homework example of sentences

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HOMEWORK in a Sentence Examples: 21 Ways to Use Homework

Have you ever found yourself struggling with completing your homework on time? Homework refers to academic tasks assigned to students by teachers to be completed outside of regular class time. It provides an opportunity for students to practice and apply what they have learned in class.

Completing homework assignments is essential for reinforcing concepts taught in class, as well as developing important skills such as time management and critical thinking. By working on homework independently, students can deepen their understanding of the material and improve their academic performance.

Table of Contents

7 Examples Of Homework Used In a Sentence For Kids

• Homework is important for learning.
• I do my homework every day after school.
• My teacher gives us homework to do.
• I need to finish my homework before dinner.
• Homework helps me practice what I learn in class.
• I ask my parents for help with my homework .
• It is fun to complete my homework on time.

14 Sentences with Homework Examples

• I have so much homework to finish before the deadline.
• Homework is piling up, and I don’t know where to start.
• I can’t go out tonight because I have too much homework to do.
• Let’s meet up at the library to work on our homework together.
• I wish I didn’t have to stay up late to complete my homework .
• It’s hard to concentrate on my homework with all the noise in the dorm room.
• I need to find a quiet place on campus to focus on my homework .
• Homework is always on my mind, even during breaks between classes.
• I never leave my room without my backpack full of homework assignments.
• My grades are suffering because I keep procrastinating on my homework .
• I have a group project due next week, and everyone needs to do their part of the homework .
• I find it challenging to balance extracurricular activities with all the homework I have.
• Submitting homework online has made it easier to turn in assignments on time.
• I have to set reminders on my phone to make sure I don’t forget about homework deadlines.

How To Use Homework in Sentences?

Homework is used to refer to assignments or tasks given to students by teachers to be completed outside of class. Homework is an important part of a student’s learning process, as it helps reinforce the concepts taught in class and allows students to practice applying their knowledge.

To use Homework in a sentence, you can say: – “I have a lot of homework to do tonight.” – “Make sure you complete your homework before tomorrow’s class.” – “She spends hours every night working on her homework assignments.”

In each of these sentences, Homework is used to describe the schoolwork that students are required to do outside of the classroom. It is important to remember that Homework is singular, so it is always followed by a singular verb.

When using Homework in a sentence, it is helpful to consider the context in which it is being used. Make sure to use the word appropriately in a sentence that makes sense and conveys the intended meaning. Practice using Homework in sentences to become more comfortable with its usage in everyday language.

In conclusion, homework plays a crucial role in reinforcing classroom learning and enhancing students’ understanding of concepts. As seen in various examples of sentences with homework, it serves as a tool for practice, revision, and application of knowledge. Additionally, completing homework tasks can help students develop time management skills, responsibility, and self-discipline.

While some may argue that homework can be overwhelming, with proper organization and prioritization, it can be a valuable learning tool. By carefully crafting sentences with homework, we can understand its importance in the educational process. Ultimately, homework should be seen as a beneficial exercise that complements classroom instruction and contributes to students’ academic growth and development.

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“Homework” in a Sentence (with Audio)

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homework (n): work that teachers give their students to do at home

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Definition of homework

Examples of homework in a sentence.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'homework.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

1662, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Dictionary Entries Near homework

Cite this entry.

“Homework.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homework. Accessed 2 Jun. 2024.

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Kids definition of homework, more from merriam-webster on homework.

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How to Create Effective Homework

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Based on a recent spate of articles on homework, it’s clear that the homework wars -- how much? how often? -- are still topic of big interest to both parents and teachers. Some teachers hate to give homework; others see it as a vital necessity. But according to some research presented by Annie Murphy Paul, the question isn’t how much, but whether the homework teachers do give actually advances learning.

“A recent study, published in the Economics of Education Review,” Paul wrote in “How Can We Make Homework Worthwhile?” , “reports that homework in science, English and history has ‘little to no impact’ on student test scores. (The authors did note a positive effect for math homework.) Enriching children’s classroom learning requires making homework not shorter or longer, but smarter.” Paul goes on to describe specific practices, like spaced repetition (in which information is presented and repeated spaced out over time), retrieval practice (testing or quizzing not for assessment, but to reinforce material learned), and cognitive disfluency (“desirable difficulties” used to make learning stick) -- all memory/retrieval techniques that may help homework move beyond busy work and advance real learning.

But to get those elements to work, said Fires in the Mind author and speaker Kathleen Cushman, students must be motivated to do their homework in the first place. One example Cushman gave was creating a project so interesting and involved, students naturally wanted to keep working on it after the bell rang. She pointed to a chapter in the book where she describes a particular motivation for some high school students she interviewed, under the heading “Homework We Actually Want to Do”:

“Christina and Nicholas both remembered a global studies unit on the French Revolution in which students acted out a courtroom trial of the king and queen. The project brought even routine homework assignments to life, they said.

“I was the queen. So of course I wanted to do my homework all the time, so I could know the facts of what happened and what didn’t happen, know what I wanted to say when someone tried to say I did this or that thing. I could say, ‘Oh no, I didn’t!’ - because I’d read my homework,” said Christina.

Christina was using a form of retrieval practice -- but because it was so much fun to be the queen, she only knew she wanted to stay in character. The queen had to study the information to get it right.

Another way teachers can take a good, hard look at homework practices, said Cushman, is to ask themselves a few vital questions: “Does this homework ask each student to practice something that the student hasn’t yet mastered? Does the student clearly see its purpose? When students are asked to repeat or rehearse something, does it require them to focus? Or can they do it without really paying attention?” If the homework meets these criteria, she said, then it falls into the desirable realm of “deliberate practice .”

Dan Bisaccio, former high school science teacher and now Director of Science Education at Brown University, said that after years of experience giving homework to high school students, he now “preaches” to his future teachers: “Homework should be practice and extensions of what happens in class and should not be ‘new learning,’” he said. “That is, students [shouldn’t be] having to teach themselves new content or skills.”

He said he agreed with Cushman that motivation is key, and tried to design homework that kept students interested. “Teachers need to clue into what motivates their students, giving them something that they really want to complete, and complete well.” One assignment Bisaccio used, called an “Experience Map,” asked students to create a map of their experiences after a field study or other important project - a technique employing both retrieval practice and the somewhat trickier interleaving, a “desirable difficulty” in which problems of different types are presented in one assignment, making students think harder to come up with solutions and answers.

“We ‘map’ mentally and physically each day. It helps to keep us orientated through our frenzied sun-up to sun-down daily experiences,” reads the assignment. Directions are to draw a field experience map, including -- with regard to the class -- where students have been, what they have done, new challenges, and insights. Special suggestions for drawing include “a place of danger, a favorite place, a place of power, a place with a secret.” Students are also called upon to map the places where they learned the most, where they were challenged the most, and where the funniest experience happened.

In addition, Bisaccio asked students to write what had challenged them most as a learner, what had stretched their limits most -- meant to be reflections just for students themselves, and asked to be kept on the back of the map. “What they wrote on the back was not shared with others,” he said. Once the assignment was completed, maps were posted to form a class atlas of what they had learned.

All the examples included here, however, are examples of homework in a traditional classroom. What about homework in a flipped classroom , where the lectures, usually videos, are the homework? A recent New York Times article on flipped classrooms may provide insight into flipping homework on its head, too: it quoted high school senior Luwayne Harris, saying, “Whenever I had a problem on the homework, I couldn’t do anything about it at home. Now if I have a problem with a video, I can just rewind and watch it over and over again.”

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11 vocabulary homework ideas and how to motivate students to do it, by: vocab gal.

Homework is such a valuable formative assessment for both teachers and students, and yet students are motivated* by many different factors when it comes to their desire to actually complete the work. In this article, I'm sharing how to motivate students to do their homework and 11 vocabulary homework ideas and worksheets that work in grades 1–12. Plus, preview and grab my 7 Options for Vocabulary Homework Kit .

Keep scrolling to find vocabulary homework ideas! 

How to motivate students to do their homework.

As a teacher, I try to concentrate students’ learning on activities done in class, because asking some students to complete work at home can be daunting. Many times in my career I have been discouraged when more than half the class does not return to class with their homework assignment complete.

Yet we only have so many minutes with our students, and we need them to practice the concepts and skills they are learning until the knowledge becomes ingrained. Most students have a homeroom, study hall, or other downtime during the day in which they could complete activities, they just have to be motivated to do it.

Many studies cite “student choice” as one of the most important factors in inspiring students to learn. When students have the opportunity to select what questions to answer, what activity to complete or what role to play, they tend to feel more comfortable and confident about performing.

