rather than problems to solve. —Roger Lewin
This might be a better approach:
Try to read an average of 30 minutes
each night. Once a week, estimate how
much time you’ve spent reading. Write a
short paragraph about what you’ve been
reading.
reading did them any good.
© John howard/Getty ImaGes
If we want to promote ownership and
encourage students to enjoy reading,
we must go beyond the assigned
reading list. One student who usually
enjoyed reading lamented, “I just want
to read something that I want to read!”
We should broaden what “counts” as
reading to include such nontraditional
sources as blogs, websites, and maga-
zines. Instead of worrying about
whether students did the reading, we
should be focusing on whether the
topic they want to learn more about.
Then comes the tedious task of
judging whether the students met the
requirement. The reading log is the
typical proof: “Each night, write down
the author, title, and number of pages
you read, how much time you spent
reading, and the date. Have your parent
sign the log each night.” Whew! Not
only are reading logs time-consuming,
but also focusing on documenting takes
a lot of the joy out of reading (Bennett
& Kalish, 2006).
Hallmark 4: Competence
If all students are to feel competent
in completing homework, we must
abandon a one-size-fits-all approach.
Homework that students can’t do
without help is not good homework;
students are discouraged when they
are unable to complete homework on
their own (Darling-Hammond & Ifill-Lynch, 2006; Stiggins, 2007). To ensure
homework is doable, teachers must differentiate assignments so they are at the
appropriate level of difficulty for individual students (Tomlinson, 2008).
Struggling students may require
fewer questions, less
complex problems
with fewer steps, or
less reading. Some
students may be given
abbreviated reading
assignments, adapted
reading packets, or
simplified directions.
One of the simplest
ways to help struggling students is to
require less writing,
with fewer blanks to
fill in, or answers that
