What happens when you set your class a 30-day homework challenge?

As the Homework King and Queen were crowned, I was confident that I had never seen such a happy bunch of losers. Out of a class of 28, two winners were chosen by the other members of the group. I couldn’t find even one begrudger; the 26 who had failed to be victorious were clapping and cheering as one. The whole class had had a ball during our 30-Day Homework Challenge.

The terms and conditions were simple:

1. As the teacher I could only set formal academic homework if the students did not complete the work I had planned for the lesson. An effective and productive lesson with tasks completed meant the homework ball could be placed firmly in their court.

2. The students set homework in their turns and in reverse alphabetical order – “because teachers ALWAYS start at the start”, groaned Adam to everyone’s amusement. He got his way and the honour (and pressure) of the final day fell to him.

Dismay as summer Gaeltacht courses are cancelled again

---

How might Covid-19 affect students’ third-level choices?

---

It’s time to decide on your college course choices for 2021

---

Pay rates in childcare are abysmal. Should I retrain as a primary teacher?

---

3. The tasks set had to be as inclusive as possible, eg any items which might be required should be readily available to everyone.

4. The students could enlist the help of others; in fact, homework tasks which would actively involve others from their household were encouraged.

Self-assess

5. The homework was optional.

6. Students had to self-declare their completion and self-assess their performance when they did comply. A tick or an X indicated whether they had done it or not, and a mark out of 10 indicated how well they thought they had done. A comment was encouraged to see whether or not this particular task could be “locked in” and made a regular thing in their lives.

7. At the end of the 30 days, students would add up the number of ticks, work out an average score out of 10 and list the new habits they would be committing to beyond the 30 days. While I would be interested in and keen to know any or all of this, the students were not under any obligation to share it.

8. We would hold a simple democratic vote to identify which task the pupils felt had impacted the most on them and their lives. Those who had set that homework would be crowned Homework King and Queen.

“I know everyone calls me Bill, but I’m William on the roll so can I go first?” – that was precisely when I knew this was going to be a success.

Bill is a very quiet student so to have Bill on board to that extent was a really good sign. It was also the first time I could remember anyone in the class vying to go first at anything.

Bill’s homework task covered the whole 30 days. It was quite simply this: “No phones allowed during any of the homework tasks during the challenge”, and straight off someone asked him what exactly his task for that day was going to be. They would surely need a task during which they would actively refrain from using their phones. Bill was clearly stymied and so he went for the first thing that came into his head: “Help with the dinner or set the table or something.” And we were off.

When we evaluated our experience at the end of the challenge nobody declared any downside, and we recorded plenty of positive changes

I have never covered more academic work in a month with a class than we did during the 30-Day (non-academic) Homework Challenge. Perhaps it was a coincidence (is there any such thing?) but punctuality and attendance rates also improved dramatically.

The class came up with some real gems: no fighting with anyone for 24 hours no matter how much they annoy you, plus you have to forget and let go of all the things that happen during that time too, so you can’t just start a fight about them when the time is up. Thankfully, nobody raised the question of Bill’s point about the phone and whether the “no fighting” time frame of 24 hours also automatically applied to phones. Needless to say I kept quiet too.

Engaging meaningfully

I learned a lot about my students’ homes and families during this exercise. When students proposed something in the realm of eating a healthy dinner or seeing if it would be possible for everyone to eat at the table together that evening, I knew that they were engaging meaningfully with life, and setting in motion exercises which would impact on their lives far beyond any academic task I could have set.

Gratitude and physical exercise featured on more than one occasion, showing that youngsters are fully aware of the importance of these in our daily lives. I participated actively in every single homework exercise, something I definitely wouldn’t do in “normal” circumstances.

And therein lies the ultimate question: why couldn’t this become the norm? When we evaluated our experience at the end of the challenge nobody declared any downside, and we recorded plenty of positive changes.

There is an ongoing discussion about the need for homework and its relevance. Reporting the impact of this 30-day challenge is my contribution to the debate. When asked to choose what the task at home should be, students suggested ideas with potential for long-lasting impact in their wider circle as well as themselves. They embraced new ideas and tasks and soon made them familiar by integrating them into their lives and routines.

Regrettably these two things do not occur with much of what I set for homework. While this project may be a work in progress, it clearly has some merit, perhaps even distinction, if we want to start awarding grades!