Additionally, research shows that when students are dedicated to a task important to them, like improving their video game scores, or optimizing their success on a playing field, they will go to great lengths to improve. While probably not as meaningful as their video game level, students will be more excited to answer questions about themselves than a generic worksheet.

By providing students with both choice and a topic that is personally meaningful, homework can be a great learning exercise as well as an important formative assessment.

Steps to Ensure Students Complete Homework

There are a few other motivating factors that can help establish homework as a meaningful part of a student’s educational experience. Here are suggested steps a school, parish, department, or teacher might take to ensure successful homework completion.

Step One First, confirm that students have a strong rapport with their teacher(s). While it is difficult to cultivate a deep relationship with each student, teachers should strive to show students that they value their students and are committed to helping them learn and grow to their fullest potential. I would encourage teachers not to assign homework for the first few weeks of school until they develop a classroom community of respect and appreciation for learning.

Step Two Second, once the classroom community has been established, teachers should specifically explain the importance of homework as a way of deeply ingraining knowledge. Teachers should also make it clear that homework is a meaningful formative assessment where both they and their students can understand what students know and where there are knowledge gaps.

Step Three Third, some students may be quite unhappy when being mandated to do specific work. Therefore, teachers should stress the choices a student gets when completing their homework and that students get to complete the work that best reflects their own sense of self.

Step Four Finally, the teacher should praise students individually, as well as praise the class when homework is turned in on time. Many students thrive on positive reinforcement and also many may feel guilt if they let their classmates or teacher down. Additionally, as many teachers know, a word of encouragement or a small sticker can make the difference to many.

How to Respond When Homework is Not Completed

When at last it comes time for homework collection, there will be students who did not complete the assignment, no matter how well it was set up. Teachers can again encourage students who did not complete the homework in time to think about what may motivate them to complete it. If a student seems to dislike direct mandates, providing support such as, “I know that you value your learning and will find a way to demonstrate your abilities,” might be more effective than, “Turn in your paper by Thursday or it’s a zero!”

For others who seem driven by the need to please or help others, teachers might encourage students by stating, “I’m disappointed that you weren’t able to complete your work on time, and I know you will submit your work in order to show us both what you know and understand,” might work better than, “Don’t you want the credit for this assignment?”

Vocabulary Homework Ideas for Students

For this post, I have a few homework assignments that model these ideas. Both in my new It's All About Me vocabulary practice page, and my tried-and true,  7 Options for Vocabulary Homework bundle, students are motivated to continue their learning because they have both choice and a focus on themselves, a topic in which they are already invested.

My new It's All About Me Vocabulary Activity tasks students with answering a series of questions about themselves using vocabulary words in context. On the first page of this download students will list their vocabulary words and write their own brief definitions. On the second page student will answer eight prompts. Each response should include at least one of the vocabulary words from their list in context . In each of their answers students must underline the context clues that would help someone unfamiliar with the word understand what it means.

With the 7 Options for Vocabulary Homework bundle, students can choose from a variety of fun and engaging activities for learning or reviewing vocabulary words. In addition to the homework selection sheet, the bundle includes worksheets for vocabulary homework ideas number five and six. The other vocabulary homework options can be completed on a plain piece of paper or in student workbooks.

Here are the vocabulary activities listed on the 7 Options for Vocabulary Homework handout:

#1 Say Your Words

Do you love the sound of your own voice? Do you tend to learn information by teaching others? Then try saying each of the vocabulary words, out loud and in context, to friends, family, strangers, etc. Use either your flashcards or your list of words, and make sure to get initials from someone who heard you say your vocabulary sentence. If you can’t get a signature, just explain when and how you said the sentences and we will invoke the HONOR SYSTEM! Create two sentences per word.

Do you love to write? Do you copy your notes to help you remember information? Then try writing two sentences for each vocabulary word. These can either be two individual sentences for each word or you can put all of your words together in a story. (If you write a story, you only have to use each word once). Have fun and get creative – amuse me and impress me, but make sure you use your vocabulary words in context!

#3 Write Your Words in Other Classes

As an alternative to the above “Write your Words,” use your vocabulary in your assignments for other classes – social studies essays, science notes, art descriptions, etc. Write down the vocabulary you used for this assignment (For example: On my science test I said “Newton was meritorious,” etc.). You can abbreviate your explanations slightly, as long as I understand you know the word’s meaning; remember to use each word twice.

#4 Become Your Words

Do you gesture when you talk? Is it hard for you to sit still? Then consider creating motions to go along with your words. Cry for lament , raise your arms in praise for approbation , etc. See me during class to “perform” your motions, or write them down, making sure that the connection between word, meaning, and gesture makes sense.

#5 Draw Your Words

Are you an artist? Do you constantly doodle? Then create cartoons or drawings that illustrate each word’s meaning. Create one drawing or cartoon per word and make them neat, using clean white paper (consider using recycled paper that has printing on the other side). Paperclip all your drawings together for the end of the week.

#6 Sing Your Words

Do you love to sing? Are you constantly creating your own raps? Try rewriting the lyrics to a song to incorporate each of your vocabulary words or write your own song, rap, etc. You can also write poetry; regardless of the form you choose, the words should be used in the correct context.

#7 Test Your Words

Do you want to play teacher and write the test as well as take it? Now you can! Create a vocabulary test using all the words in a variety of different types of questions. Make sure to create the answer key to the test as well.

Download the 7 Options for Vocabulary Homework bundle and have students keep the selection sheet in their binders. Now they have seven weeks of vocabulary homework assignments!

Additional Vocabulary Homework Ideas

Ultimately, establishing a culture of community and trust in the classroom, explaining the reasoning behind and the benefits of homework, and providing choice and meaningful topics can make a significant difference in completion rates. Even if homework is not completed on time, teachers can still work to connect with each student to provide motivation to complete the assignments.

As educators, we all strive to make learning exciting and applicable to our students. By setting up clear expectations and providing interesting options, we can make any homework, including vocabulary homework, meaningful and valuable to students.

 *I have recently completed Gretchen Rubin’s audiobook The Four Tendencies about what motivates different groups of people. Many of the ideas about motivating students come loosely from her book as well as my own observations. I highly recommend the book to anyone wanting to learn how to better motivate themselves and others.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to do homework: 15 expert tips and tricks.

Coursework/GPA

Everyone struggles with homework sometimes, but if getting your homework done has become a chronic issue for you, then you may need a little extra help. That’s why we’ve written this article all about how to do homework. Once you’re finished reading it, you’ll know how to do homework (and have tons of new ways to motivate yourself to do homework)!

We’ve broken this article down into a few major sections. You’ll find:

• A diagnostic test to help you figure out why you’re struggling with homework
• A discussion of the four major homework problems students face, along with expert tips for addressing them
• A bonus section with tips for how to do homework fast

By the end of this article, you’ll be prepared to tackle whatever homework assignments your teachers throw at you .

So let’s get started!

How to Do Homework: Figure Out Your Struggles 

Sometimes it feels like everything is standing between you and getting your homework done. But the truth is, most people only have one or two major roadblocks that are keeping them from getting their homework done well and on time. 

The best way to figure out how to get motivated to do homework starts with pinpointing the issues that are affecting your ability to get your assignments done. That’s why we’ve developed a short quiz to help you identify the areas where you’re struggling. 

Take the quiz below and record your answers on your phone or on a scrap piece of paper. Keep in mind there are no wrong answers! 

1. You’ve just been assigned an essay in your English class that’s due at the end of the week. What’s the first thing you do?

A. Keep it in mind, even though you won’t start it until the day before it’s due  B. Open up your planner. You’ve got to figure out when you’ll write your paper since you have band practice, a speech tournament, and your little sister’s dance recital this week, too.  C. Groan out loud. Another essay? You could barely get yourself to write the last one!  D. Start thinking about your essay topic, which makes you think about your art project that’s due the same day, which reminds you that your favorite artist might have just posted to Instagram...so you better check your feed right now. 

2. Your mom asked you to pick up your room before she gets home from work. You’ve just gotten home from school. You decide you’ll tackle your chores: 

A. Five minutes before your mom walks through the front door. As long as it gets done, who cares when you start?  B. As soon as you get home from your shift at the local grocery store.  C. After you give yourself a 15-minute pep talk about how you need to get to work.  D. You won’t get it done. Between texts from your friends, trying to watch your favorite Netflix show, and playing with your dog, you just lost track of time! 

