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In Your Corner, Student Learning
Lift Summer Learning While Lightening the Instructional Load
Summer learning activities, especially those for students who struggled or whose learning lagged over the past year, present multiple challenges. The students will likely be experiencing the effects of what was a frustrating and less-than-successful year. Consequently, enthusiasm for learning may wane. They are also giving up a significant portion of their summer to engage in what they may not see as fun. As adults, we too may feel the exhaustion of a difficult and less-than-satisfying year. We may not be looking forward to spending more weeks teaching when we feel the need for rest and rejuvenation.
Still, building and supporting the learning of these students are crucial and urgent tasks. We need to do all that we can to have students be prepared to succeed when school begins again in the fall. If they are left to fall farther behind learning expectations now, the consequences will likely be long-term; maybe even lifelong.
Yet, there is little reason to expect that repetition of what was less than successful during the year will be more successful in the summer. We need to find strategies and approaches that can offer better learning hope for students and a measure of leverage, support, and relief for our instructional efforts. Simply pressing harder will not be enough.
Sometimes, the solutions to problems we face emerge when we look at the problem from another perspective. For example, trying to convince someone to shift their thinking can be more successful when we stop arguing and start listening. Our dilemma for summer learning may also be eased by thinking about the challenge from a different perspective.
We know that learning is a social activity. Relationships matter. Yet, most students spent the past year learning in relative isolation. We know that engaging with peers can lessen feelings of anxiety and lead students to take learning risks with and learn from others. We also know that students sometimes feel more open and at ease with adults other than the teacher in the classroom who holds authority and requires accountability from them.
We can engage these learning “levers” in a variety of ways to shift our practice and provide instructional variety, offer new support options, and support new learning. Here are four potential strategies from which you can draw to craft your approach.
First, consider forming study teams within your class. We know that when students study and learn together, their learning often accelerates. Unfortunately, for most students this strategy becomes routine only when they are in college and need to rely on each other to learn complex content. At first, you may need to spend time helping students to form productive groups and learn how to leverage each other’s learning. If students experienced learning pods during the past year, they may have a base of experience on which you can build. Regardless, the payoff can be significant as students study, problem-solve, complete tasks and even engage in some assessments together. Equally important, you will be teaching students a strategy that can support their learning for a lifetime.
Second, consider pairing your students with others who are older or younger for cross-age tutoring, practice, and reinforcement. If you are teaching older students who need to practice and solidify skills that were introduced in earlier grades, explaining and practicing the skills with younger students can be a powerful learning experience and confidence builder. If you are teaching younger students who need motivation and encouragement, having older students give attention and support to their learning can provide a strong motivational boost.
Third, consider recruiting students who may be interested in teaching as a career to work with students who need attention and support. We do not have to limit our recruitment to older students. They just need to be interested in service and possess adequate academic skills to support the learning of your students. When these students form relationships and share their enthusiasm, the impact can be substantial. You will be providing your students with learning support while also providing experience to and feeding the vision of potential future educators.
Fourth, consider enlisting the support of retired adults from the community. Many retired adults spent the past year in isolation and feeling purposeless. They are also among the population most likely to be vaccinated. The opportunity to engage with young people and support their learning can be compelling. Students, too, may value these relationships. Local senior centers and adult living communities are good places to contact. The adults may need some guidance, but even if they spend their time listening to students read and hearing students explain processes for solving math problems, the benefits will be far more than worth the effort.
The past year has been trying like few others. It has been exhausting. However, renewal can take a variety of forms. Sometimes, making changes to our routine and trying new approaches can provide us with the energy and renewed motivation to carry us through—and even help us to thrive.
In Your Corner, Student Learning
What Is the Role for Homework Now?
Just about everyone feels the pressure to accelerate learning in the final weeks and days of the school year. Too many students have fallen behind, and we feel the urgent need to catch them up. Of course, we can focus on key concepts and skills and let less crucial aspects of the curriculum go for now to save time and energy for learning crucial content. We are also working hard to reestablish and renew relationships, sustain a supportive environment for learning, and create an emotionally safe space for students who need to finish transitioning to in-person school.
In this context, it can be tempting to turn to increased homework to fill gaps and reduce reinforcement and practice time while we are face to face with students. While on the surface relying on homework to “take up some of the slack” may seem worthwhile, it may be a less effective strategy than we assume.
While there is little research on what impact homework had on remote learning during the pandemic, there is significant research on its effectiveness as a strategy associated with in-person learning. The findings point to limited learning benefits and some significant downsides that should give us pause, especially now. In short, if homework is designed and positioned correctly, it can increase student motivation to learn, but poorly designed and positioned homework can lead to decreased interest and commitment. Let’s examine some of the potential downsides of relying heavily on homework, especially now.
First, the greatest learning benefits come from the homework students complete, not from the amount of homework assigned. The key is to design homework students can and will complete. Attention must be given to how realistic, interesting, useful, and doable homework will be from the students’ perspective. We may think what we’re asking students to do is valuable, realistic, and achievable, but if students can’t or don’t do the work, learning will not be the result.
Second, when homework involves practicing new concepts and skills while students are still uncertain, confused, or hold misconceptions regarding what to practice, homework can actually work against learning. We risk having students repeat errors and increase their confusion while doing homework intended to support their learning. When this is this case, more assigned homework will cause more learning damage. And when students practice and reinforce misconceptions, it takes even longer to correct problem areas and more effort for students to relearn correctly.
Third, too much homework can diminish its benefits. Once students reach a point where the work has reinforced their learning and created confidence, more practice has not been shown to increase achievement. As a general guideline for high school students, homework requiring about an hour to an hour and a half per night is optimal. For middle school students, the greatest benefits are found in homework requiring less than an hour. For elementary students, if homework is assigned at all, it’s best for the time required for completion to be even less. To be clear, the optimal times reflect total homework time, not the time required per class. Collaboration among teachers and administrators is crucial to avoid overloading students with homework and diminishing any benefits.
Fourth, homework can have a different impact on students depending on their home circumstances and learning skills. Students who have adequate background knowledge to successfully engage in the work often find homework an easy task. But students without this advantage can find the time necessary to complete homework is as much as double what’s required for more advantaged students. Further, when homework requires access to resources not provided by the school, expectations for homework completion at home may not be realistic. The implications of these disparities grow and become more serious when homework is scored and used for grades. Students who actually give more effort and invest more time in completing homework can be penalized—while classmates with support and access to resources are rewarded with better grades. These homework practices can actually increase achievement gaps and inequities.
Homework, if carefully designed and thoughtfully assigned, can reinforce learning and provide opportunities for practice and application. However, we need to be attentive to the potential risks and downsides it presents. If homework is going to be among the instructional strategies on which we rely as we finish the year, we need to employ it judiciously and in limited amounts.
In Your Corner, Supporting Families
In Your Corner, Thinking Frames
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
In Your Corner, Student Learning
Share Your Tips & Stories
Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.
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Artificial intelligence can do many things, but it cannot lead—not in a classroom, not in a school, not in a district. Leadership is a complex, uniquely human behavior, and now is the time to really, truly lead.
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