students to help them be more successful.  For these students, you should also be sure to give them a sample problem or information about where to access a tutorial.

Let Students Select Their Own Book

This is mostly an ELA thing.  In our ELA class, we allow the student to select their own books for reading assignments.  This way you can ensure that students are picking something on a topic that they will be interested in.  Also, it allows you to guide the students to books that have an appropriate reading level for their abilities.  For the students who do not like to read and don’t even know where to look, I have a selection of high interest reading books in my room that I can guide them to and allow them to borrow.

When students enjoy what they are reading, they are more likely to be engaged and complete the assignments.

Shorten the Number of Problems

This one is also more applicable for math but could be used in other subjects.  When we give homework in my math class, sometimes I find I have to shorten the assignment for my students.  When there are problems that require multiple steps, my students work a lot slower.  Giving a typical student 15 questions may take them 20 minutes, but it may take my students over an hour.

For my students that work slowly, or are really struggling, I want to make sure that they don’t get burnt out.  So for these students, I tell them to only so a portion of the questions.  Often I tell them to just do the odds.  But sometimes I go through and select specific problems to ensure that they get all of the different types of problems.

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