3. You’ve signed up to wash dogs at the Humane Society to help earn money for your senior class trip. You: 

A. Show up ten minutes late. You put off leaving your house until the last minute, then got stuck in unexpected traffic on the way to the shelter.  B. Have to call and cancel at the last minute. You forgot you’d already agreed to babysit your cousin and bake cupcakes for tomorrow’s bake sale.  C. Actually arrive fifteen minutes early with extra brushes and bandanas you picked up at the store. You’re passionate about animals, so you’re excited to help out! D. Show up on time, but only get three dogs washed. You couldn’t help it: you just kept getting distracted by how cute they were!

4. You have an hour of downtime, so you decide you’re going to watch an episode of The Great British Baking Show. You: 

A. Scroll through your social media feeds for twenty minutes before hitting play, which means you’re not able to finish the whole episode. Ugh! You really wanted to see who was sent home!  B. Watch fifteen minutes until you remember you’re supposed to pick up your sister from band practice before heading to your part-time job. No GBBO for you!  C. You finish one episode, then decide to watch another even though you’ve got SAT studying to do. It’s just more fun to watch people make scones.  D. Start the episode, but only catch bits and pieces of it because you’re reading Twitter, cleaning out your backpack, and eating a snack at the same time.

5. Your teacher asks you to stay after class because you’ve missed turning in two homework assignments in a row. When she asks you what’s wrong, you say: 

A. You planned to do your assignments during lunch, but you ran out of time. You decided it would be better to turn in nothing at all than submit unfinished work.  B. You really wanted to get the assignments done, but between your extracurriculars, family commitments, and your part-time job, your homework fell through the cracks.  C. You have a hard time psyching yourself to tackle the assignments. You just can’t seem to find the motivation to work on them once you get home.  D. You tried to do them, but you had a hard time focusing. By the time you realized you hadn’t gotten anything done, it was already time to turn them in. 

Like we said earlier, there are no right or wrong answers to this quiz (though your results will be better if you answered as honestly as possible). Here’s how your answers break down: 

• If your answers were mostly As, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is procrastination. 
• If your answers were mostly Bs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is time management. 
• If your answers were mostly Cs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is motivation. 
• If your answers were mostly Ds, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is getting distracted. 

Now that you’ve identified why you’re having a hard time getting your homework done, we can help you figure out how to fix it! Scroll down to find your core problem area to learn more about how you can start to address it. 

And one more thing: you’re really struggling with homework, it’s a good idea to read through every section below. You may find some additional tips that will help make homework less intimidating. 

How to Do Homework When You’re a Procrastinator  

Merriam Webster defines “procrastinate” as “to put off intentionally and habitually.” In other words, procrastination is when you choose to do something at the last minute on a regular basis. If you’ve ever found yourself pulling an all-nighter, trying to finish an assignment between periods, or sprinting to turn in a paper minutes before a deadline, you’ve experienced the effects of procrastination. 

If you’re a chronic procrastinator, you’re in good company. In fact, one study found that 70% to 95% of undergraduate students procrastinate when it comes to doing their homework. Unfortunately, procrastination can negatively impact your grades. Researchers have found that procrastination can lower your grade on an assignment by as much as five points ...which might not sound serious until you realize that can mean the difference between a B- and a C+. 

Procrastination can also negatively affect your health by increasing your stress levels , which can lead to other health conditions like insomnia, a weakened immune system, and even heart conditions. Getting a handle on procrastination can not only improve your grades, it can make you feel better, too! 

The big thing to understand about procrastination is that it’s not the result of laziness. Laziness is defined as being “disinclined to activity or exertion.” In other words, being lazy is all about doing nothing. But a s this Psychology Today article explains , procrastinators don’t put things off because they don’t want to work. Instead, procrastinators tend to postpone tasks they don’t want to do in favor of tasks that they perceive as either more important or more fun. Put another way, procrastinators want to do things...as long as it’s not their homework! 

3 Tips f or Conquering Procrastination 

Because putting off doing homework is a common problem, there are lots of good tactics for addressing procrastination. Keep reading for our three expert tips that will get your homework habits back on track in no time. 

#1: Create a Reward System

Like we mentioned earlier, procrastination happens when you prioritize other activities over getting your homework done. Many times, this happens because homework...well, just isn’t enjoyable. But you can add some fun back into the process by rewarding yourself for getting your work done. 

Here’s what we mean: let’s say you decide that every time you get your homework done before the day it’s due, you’ll give yourself a point. For every five points you earn, you’ll treat yourself to your favorite dessert: a chocolate cupcake! Now you have an extra (delicious!) incentive to motivate you to leave procrastination in the dust. 

If you’re not into cupcakes, don’t worry. Your reward can be anything that motivates you . Maybe it’s hanging out with your best friend or an extra ten minutes of video game time. As long as you’re choosing something that makes homework worth doing, you’ll be successful. 

#2: Have a Homework Accountability Partner 

If you’re having trouble getting yourself to start your homework ahead of time, it may be a good idea to call in reinforcements . Find a friend or classmate you can trust and explain to them that you’re trying to change your homework habits. Ask them if they’d be willing to text you to make sure you’re doing your homework and check in with you once a week to see if you’re meeting your anti-procrastination goals. 

Sharing your goals can make them feel more real, and an accountability partner can help hold you responsible for your decisions. For example, let’s say you’re tempted to put off your science lab write-up until the morning before it’s due. But you know that your accountability partner is going to text you about it tomorrow...and you don’t want to fess up that you haven’t started your assignment. A homework accountability partner can give you the extra support and incentive you need to keep your homework habits on track. 

#3: Create Your Own Due Dates 

If you’re a life-long procrastinator, you might find that changing the habit is harder than you expected. In that case, you might try using procrastination to your advantage! If you just can’t seem to stop doing your work at the last minute, try setting your own due dates for assignments that range from a day to a week before the assignment is actually due. 

Here’s what we mean. Let’s say you have a math worksheet that’s been assigned on Tuesday and is due on Friday. In your planner, you can write down the due date as Thursday instead. You may still put off your homework assignment until the last minute...but in this case, the “last minute” is a day before the assignment’s real due date . This little hack can trick your procrastination-addicted brain into planning ahead! 

If you feel like Kevin Hart in this meme, then our tips for doing homework when you're busy are for you. 

How to Do Homework When You’re too Busy

If you’re aiming to go to a top-tier college , you’re going to have a full plate. Because college admissions is getting more competitive, it’s important that you’re maintaining your grades , studying hard for your standardized tests , and participating in extracurriculars so your application stands out. A packed schedule can get even more hectic once you add family obligations or a part-time job to the mix. 

If you feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions at once, you’re not alone. Recent research has found that stress—and more severe stress-related conditions like anxiety and depression— are a major problem for high school students . In fact, one study from the American Psychological Association found that during the school year, students’ stress levels are higher than those of the adults around them. 

For students, homework is a major contributor to their overall stress levels . Many high schoolers have multiple hours of homework every night , and figuring out how to fit it into an already-packed schedule can seem impossible. 

3 Tips for Fitting Homework Into Your Busy Schedule

While it might feel like you have literally no time left in your schedule, there are still ways to make sure you’re able to get your homework done and meet your other commitments. Here are our expert homework tips for even the busiest of students. 

#1: Make a Prioritized To-Do List 

You probably already have a to-do list to keep yourself on track. The next step is to prioritize the items on your to-do list so you can see what items need your attention right away. 

Here’s how it works: at the beginning of each day, sit down and make a list of all the items you need to get done before you go to bed. This includes your homework, but it should also take into account any practices, chores, events, or job shifts you may have. Once you get everything listed out, it’s time to prioritize them using the labels A, B, and C. Here’s what those labels mean:

• A Tasks : tasks that have to get done—like showing up at work or turning in an assignment—get an A. 
• B Tasks : these are tasks that you would like to get done by the end of the day but aren’t as time sensitive. For example, studying for a test you have next week could be a B-level task. It’s still important, but it doesn’t have to be done right away.
• C Tasks: these are tasks that aren’t very important and/or have no real consequences if you don’t get them done immediately. For instance, if you’re hoping to clean out your closet but it’s not an assigned chore from your parents, you could label that to-do item with a C.

Prioritizing your to-do list helps you visualize which items need your immediate attention, and which items you can leave for later. A prioritized to-do list ensures that you’re spending your time efficiently and effectively, which helps you make room in your schedule for homework. So even though you might really want to start making decorations for Homecoming (a B task), you’ll know that finishing your reading log (an A task) is more important. 

#2: Use a Planner With Time Labels

Your planner is probably packed with notes, events, and assignments already. (And if you’re not using a planner, it’s time to start!) But planners can do more for you than just remind you when an assignment is due. If you’re using a planner with time labels, it can help you visualize how you need to spend your day.

