One of my goals for second quarter was to help students develop the habit of working on projects at home. Actually, trying to get students regularly doing work at home in a way that it becomes automatic and then easy. There’s a portion who do work when stuff is due and there’s a smaller portion who regularly do stuff.

I didn’t want to read anything too deep so read the press release from Duke based on the work of Harris Cooper. Before we looked at it, I had the students write down how much time they think an eleventh or twelfth grader ought to spend each night.

I think the students felt as though I was trying to get them or convince them to own the homework, or claim it. And I get it — I was — but what matters more is that they understand the need for it. You can do it or not do it, but the only impact will be on the quality of your final project. I know this is an annoying adult thing and they probably didn’t believe me, but it was what I was trying to do.