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H’wood West Middle School Homework Center Expands Adding More Students
Eighth-grade Hazelwood West Middle School students work in the eighth-grade Homework Center after school. This is the second year the school has offered a place for students who need to study for tests, work on research projects or just get caught up on daily homework. This year, each grade level has its own Homework Center.
Hazelwood West Middle School students have seized the opportunity to work on academic tasks after school in grade-level homework centers several nights a week.
“What is most exciting to me about the homework practices and support centers we have developed is that we have raised the bar on what we expect of our students, but we have been careful to make sure there is a support system in place to help every student achieve success,” said eighth-grade communication skills teacher and Homework Committee Chairperson Bonnie Waldrop. “As if that were not enough, the positive relationships we build with students are priceless.”
“I attend Homework Center because it can be noisy at home when I am trying to get my homework done,” said eighth-grader Josh Barnes. “In the Homework Center, I can concentrate better and my friends can even help me if I am having trouble with my work.”
This is the second year for the homework center initiative. Last year, a whole-school homework center was established to provide support to students who needed a quiet place to study, read and complete nightly homework and longer-term research projects. Because student participation exceeded 40 students per night on a regular basis during the 2010-2011 school year, the program expanded this year to operate three grade-level centers to serve students.
The expansion affords students a greater opportunity to obtain extensive one-on-one help from a certificated teacher who works on their grade level. On select nights, the Homework Center is also staffed with National Junior Honor Society peer tutors, A+ High School Tutor volunteers and parent volunteers. Grade-level homework centers also serve as a student-directed and teacher-suggested intervention strategy for students who struggle with learning both the content of their homework and the responsibility to finish it.
Classmate Samantha Young confesses, “If the Homework Center didn’t exist, I probably would not have any work to turn in. I go because I want to make sure I get my work done on time.”
Last year, math help outweighed all other requests for assistance, overwhelming the teachers. This year, a team of more than a dozen teachers representing every core content area work in grade-level Homework Centers to provide academic support for students. Each Homework Center now has its own materials (laptop computers, pencils, paper, calculators, printers, toner, etc.) Teachers who staff the Homework Center are compensated and there are extra monthly incentives for those who work with students after school.
Eighth-grader Kayla Robertson recalls arriving to communication arts class without her homework during the first week of school. “It was scary. Everyone was just staring at me. I felt like the entire class was just looking at me weird. Mrs. Waldrop gave me the look. Now, I get my work in on time all the time. I feel accomplished and I have no reason to be scared about what other people will think when I show up without my assignment because I am ready for class.”
Shane Schmidt recommends other students take advantage of the help offered in the Homework Center because “You can get all your homework done at school, then either do your outside reading or play after you get home.”
Toward the end of the 2009-2010 school year, Allison Klouse, the school’s principal, invited her teachers to form a committee to analyze homework practices at Hazelwood West Middle. Waldrop said the committee met during the summer of 2010 to review homework-related research and to discuss District homework policies and practices, such as – assignment type, duration, links to other curricular areas, feedback, grading, late work, blending technology into homework, literacy and supports to make homework effective. From those discussions, the committee drafted building homework guidelines. Among the highlights were:
Teachers will increase the amount of homework being assigned to transition middle school students closer to the expected high school workload.
Teachers will assign homework for a variety of purposes and explicitly communicate that purpose to students by listing: practice, preparation, application and/or creativity/elaboration on classroom planner boards building-wide.
After the pilot year, students reported receiving a variety of teacher feedback on daily homework. Students reported that finishing their homework impacted their test scores in a positive way and they discovered they had better time management skills after completing homework. More daily homework and long-term projects became the norm and students indicated the Homework Center has value to them.
“My grades would be bad if the Homework Center didn’t exist,” added Miguel Avalos. “My grades are important to me, and using the Homework Center helps me finish work when I’ve fallen behind.”
Amber Nguyen agreed. “The Homework Center makes me focus. I would get caught up in just hanging out with my friends after school instead of getting my work done if I didn’t choose to work on it after school at school.”
The Hazelwood West Middle School’s Homework Centers are funded by the Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant. (story provided by Hazelwood Communications Dept.)