A planner with time labels breaks your day down into chunks, and you assign tasks to each chunk of time. For example, you can make a note of your class schedule with assignments, block out time to study, and make sure you know when you need to be at practice. Once you know which tasks take priority, you can add them to any empty spaces in your day. 

Planning out how you spend your time not only helps you use it wisely, it can help you feel less overwhelmed, too . We’re big fans of planners that include a task list ( like this one ) or have room for notes ( like this one ). 

#3: Set Reminders on Your Phone 

If you need a little extra nudge to make sure you’re getting your homework done on time, it’s a good idea to set some reminders on your phone. You don’t need a fancy app, either. You can use your alarm app to have it go off at specific times throughout the day to remind you to do your homework. This works especially well if you have a set homework time scheduled. So if you’ve decided you’re doing homework at 6:00 pm, you can set an alarm to remind you to bust out your books and get to work. 

If you use your phone as your planner, you may have the option to add alerts, emails, or notifications to scheduled events . Many calendar apps, including the one that comes with your phone, have built-in reminders that you can customize to meet your needs. So if you block off time to do your homework from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, you can set a reminder that will pop up on your phone when it’s time to get started. 

This dog isn't judging your lack of motivation...but your teacher might. Keep reading for tips to help you motivate yourself to do your homework.

How to Do Homework When You’re Unmotivated 

At first glance, it may seem like procrastination and being unmotivated are the same thing. After all, both of these issues usually result in you putting off your homework until the very last minute. 

But there’s one key difference: many procrastinators are working, they’re just prioritizing work differently. They know they’re going to start their homework...they’re just going to do it later. 

Conversely, people who are unmotivated to do homework just can’t find the willpower to tackle their assignments. Procrastinators know they’ll at least attempt the homework at the last minute, whereas people who are unmotivated struggle with convincing themselves to do it at a ll. For procrastinators, the stress comes from the inevitable time crunch. For unmotivated people, the stress comes from trying to convince themselves to do something they don’t want to do in the first place. 

Here are some common reasons students are unmotivated in doing homework : 

• Assignments are too easy, too hard, or seemingly pointless 
• Students aren’t interested in (or passionate about) the subject matter
• Students are intimidated by the work and/or feels like they don’t understand the assignment 
• Homework isn’t fun, and students would rather spend their time on things that they enjoy 

To sum it up: people who lack motivation to do their homework are more likely to not do it at all, or to spend more time worrying about doing their homework than...well, actually doing it.

3 Tips for How to Get Motivated to Do Homework

The key to getting homework done when you’re unmotivated is to figure out what does motivate you, then apply those things to homework. It sounds tricky...but it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it! Here are our three expert tips for motivating yourself to do your homework. 

#1: Use Incremental Incentives

When you’re not motivated, it’s important to give yourself small rewards to stay focused on finishing the task at hand. The trick is to keep the incentives small and to reward yourself often. For example, maybe you’re reading a good book in your free time. For every ten minutes you spend on your homework, you get to read five pages of your book. Like we mentioned earlier, make sure you’re choosing a reward that works for you! 

So why does this technique work? Using small rewards more often allows you to experience small wins for getting your work done. Every time you make it to one of your tiny reward points, you get to celebrate your success, which gives your brain a boost of dopamine . Dopamine helps you stay motivated and also creates a feeling of satisfaction when you complete your homework !  

#2: Form a Homework Group 

If you’re having trouble motivating yourself, it’s okay to turn to others for support. Creating a homework group can help with this. Bring together a group of your friends or classmates, and pick one time a week where you meet and work on homework together. You don’t have to be in the same class, or even taking the same subjects— the goal is to encourage one another to start (and finish!) your assignments. 

Another added benefit of a homework group is that you can help one another if you’re struggling to understand the material covered in your classes. This is especially helpful if your lack of motivation comes from being intimidated by your assignments. Asking your friends for help may feel less scary than talking to your teacher...and once you get a handle on the material, your homework may become less frightening, too. 

#3: Change Up Your Environment 

If you find that you’re totally unmotivated, it may help if you find a new place to do your homework. For example, if you’ve been struggling to get your homework done at home, try spending an extra hour in the library after school instead. The change of scenery can limit your distractions and give you the energy you need to get your work done. 

If you’re stuck doing homework at home, you can still use this tip. For instance, maybe you’ve always done your homework sitting on your bed. Try relocating somewhere else, like your kitchen table, for a few weeks. You may find that setting up a new “homework spot” in your house gives you a motivational lift and helps you get your work done. 

Social media can be a huge problem when it comes to doing homework. We have advice for helping you unplug and regain focus.

How to Do Homework When You’re Easily Distracted

We live in an always-on world, and there are tons of things clamoring for our attention. From friends and family to pop culture and social media, it seems like there’s always something (or someone!) distracting us from the things we need to do.

The 24/7 world we live in has affected our ability to focus on tasks for prolonged periods of time. Research has shown that over the past decade, an average person’s attention span has gone from 12 seconds to eight seconds . And when we do lose focus, i t takes people a long time to get back on task . One study found that it can take as long as 23 minutes to get back to work once we’ve been distracte d. No wonder it can take hours to get your homework done! 

3 Tips to Improve Your Focus

If you have a hard time focusing when you’re doing your homework, it’s a good idea to try and eliminate as many distractions as possible. Here are three expert tips for blocking out the noise so you can focus on getting your homework done. 

#1: Create a Distraction-Free Environment

Pick a place where you’ll do your homework every day, and make it as distraction-free as possible. Try to find a location where there won’t be tons of noise, and limit your access to screens while you’re doing your homework. Put together a focus-oriented playlist (or choose one on your favorite streaming service), and put your headphones on while you work. 

You may find that other people, like your friends and family, are your biggest distraction. If that’s the case, try setting up some homework boundaries. Let them know when you’ll be working on homework every day, and ask them if they’ll help you keep a quiet environment. They’ll be happy to lend a hand! 

#2: Limit Your Access to Technology 

We know, we know...this tip isn’t fun, but it does work. For homework that doesn’t require a computer, like handouts or worksheets, it’s best to put all your technology away . Turn off your television, put your phone and laptop in your backpack, and silence notifications on any wearable tech you may be sporting. If you listen to music while you work, that’s fine...but make sure you have a playlist set up so you’re not shuffling through songs once you get started on your homework. 

If your homework requires your laptop or tablet, it can be harder to limit your access to distractions. But it’s not impossible! T here are apps you can download that will block certain websites while you’re working so that you’re not tempted to scroll through Twitter or check your Facebook feed. Silence notifications and text messages on your computer, and don’t open your email account unless you absolutely have to. And if you don’t need access to the internet to complete your assignments, turn off your WiFi. Cutting out the online chatter is a great way to make sure you’re getting your homework done. 

#3: Set a Timer (the Pomodoro Technique)

Have you ever heard of the Pomodoro technique ? It’s a productivity hack that uses a timer to help you focus!

Here’s how it works: first, set a timer for 25 minutes. This is going to be your work time. During this 25 minutes, all you can do is work on whatever homework assignment you have in front of you. No email, no text messaging, no phone calls—just homework. When that timer goes off, you get to take a 5 minute break. Every time you go through one of these cycles, it’s called a “pomodoro.” For every four pomodoros you complete, you can take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

The pomodoro technique works through a combination of boundary setting and rewards. First, it gives you a finite amount of time to focus, so you know that you only have to work really hard for 25 minutes. Once you’ve done that, you’re rewarded with a short break where you can do whatever you want. Additionally, tracking how many pomodoros you complete can help you see how long you’re really working on your homework. (Once you start using our focus tips, you may find it doesn’t take as long as you thought!)

Two Bonus Tips for How to Do Homework Fast

Even if you’re doing everything right, there will be times when you just need to get your homework done as fast as possible. (Why do teachers always have projects due in the same week? The world may never know.)

The problem with speeding through homework is that it’s easy to make mistakes. While turning in an assignment is always better than not submitting anything at all, you want to make sure that you’re not compromising quality for speed. Simply put, the goal is to get your homework done quickly and still make a good grade on the assignment! 

Here are our two bonus tips for getting a decent grade on your homework assignments , even when you’re in a time crunch. 

#1: Do the Easy Parts First 

This is especially true if you’re working on a handout with multiple questions. Before you start working on the assignment, read through all the questions and problems. As you do, make a mark beside the questions you think are “easy” to answer . 

Once you’ve finished going through the whole assignment, you can answer these questions first. Getting the easy questions out of the way as quickly as possible lets you spend more time on the trickier portions of your homework, which will maximize your assignment grade. 

