Several years ago one of my seventh grade boys waited after class and mournfully stated, “Mrs. Clarke, I can’t do all of your homework. It’s too much, I work hours and hours and it never gets finished.” I was somewhat taken aback, as I thought I was only assigning 30 or 40 minutes a night. After I had ascertained that he had a set time and place to do his assignments, I then gave him this instruction. “When you go home today, I want you to borrow your mom’s kitchen timer. As soon as you are ready to begin tonight’s homework, set the timer for 35 minutes. Set to work immediately and when it rings, you are done. Close your books. Now talk to friends on the phone, play video games, listen to music, or better still go outside and play. We will talk again tomorrow and see what adjustments need to be made to the homework.”
The next day I was most interested in seeing how my little experiment had turned out. My student came up to greet me at the beginning of the period and I enquired how much work he was able to complete in his 35 minutes. “All of it!” He fairly bubbled. “I finished it all before the timer even went off.”
There was no magic at work here. My little fellow had just never mastered the concept of time management. Many children are sent to their rooms to do homework in isolation. The implicit message being that they work until completion. It is rare parent who imposes a time limit on when they will no longer be banished. It is hardly a wonder that they seek solace in kid friendly amusements. Note, I did not put any stipulations on my student’s homework time distractors. The caveat that he well understood though, was that things such as phones, video games etc. would all be available after the timer rang—thus unavailable while it was in progress. Since his study time was cleared of the usual clutter of outside influences, his focus was on my English assignment and the slight pressure of the ticking of mom’s kitchen timer.
While this was successful with a middle school student, I think it can have larger implications for our adult student populations as well. Teachers often pleadingly exhort students to practice English outside of class. Research (and common sense) tells us that this sort of homework gives extraordinary growth in language learning. The majority of students want to practice, but lack of opportunity, shyness, time constraints, all conspire to let it fall, all too often, by the wayside. My conjecture is that if we gave them a “kitchen timer” type crutch rather than the open ended admonition to go out and practice, we would see improved results. While listening to the radio or TV students could translate or answer in English for a set length of time, perhaps 15 minutes to start. While driving home, sing along with a favorite song, but sing the lyrics in English. For reluctant readers, we might suggest they choose a book written in English and open it randomly and read a paragraph aloud, only one.
The key is that students see an end and not just a lengthy study session out of their comfort zone and out of their control. Most of us will tackle a disagreeable job with better attitude if the end is in sight. If we can show our students the end, they will have a much less difficult time beginning.
The next day I was most interested in seeing how my little experiment had turned out. My student came up to greet me at the beginning of the period and I enquired how much work he was able to complete in his 35 minutes. “All of it!” He fairly bubbled. “I finished it all before the timer even went off.”
There was no magic at work here. My little fellow had just never mastered the concept of time management. Many children are sent to their rooms to do homework in isolation. The implicit message being that they work until completion. It is rare parent who imposes a time limit on when they will no longer be banished. It is hardly a wonder that they seek solace in kid friendly amusements. Note, I did not put any stipulations on my student’s homework time distractors. The caveat that he well understood though, was that things such as phones, video games etc. would all be available after the timer rang—thus unavailable while it was in progress. Since his study time was cleared of the usual clutter of outside influences, his focus was on my English assignment and the slight pressure of the ticking of mom’s kitchen timer.
While this was successful with a middle school student, I think it can have larger implications for our adult student populations as well. Teachers often pleadingly exhort students to practice English outside of class. Research (and common sense) tells us that this sort of homework gives extraordinary growth in language learning. The majority of students want to practice, but lack of opportunity, shyness, time constraints, all conspire to let it fall, all too often, by the wayside. My conjecture is that if we gave them a “kitchen timer” type crutch rather than the open ended admonition to go out and practice, we would see improved results. While listening to the radio or TV students could translate or answer in English for a set length of time, perhaps 15 minutes to start. While driving home, sing along with a favorite song, but sing the lyrics in English. For reluctant readers, we might suggest they choose a book written in English and open it randomly and read a paragraph aloud, only one.
The key is that students see an end and not just a lengthy study session out of their comfort zone and out of their control. Most of us will tackle a disagreeable job with better attitude if the end is in sight. If we can show our students the end, they will have a much less difficult time beginning.
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