From Hacking Homework: 10 Strategies that Inspire Learning Outside the Classroom
The Problem: Students lack independent problem-solving skills when it comes to homework, relying too often on parents to “tell them how to do it.” The Solution: Teach parents how to use the Boomerang Model, which empowers students to find solutions to their own homework problems. Barnes explains: “So they come to me, and they say, ‘Dad, I need help with this. I don’t get it.’ I’m going to respond with, ‘How can you help yourself? What strategy can you use that maybe you haven’t tried yet? Where should you start, because maybe you missed the real starting point? What evidence do you have to support this?’ If they say, ‘Is this right? Should I do this this way?’ I can say, ‘Well, what evidence do you have?’ We don’t want their automatic response to a struggle to be, ‘I need help from a teacher,’ or ‘I need help from a parent.’ We want them to help themselves.” What You Can Do Tomorrow: Create a list of questions parents can “boomerang back” to their kids, then practice using them yourself, so students get used to hearing and responding to them. Introduce this concept to parents in a newsletter or better yet, a video demonstrating how it’s done. Here are some boomerang questions to help with the homework during this unit (11/29 and 12/7).
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AuthorI have been teaching since 1996. I became a special education teacher in 2013. I currently work at a therapeutic day school in suburban Chicago. Archives
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