(Quick note: this is also a good strategy to use on timed assignments and tests, like the SAT and the ACT !) 

#2: Pay Attention in Class 

Homework gets a lot easier when you’re actively learning the material. Teachers aren’t giving you homework because they’re mean or trying to ruin your weekend... it’s because they want you to really understand the course material. Homework is designed to reinforce what you’re already learning in class so you’ll be ready to tackle harder concepts later.

When you pay attention in class, ask questions, and take good notes, you’re absorbing the information you’ll need to succeed on your homework assignments. (You’re stuck in class anyway, so you might as well make the most of it!) Not only will paying attention in class make your homework less confusing, it will also help it go much faster, too.

What’s Next?

If you’re looking to improve your productivity beyond homework, a good place to begin is with time management. After all, we only have so much time in a day...so it’s important to get the most out of it! To get you started, check out this list of the 12 best time management techniques that you can start using today.

You may have read this article because homework struggles have been affecting your GPA. Now that you’re on the path to homework success, it’s time to start being proactive about raising your grades. This article teaches you everything you need to know about raising your GPA so you can

Now you know how to get motivated to do homework...but what about your study habits? Studying is just as critical to getting good grades, and ultimately getting into a good college . We can teach you how to study bette r in high school. (We’ve also got tons of resources to help you study for your ACT and SAT exams , too!)

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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13 ESL Homework Ideas

Homework may not be many students’ favorite thing, but research says it’s truly an effective learning tool that teachers should use .

The trick is assigning great homework.

To help you do this with ease, we’ve compiled an awesome list of 13 homework assignments that will have your ESL students begging for more.

1. Read a Short Story

2. share a passion, 3. start a chat group, 4. listen to a podcast, 5. write a letter, 6. write an amazon review, 7. do a wikipedia edit, 8. write a short story or poem, 9. share their culture, 10. catch a movie, 11. meet new people, 12. analyze a song, 13. go on a photo scavenger hunt, what makes homework effective.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Have students read a short story for homework and then ask them to tell the class about the story in the next session.

I would recommend giving students some suggestions on what short stories to read, depending on the level of your students.

Here are some suggestions of short story collections for each level of ESL learner:

• “The Very First Americans” by Cara Ashrose: This collection of short stories features Native American culture and history, written in simple language.
• “Oxford Bookworms Library: Starter Level” This series offers simplified versions of classic stories, such as fairy tales, adventure stories and more.
• “Classic Tales for ESL Students” by L.A. Hill: This collection of classic stories from literature is retold with easier vocabulary and sentence structure.

Intermediate

• Thousands of learner friendly videos (especially beginners)
• Handpicked, organized, and annotated by FluentU's experts
• Integrated into courses for beginners

• “The Best American Short Stories” This series features contemporary short stories from a wide range of American writers, so there’s something for everyone here.
• “Short Stories in English for Intermediate Learners” by Olly Richards: This collection of engaging stories is designed specifically for intermediate ESL students.
• “Roald Dahl: The Collected Short Stories” This delightful collection of quirky and imaginative tales has become a favorite of many of my students.
• “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri: This Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories explores the immigrant experience, something which many ESL students can relate to.
• “Dubliners” by James Joyce: This classic collection of interconnected stories captures the essence of Dublin in 1914. But it still feels modern to many students.
• “Nine Stories” by J.D. Salinger: This classic collection of short stories is a class favorite when I’ve used it.

What do your students really care about? Give them a chance to talk about it in front of the class. 

Have each person choose something they’re passionate about, something they might consider themselves an expert on.

Challenge students to think of a creative way to present five must-know facts about that subject. They might make a movie, create a poster or brochure, write a song or even put on a skit.

Have each person present their creative project to the class, and then give the class five minutes to ask questions of the presenter.

Set certain parameters like students must speak in complete sentences or require that every student ask at least two questions at some point during the presentations.

• Interactive subtitles: click any word to see detailed examples and explanations
• Slow down or loop the tricky parts
• Show or hide subtitles
• Review words with our powerful learning engine

Students will love sharing about their passions, and they’ll get some great speaking, listening and discourse information in the process, as well as teach the rest of the class some interesting vocabulary.

Ask for class for a volunteer to start a class WhatsApp chat group. They can also decide to use another messaging app like Telegram, Viber, Voxer or any other app that has a group chat function. 

Encourage them to send at least one message and to respond to a couple others for their homework. 

This text group has the added advantage of students being able to make friends with one another, and a place to ask about missed homework assignments on days when they can’t make it to class.

Note that if a student doesn’t want to be included in the chat group, you should have a back up assignment prepared for them.

Listening is one of the ESL student’s most difficult skills to acquire, so listening to a short podcast episode is ideal homework.

You can ask students to write a little about the podcast to turn in to you, or you can ask them to briefly summarize what they heard for the class in the next session.

• Learn words in the context of sentences
• Swipe left or right to see more examples from other videos
• Go beyond just a superficial understanding

Here are some suggestions for well done podcasts:

The English We Speak : Produced by the BBC, this podcast focuses on teaching commonly used phrases and idioms in conversational English.

The Moth : A storytelling podcast where real people share their personal experiences and anecdotes in English.

Stuff You Should Know : Though not specifically designed for ESL students, this podcast covers a vast array of interesting topics, providing exposure to diverse vocabulary and subject matters.

Ask your students to write a letter . The letter can be written to a friend or family member (which they could then actually mail or email), or it could be a fan letter to a favorite musician or actor. They could even write a letter to Santa Claus or a historical figure. 

For example, a student might choose to write a letter to Marie Antoinette, asking her what it was like to be the queen of France at such a young age. 

You can also choose to have students write letters to one another. Then the next homework can be writing that letter writer back.

• FluentU builds you up, so you can build sentences on your own
• Start with multiple-choice questions and advance through sentence building to producing your own output
• Go from understanding to speaking in a natural progression.

Ask you students to review a product on Amazon (or any other shopping website that has reviews). Ask them to select a product they have really used, so they have a genuine opinion on the quality of the product and whether it lived up to their expectations.

Then, in the next session, show the reviews on the overhead projector to the class and ask a student to read the review.

You can then go over any errors in vocabulary, grammar or sentence structure and revise the review together as a class.

Since anyone can edit a Wikipedia article, it’s a great place for ESL students to hone their writing and editing skills, and they’ll have a built-in readership, too!

Ask students to select a person that they know a lot about—a well-known figure from history, pop culture, music or film would all work. Then ask them to read the Wikipedia entry to see if they can add anything else to the article.

Perhaps the article on Ryan Gosling is missing a key detail about his recent Ken performance. If so, the student will revise and edit the article. They should take notes on what they changed, so they can explain it to you or the class the next day.

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Ask your students to get creative. Have them write a short story or a poem . This can get them to use descriptive language that they don’t always have a chance to use.

One good activity to do before you assign this homework is an adjective bubble chart. For this, you start with one adjective. For example, write “moist” on the board, circle it and then draw 4-5 lines coming off of the”moist” bubble.

Ask your students to come up with other adjectives that are related to “moist” and so on. They may come up with “wet,” “watery,” “soaked” or “damp.” Then draw lines from each of those. This can lead to words that you never expected to come up.

Have your students select 3-4 adjectives from this introduction activity that they’ll use in their story or poem.

Ask your students to prepare a short presentation on an aspect of their home culture to tell the class about in the next session. 

For example, a student from China may explain the Lunar New Year, a student from Vietnam may explain Tet or a student from El Salvador may tell the class about their quinceañera .

They can use photos, art, a PowerPoint presentation or they can just explain in their own words.

Then open the class up for questions.

Can you legitimately send students to the movies for homework? You can when you’re teaching ESL.

Your students don’t have to commit to a full-length movie. Instead, you can use the videos on FluentU to screen mini-lessons using clips from TV shows and movies, movie trailers, news segments, vlogs or music videos.

Use these videos in the classroom or assign homework to watch a few and complete the subsequent quizzes. You can also ask students to complete flashcard quizzes based on vocabulary words you want them to pay special attention to. These quizzes are adaptable so every student will have a unique experience catered to his learning level.

There are plenty of ways to use a movie for language development. And whether students watch a new release or catch an old Elvis flick on TV, they can do any of the following activities as homework:

• Summarize the plot.
• Describe a main character.
• Note new or interesting vocabulary (particularly slang) they hear while watching.
• Write an interview with one of the characters in the movie.

I’m sure you also have your favorite movie-related language activities and many work as homework assignments. So get creative with how you have students share about what they watched.

