The students of Tallwood bravely live through the ups and downs of their school lives. For most, one of these downs broadly being the piles of homework that seem to be endless. However, some teachers have an alternate policy for their students’ homework.

For instance, certain teachers assign studying or reading daily rather than worksheets for practice or project work. This seems to be a trend in homework policies within the school. However, some teachers have multiple assignments within their policy. Therefore, their students often feel overwhelmed with the homework amount. Although the workload may be optional for some students, many teachers, such as those in AP class teachers, see many benefits to heavier workloads.

Ms. Hall, the C232 Chemistry teacher, only assigns homework for a practice and not for a grade. “I don’t specifically assign homework for a grade usually, that’s rare. What we do in class and what you don’t finish in class should be completed for homework,” she says.

She says that her students perform their knowledge through tests and quizzes that are given throughout the course. In comparison to many teachers at Tallwood High School, her policy doesn’t require them to work on projects for homework, which would later be assessed.

Meanwhile, Ms. Windish, the B140 AP Human Geography and Global Cultures teacher, assigns daily homework. “As far as a policy is concerned, I expect students to come in with the items I’ve asked them to work on are complete. My homework policy is different for each of my classes. In my AP Human Geography class my students are assigned reading of sections of the textbook. 90% of their homework involves reading in the textbook. In my Global Cultures class the bulk of the homework is working on ongoing items on their own time.”

Her students, for both of her classes, are able to connect their homework to their class lessons which periodically builds their overview of the topic. “In the AP Human Geography class, they will use the notes that they took to take a reading quiz as a check to insure that they did the reading. That is in place because the lesson of the day involves the content in which they read and the lesson is designed to extend the understanding of that and I need them to have a base of information that they would get from the reading.”

Her Global Cultures students, sophomores in the academy, are able to apply their overall global knowledge through the academy to this class, as for any of their academy classes. Windish explains their applications of the topics learned in class to her homework.

Overall, this doesn’t create a general amount of homework, so the class is more of an understanding course rather than a studious, notes and tests course. However, this doesn’t result in a lesser homework amount compared to her AP class, but it is assigned differently.

“It’s a seminar class so we are generally working towards understanding broad topics and applying those broad topics to certain situations. And they are proving their own understanding via projects and that requires work time on their own.”

Therefore, her students throughout both classes do experience homework assignments within the course. This gives them a chance to understand and variously apply their knowledge to practices and many situations. With that, Tallwood’s homework policies represent the teacher’s viewpoints on their curriculum as well as how they think the students should learn.

Below are the stories featured in Volume 3, Issue 3 of The Roaring Gazette.

Students will soon need fewer SOLs to graduate by Aniyah Lewis

2018 Leadership Workshop coming soon! by Cassidy O’Neal

Marching Lions receive a Superior rating by Sotiria Bessinas

The Great Tallwood Divide: Has the academy split Tallwood in two? by Noelani Stachurski

Meet a Lion: Mrs. Yuzhbabenko by Chris Purkiss

Lion Voices: What would you change about Tallwood? by Frances Summers

Teachers’ homework policies vary by Frances Summers

CIEE offers great travel opportunities for students by Bethany Hansel

Ms. Adams is here for all your school store needs by Ashley Archila-Ventura

The homework surplus by Finley Brakke

Virginia schools must aim to teach ALL students by Marissa Goodall

“Jigsaw” a dissapointing entry in the “Saw” series by Ashley Malinson