For the most part, people are willing to help someone in need, and that is doubly true for someone who needs to complete an assignment for school.

That’s why sending students out to interview native speakers on campus is such a fun homework assignment.

Start by helping your students write a list of questions they’ll use for their interviews. Students can choose a topic or you can assign one, like leisure activities or celebrity news.

Tell students to list five to ten questions they might ask on that topic that will elicit specific answers. 

As a class, discuss how students might introduce themselves to a potential interviewee. 

Then send students out to their interviews after class. They can share the answers they got in the next session.

Music is great for English learners since it stresses many aspects of language that can otherwise be hard to isolate, like the emotion of language, intonation and stress.

Have students choose their favorite English language song to listen to for homework and then ask them to do the following:

• Practice the lyrics to learn intonation and rhythm.
• Note slang and cultural references in the songs.
• Summarize the theme of the song, or just what it’s about.
• Have students share their favorite lyrics and what a particular song means to them.

Give individual students or groups of up to three students a list of items to find on their homework scavenger hunt. But instead of being specific in your list (for example, including items such as cat), be descriptive in your list.

You might include items such as something frightening, something beautiful, something quiet, something cool.

Students find items they think fit the description. For example, someone who is claustrophobic might choose an elevator for something frightening. They then take a picture of it.

The next day, have each person get with a partner and show them the pictures they took for each item on the list.

If the connection is not obvious, students should ask their partner to explain why they chose a particular item, such as the elevator.

Assigning homework that works isn’t as hard as you might think, especially if you focus on the following points.

• Put your homework in writing. It can be tempting to just announce homework assignments to students at the end of class, but language learners benefit when you reinforce what you say with what they can see. So take a minute to write any homework assignment on the board so students can read it as well as listen to it.
• Let students know what goals you have for a particular assignment. Is it practicing a certain grammar point ? Improving their listening skills ? Pronunciation practice ? When students know why they’re doing something, they’ll be able to tell on their own when they’ve successfully completed their homework assignment.
• Keep your homework practical . Your students may not find themselves planning out a menu for Thanksgiving when they leave your ESL classroom, but odds are they’ll have to order food at a restaurant at some point. Think about realistic ways students will have to use English in the real world and try to make your homework practical.
• Let your students be creative . Give your students choices on how they express themselves or present information. It’s okay for students to make a home movie, put on a one-man play or paint a picture to present to the class. Just because you prefer a particular type of creative expression doesn’t mean your students do, so give them choices and let them express themselves.
• Make homework fun! Every class has its own personality, so what’s fun for one might not be fun for another. Tailor your assignments to the personality of your class. Think about what they would think is fun, and go with that.

No matter what you believed in your student days, homework doesn’t have to be boring. With a little creativity when assigning homework, you might find that the activities you assign for outside of class become the highlights of your students’ days.

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20+ creative alternative homework ideas for teachers

When giving homework, it must always be based on learning goals your students have to reach, just like in your lessons. But it’s sad to see that lots of teachers are using homework as extra lesson time. Of course, as a teacher, you’re on a clock. But that doesn’t mean your students have to suffer from it and keep working on those boring textbooks and worksheets at home.

Consider goals like attitudes, real-life experiences, and practice, physical exercise, social encounters, creative solutions, and philanthropy as crucial as your lesson goals. These are things students don’t just pick up in your classroom. These are things they pick up in life.

In this blog post, I’ll give you some innovative homework ideas that will engage your students more. These alternatives to traditional homework will thereby also teach your students new things that can’t be taught in the classroom. You will find a variety of homework ideas: online and offline.

I will mention homework alternatives for primary school and high school. Some of these ideas can be changed a little bit, so they are the perfect fit for the right audience.

20 Creative homework ideas

You can divide homework tasks into the following themes or categories:

• Crafts & arts
• Outdoor activities & outings
• Games and activities
• Physical activities
• Digital or computer activities
• Philanthropy & social work

💡 Good to know : all the ready-to-use homework activities are created with BookWidgets . You can easily create activities like these yourself or duplicate an activity below for free, edit it if needed, and share it with your students. You can do so in the examples separately, or you can find all the homework examples in the BookWidgets Blog group folder .

Crafts and arts homework

1. prepare a dish from a recipe book.

2. Make a board game

3. Create a birdhouse

4. Transform a fictional book character into a hand puppet

Outdoor homework activities and outings

5. coupon game.

Students can also go grocery shopping with their parents. Here, they have to read the ingredients of the products and help their parents choose the healthiest products for the best prices, figure out the best deal between the sizes of items, …

6. Visit the zoo

7. Visit the local dumping ground or container park

8. Build a tree house

Games and activities as homework

9. bookwidgets games.

10. Minecraft

11. Play Cards

12. Play Zoo Tycoon or Rollercoaster Tycoon

Physical homework activities

13. rope skipping.

Many rope-skipping songs let your students do different tricks while rope-skipping. This is an excellent opportunity for homework as well. Ask your students to transform a rope skipping song into a song with lesson content. Let them count or spell or even sum up the different states or capitals. To engage their lifestyles even harder, you can additionally give them the assignment to create a TikTok in which they are jumping and singing.

Click here to see how you can get Tiktok more involved in the classroom.

14. Walking quest

If there aren’t any walking quests in the neighborhood, you could ask your students to create a walking quest like this for their fellow students. What a fun day it will be!

15. Obstacle Quiz

In order for students to answer the questions, they have to run and pass a challenging parkour. This is a fun homework exercise, and in the end, it’s a great lesson starter or lesson end.

16. Swimming games

After the activity, they can fill out an Exit Slip:

Digital or computer homework activities

17. create a picture album.

This teaches them to handle the online software, add pictures and write without spelling mistakes. And of course, creating memories is so much fun!

18. Video job application

19. Your life in 10 minutes - video

20. Email pen-pals

Is it still too complicated? Read the messages from your students, before they send them, and provide them with some feedback.

Philanthropy and social homework

21. grow a community garden.

22. Help in a retirement home

23. Help at a homeless shelter

24. Collect litter

Here’s another homework tip: Don’t call homework “homework”. Call it a challenge. Homework has become a negative word for students, and I bet they start rolling their eyes as you even mention the word.

Still looking for more inspiration? Check out the blog on short films and lesson activities that spice up your Google Classroom . Tip: even if you don’t use Google Classroom, there is a lot of inspiration back here.

Above you have read single assignments. But, you also have the option to involve your homework in a project. Find out more here .

So, as I mentioned earlier, there are many fun alternatives to traditional homework. Now it’s up to you to apply this in the classroom as well. In this folder , you will find all the examples you have come across.

Which idea do you or perhaps your students like the most? Let us know on Twitter . Of course, there are many more alternatives. If you have other ideas, you are always welcome to share it with other teachers in our Facebook group .

One more thing: don’t forget to say hi👋 on LikedIn .

Join hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and get the best content on technology in education.

BookWidgets enables teachers to create fun and interactive lessons for tablets, smartphones, and computers.

How to Design Homework in CBT That Will Engage Your Clients

Take-home assignments provide the opportunity to transfer different skills and lessons learned in the therapeutic context to situations in which problems arise.

These opportunities to translate learned principles into everyday practice are fundamental for ensuring that therapeutic interventions have their intended effects.

In this article, we’ll explore why homework is so essential to CBT interventions and show you how to design CBT homework using modern technologies that will keep your clients engaged and on track to achieving their therapeutic goals.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive CBT Exercises for free . These science-based exercises will provide you with a detailed insight into positive CBT and give you the tools to apply it in your therapy or coaching.

This Article Contains:

Why is homework important in cbt, how to deliver engaging cbt homework, using quenza for cbt: 3 homework examples, 3 assignment ideas & worksheets in quenza, a take-home message.

Many psychotherapists and researchers agree that homework is the chief process by which clients experience behavioral and cognitive improvements from CBT (Beutler et al., 2004; Kazantzis, Deane, & Ronan, 2000).

We can find explanations as to why CBT  homework is so crucial in both behaviorist and social learning/cognitive theories of psychology.

Behaviorist theory

Behaviorist models of psychology, such as classical and operant conditioning , would argue that CBT homework delivers therapeutic outcomes by helping clients to unlearn (or relearn) associations between stimuli and particular behavioral responses (Huppert, Roth Ledley, & Foa, 2006).

For instance, imagine a woman who reacts with severe fright upon hearing a car’s wheels skidding on the road because of her experience being in a car accident. This woman’s therapist might work with her to learn a new, more adaptive response to this stimulus, such as training her to apply new relaxation or breathing techniques in response to the sound of a skidding car.

Another example, drawn from the principles of operant conditioning theory (Staddon & Cerutti, 2003), would be a therapist’s invitation to a client to ‘test’ the utility of different behaviors as avenues for attaining reward or pleasure.

For instance, imagine a client who displays resistance to drawing on their support networks due to a false belief that they should handle everything independently. As homework, this client’s therapist might encourage them to ‘test’ what happens when they ask their partner to help them with a small task around the house.

In sum, CBT homework provides opportunities for clients to experiment with stimuli and responses and the utility of different behaviors in their everyday lives.

Social learning and cognitive theories

Scholars have also drawn on social learning and cognitive theories to understand how clients form expectations about the likely difficulty or discomfort involved in completing CBT homework assignments (Kazantzis & L’Abate, 2005).

A client’s expectations can be based on a range of factors, including past experience, modeling by others, present physiological and emotional states, and encouragement expressed by others (Bandura, 1989). This means it’s important for practitioners to design homework activities that clients perceive as having clear advantages by evidencing these benefits of CBT in advance.

For instance, imagine a client whose therapist tells them about another client’s myriad psychological improvements following their completion of a daily thought record . Identifying with this person, who is of similar age and presents similar psychological challenges, the focal client may subsequently exhibit an increased commitment to completing their own daily thought record as a consequence of vicarious modeling.

This is just one example of how social learning and cognitive theories may explain a client’s commitment to completing CBT homework.

Let’s now consider how we might apply these theoretical principles to design homework that is especially motivating for your clients.

In particular, we’ll be highlighting the advantages of using modern digital technologies to deliver engaging CBT homework.

Designing and delivering CBT homework in Quenza

Gone are the days of grainy printouts and crumpled paper tests.

Even before the global pandemic, new technologies have been making designing and assigning homework increasingly simple and intuitive.

In what follows, we will explore the applications of the blended care platform Quenza (pictured here) as a new and emerging way to engage your CBT clients.

Its users have noted the tool is a “game-changer” that allows practitioners to automate and scale their practice while encouraging full-fledged client engagement using the technologies already in their pocket.

To summarize its functions, Quenza serves as an all-in-one platform that allows psychology practitioners to design and administer a range of ‘activities’ relevant to their clients. Besides homework exercises, this can include self-paced psychoeducational work, assessments, and dynamic visual feedback in the form of charts.

Practitioners who sign onto the platform can enjoy the flexibility of either designing their own activities from scratch or drawing from an ever-growing library of preprogrammed activities commonly used by CBT practitioners worldwide.

Any activity drawn from the library is 100% customizable, allowing the practitioner to tailor it to clients’ specific needs and goals. Likewise, practitioners have complete flexibility to decide the sequencing and scheduling of activities by combining them into psychoeducational pathways that span several days, weeks, or even months.

Importantly, reviews of the platform show that users have seen a marked increase in client engagement since digitizing homework delivery using the platform. If we look to our aforementioned drivers of engagement with CBT homework, we might speculate several reasons why.

• Implicit awareness that others are completing the same or similar activities using the platform (and have benefitted from doing so) increases clients’ belief in the efficacy of homework.
• Practitioners and clients can track responses to sequences of activities and visually evidence progress and improvements using charts and reporting features.
• Using their own familiar devices to engage with homework increases clients’ self-belief that they can successfully complete assigned activities.
• Therapists can initiate message conversations with clients in the Quenza app to provide encouragement and positive reinforcement as needed.

The rest of this article will explore examples of engaging homework, assignments, and worksheets designed in Quenza that you might assign to your CBT clients.

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Let’s now look at three examples of predesigned homework activities available through Quenza’s Expansion Library.

Urge Surfing

Many of the problems CBT seeks to address involve changing associations between stimulus and response (Bouton, 1988). In this sense, stimuli in the environment can drive us to experience urges that we have learned to automatically act upon, even when doing so may be undesirable.

For example, a client may have developed the tendency to reach for a glass of wine or engage in risky behaviors, hoping to distract themselves from negative emotions following stressful events.

Using the Urge Surfing homework activity, you can help your clients unlearn this tendency to automatically act upon their urges. Instead, they will discover how to recognize their urges as mere physical sensations in their body that they can ‘ride out’ using a six-minute guided meditation, visual diagram, and reflection exercise.

Moving From Cognitive Fusion to Defusion

Central to CBT is the understanding that how we choose to think stands to improve or worsen our present emotional states. When we get entangled with our negative thoughts about a situation, they can seem like the absolute truth and make coping and problem solving more challenging.

The Moving From Cognitive Fusion to Defusion homework activity invites your client to recognize when they experience a negative thought and explore it in a sequence of steps that help them gain psychological distance from the thought.

Finding Silver Linings

Many clients commencing CBT admit feeling confused or regretful about past events or struggle with self-criticism and blame. In these situations, the focus of CBT may be to work with the client to reappraise an event and have them look at themselves through a kinder lens.

The Finding Silver Linings homework activity is designed to help your clients find the bright side of an otherwise grim situation. It does so by helping the user to step into a positive mindset and reflect on things they feel positively about in their life. Consequently, the activity can help your client build newfound optimism and resilience .

As noted, when you’re preparing homework activities in Quenza, you are not limited to those in the platform’s library.

Instead, you can design your own or adapt existing assignments or worksheets to meet your clients’ needs.

You can also be strategic in how you sequence and schedule activities when combining them into psychoeducational pathways.

Next, we’ll look at three examples of how a practitioner might design or adapt assignments and worksheets in Quenza to help keep them engaged and progressing toward their therapy goals.

In doing so, we’ll look at Quenza’s applications for treating three common foci of treatment: anxiety, depression, and obsessions/compulsions.

When clients present with symptoms of generalized anxiety, panic, or other anxiety-related disorders, a range of useful CBT homework assignments can help.

These activities can include the practice of anxiety management techniques , such as deep breathing, muscle relaxation, and mindfulness training. They can also involve regular monitoring of anxiety levels, challenging automatic thoughts about arousal and panic, and modifying beliefs about the control they have over their symptoms (Leahy, 2005).

Practitioners looking to support these clients using homework might start by sending their clients one or two audio meditations via Quenza, such as the Body Scan Meditation or S.O.B.E.R. Stress Interruption Mediation . That way, the client will have tools on hand to help manage their anxiety in stressful situations.

As a focal assignment, the practitioner might also design and assign the client daily reflection exercises to be completed each evening. These can invite the client to reflect on their anxiety levels during the day by responding to a series of rating scales and open-ended response questions. Patterns in these responses can then be graphed, reviewed, and used to facilitate discussion during the client’s next in-person session.

As with anxiety, there is a range of practical CBT homework activities that aid in treating depression.

It should be noted that it is common for clients experiencing symptoms of depression to report concentration and memory deficits as reasons for not completing homework assignments (Garland & Scott, 2005). It is, therefore, essential to keep this in mind when designing engaging assignments.

CBT assignments targeted at the treatment of depressive symptoms typically center around breaking cycles of negative events, thinking, emotions, and behaviors, such as through the practice of reappraisal (Garland & Scott, 2005).

Examples of assignments that facilitate this may include thought diaries , reflections that prompt cognitive reappraisal, and meditations to create distance between the individual and their negative thoughts and emotions.

To this end, a practitioner looking to support their client might design a sequence of activities that invite clients to explore their negative cognitions once per day. This exploration can center on responses to negative feedback, faced challenges, or general low mood.

A good template to base this on is the Personal Coping Mantra worksheet in Quenza’s Expansion Library, which guides clients through the process of replacing automatic negative thoughts with more adaptive coping thoughts.

The practitioner can also schedule automatic push notification reminders to pop up on the client’s device if an activity in the sequence is not completed by a particular time each day. This function of Quenza may be particularly useful for supporting clients with concentration and memory deficits, helping keep them engaged with CBT homework.

Obsessions/compulsions

Homework assignments pertaining to the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder typically differ depending on the stage of the therapy.

In the early stages of therapy, practitioners assigning homework will often invite clients to self-monitor their experience of compulsions, rituals, or responses (Franklin, Huppert, & Roth Ledley, 2005).

This serves two purposes. First, the information gathered through self-monitoring, such as by completing a journal entry each time compulsive thoughts arise, will help the practitioner get clearer about the nature of the client’s problem.

Second, self-monitoring allows clients to become more aware of the thoughts that drive their ritualized responses, which is important if rituals have become mostly automatic for the client (Franklin et al., 2005).

Therefore, as a focal assignment, the practitioner might assign a digital worksheet via Quenza that helps the client explore phenomena throughout their day that prompt ritualized responses. The client might then rate the intensity of their arousal in these different situations on a series of Likert scales and enter the specific thoughts that arise following exposure to their fear.

The therapist can then invite the client to complete this worksheet each day for one week by assigning it as part of a pathway of activities. A good starting point for users of Quenza may be to adapt the platform’s pre-designed Stress Diary for this purpose.

At the end of the week, the therapist and client can then reflect on the client’s responses together and begin constructing an exposure hierarchy.

This leads us to the second type of assignment, which involves exposure and response prevention. In this phase, the client will begin exploring strategies to reduce the frequency with which they practice ritualized responses (Franklin et al., 2005).

To this end, practitioners may collaboratively set a goal with their client to take a ‘first step’ toward unlearning the ritualized response. This can then be built into a customized activity in Quenza that invites the client to complete a reflection.

For instance, a client who compulsively hoards may be invited to clear one box of old belongings from their bedroom and resist the temptation to engage in ritualized responses while doing so.

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Developing and administering engaging CBT homework that caters to your client’s specific needs or concerns is becoming so much easier with online apps.

Further, best practice is becoming more accessible to more practitioners thanks to the emergence of new digital technologies.

We hope this article has inspired you to consider how you might leverage the digital tools at your disposal to create better homework that your clients want to engage with.

Likewise, let us know if you’ve found success using any of the activities we’ve explored with your own clients – we’d love to hear from you.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. For more information, don’t forget to download our three Positive CBT Exercises for free .

• Bandura, A. (1989). Human agency in social cognitive theory. American Psychologist , 44 (9), 1175–1184.
• Beutler, L. E., Malik, M., Alimohamed, S., Harwood, T. M., Talebi, H., Noble, S., & Wong, E. (2004). Therapist variables. In M. J. Lambert (Ed.), Bergin and Garfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (5th ed.) (pp. 227–306). Wiley.
• Bouton, M. E. (1988). Context and ambiguity in the extinction of emotional learning: Implications for exposure therapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy , 26 (2), 137–149.
• Franklin, M. E., Huppert, J. D., & Roth Ledley, D. (2005). Obsessions and compulsions. In N. Kazantzis, F. P. Deane, K. R., Ronan, & L. L’Abate (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 219–236). Routledge.
• Garland, A., & Scott, J. (2005). Depression. In N. Kazantzis, F. P. Deane, K. R., Ronan, & L. L’Abate (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 237–261). Routledge.
• Huppert, J. D., Roth Ledley, D., & Foa, E. B. (2006). The use of homework in behavior therapy for anxiety disorders. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration , 16 (2), 128–139.
• Kazantzis, N. (2005). Introduction and overview. In N. Kazantzis, F. P. Deane, K. R., Ronan, & L. L’Abate (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 1–6). Routledge.
• Kazantzis, N., Deane, F. P., & Ronan, K. R. (2000). Homework assignments in cognitive and behavioral therapy: A meta‐analysis. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice , 7 (2), 189–202.
• Kazantzis, N., & L’Abate, L. (2005). Theoretical foundations. In N. Kazantzis, F. P. Deane, K. R., Ronan, & L. L’Abate (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 9–34). Routledge.
• Leahy, R. L. (2005). Panic, agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety. In N. Kazantzis, F. P. Deane, K. R., Ronan, & L. L’Abate (Eds.), Using homework assignments in cognitive behavior therapy (pp. 193–218). Routledge.
• Staddon, J. E., & Cerutti, D. T. (2003). Operant conditioning. Annual Review of Psychology , 54 (1), 115–144.

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SQL Convert Examples for Dates, Integers, Strings and more

By: Joe Gavin   |   Updated: 2024-05-28   |   Comments (1)   |   Related: > Functions System

A common task while working with data in Microsoft SQL Server is converting from one data type to another. Most often, it's done to change the way data is presented, but sometimes it is needed to make sure the right data types are being used for comparisons, joins, or sorting.

The SQL CONVERT function, which has long been part of the SQL language, and as the name implies, can be used to convert a value of one data type into a specified data type with optional formatting attributes. CONVERT gives you the ability to format, whereas the ISO Compliant CAST function does not.

We'll look at several examples of using the SQL CONVERT function to convert and optionally format date, datetime, string, and integer data types.

Here are some reasons you might use the CONVERT function:

• Display dates in a different format
• Display numbers in a different format
• Convert integers or dates to strings to concatenate with text data
• Change the data type for sorting purposes
• Align mismatched data types for comparisons or joins

In theory, the best solution is to always make sure you use the correct data type when storing data in the SQL database. Sometimes this was not done when a table was created, so the CONVERT function can be useful to change data types. Also, note that when using a function, like CONVERT, in the WHERE clause or for joining tales, SQL Server will need to perform the function on all of the data, so it negates the benefits of indexing and could impact performance. If you are solely using this for SELECTing data and changing what the output looks like for a column, the CONVERT function is pretty fast for SQL queries or stored procedures.

The following SQL Server CONVERT examples were run on SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition.

Basic CONVERT Syntax

The SQL Server CONVERT command can take three parameters:

• data_type - the target data type
• expression - what is being converted
• style - (optional) - this is used for different data formatting options (see list of styles at end of the article)

SQL CONVERT mm/dd/yyyy

This example creates a variable called @Date of datatype DATE, which is set to equal '2024-01-01'.

To display it in the form mm/dd/yyyy as 01/01/2024, we CONVERT the value in @Date to a VARCHAR(10) with a style of 101 to get the desired output.

SQL CONVERT Date to mm/dd/yy

The following example is the same as above, except it uses a style of 1 to convert the default format yyyy-mm-dd to mm/dd/yy.

SQL CONVERT Datetime to Date

The style number is optional. This example removes the time by converting DATETIME to DATE and retaining the default yyyy-mm-dd format.

SQL CONVERT String to Date

This will convert the string '2024-01-01' to type DATE. There is no style parameter specified, so the default format, yyyy-mm-dd, is retained.

SQL CONVERT Date Format

Here, we're converting DATETIME to DATE and using style number 1 to display it in the mm/dd/yy format.

SQL CONVERT Datetime

Style 22 is used to change the default 'yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss' to a more easily read U.S. date format with a 12-hour clock in the form mm/dd/yy hh:mm am/pm.

SQL CONVERT to String

This converts DATETIME to a string of type VARCHAR(25) in the format mon dd yyyy hh:ss am/pm.

Convert as Decimal in SQL

We can convert more than dates and times with CONVERT.

Here, we'll convert the integer 5 to a decimal value with a precision of 3 (total digits) and carry it out to two decimal places (x.xx).

Convert the Date Format in SQL

This query will convert the default format yyyy-mm-dd to mon dd, yy using style 7.

SQL CONVERT INT to String

This converts the integer 5 to a string.

Convert Date Format in SQL

Here, we can convert the default date format to dd mon yy with style 6.

Convert Datetime in SQL Server to MM/DD/YY

Convert a datetime value to MM/DD/YY in SQL Server.

Convert Integer to String in SQL

Below is an example to convert an integer to a string.

Convert SQL String to INT

We saw how to convert an integer to a string. Now, we'll convert a string to an integer.

SQL CONVERT Date to String

Here, the DATE type variable value is converted to a string.

SQL CONVERT Datetime to String

We can do the same for a DATETIME variable type. The output is in the format month dd yyyy hh:mm am/pm.

Different Date Formats using CONVERT in SQL

A common use of the CONVERT function is to convert dates to different formats using a style code.

The following chart shows the style codes and descriptions that can be used to reformat date and time output.

So far, we've seen how to convert date data types (date, smalldatetime, etc.), and optionally convert the output format, as well as convert integers, bigint, decimals and numeric data types. The following are links to more tips and tutorials on SQL CONVERT primarily used for date functions:

• SQL Date Format Options with SQL CONVERT Function

Convert Problematic Data in SQL Server

SQL Convert Date to YYYYMMDD

• Different Ways to Convert a SQL INT Value Into a String Value
• Convert Implicit and the Related Performance Issues with SQL Server
• New Data Type Conversion Functions in SQL Server 2012
• Convert SQL Server DateTime Data Type to DateTimeOffset Data Type
• SQL Server Function to Convert Integer Date to Datetime Format
• Build a Cheat Sheet for SQL Server Date and Time Formats
• Handle Conversion Between Time Zones in SQL Server - Part 1
• Handle Conversion Between Time Zones in SQL Server - Part 2
• Handle Conversion Between Time Zones in SQL Server - Part 3

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