Q: What is classified as “homework”?

A: Anything that is done outside of class. This includes, but is not limited to reading the text, outlining the text before the lesson, answering the questions in the section reviews, preparing for labs, preparing lab reports, and any other specific assignments unique to a topic of study.

Q: I homework optional or required?

A: Some is and some isn’t. Chapter outlines are optional, as are the section reviews.

Q: I’m sure there is a reason that outlines and section reviews are optional, but what is the rationale?

A: There is no short answer here. Based on feedback from former students who went to college, I have made many adjustments to the expectations and requirements for my students. I also have some strong feelings about assignments I had to do that were not beneficial for me, but I know they may have been essential for some of my classmates. Over the last fifty years, I have made so many adjustments that they could only be expressed exponentially. I have heard all the arguments, one way or another, many times. What matters to me is the bottom line, results count all else is opinion, conjecture, and speculation.

The drop out rate in college is very high. While there are many contributing factors to this phenomenon, the one that emerges most often is that students in high school have had nearly every experience as a required part of a course or subject. I taught that way too, because that’s the way it had always been done. Then I met a young teacher, the kid in the room next door. My experience gave me things to share with him, but he shared the most priceless lesson I ever received. He taught me the word empowerment. Frankly, I was not comfortable with the concept at all. Being of the old school, I was taught that I had to get students to conform to every procedure and process for learning.

When I watched the success of this young upstart next-door work with his students, I began to see new ways to teach. Not so much from his pattern, but from understanding his philosophy. I also encouraged him to give full effort to accepting the nomination as “Teacher of the Year” and he did it in a big way - Tracey Bailey became the National Teacher of the Year. Many years have passed, and I get better at being a facilitator and provider of empowerment principles.

I am convinced that many students do not “make it” in college because there are few demands, and self-discipline are essential. The freshman views this as “freedom” when it is the potential for failure. In addition, every assignment is not right for every student. The straight “A” student has already learned how to achieve. This student doesn’t need to work twenty stoichiometry problems when he understood it after working one or two. Homework of this nature is often dispensed with a “one size fits all” mentality, and that just won’t work for me after experiencing the sweet taste of empowerment.

Some students will test the ice and they will still soar. Others will crash right through.

Subscribing to the principles of empowerment means that we want our children learn to make wise choices, and they can’t do that if we stifle them with directions for every move they make. They have to learn how to recognize the bad choices from the good choices, and to recover from mistakes they have made. Empowerment goes a lot further than the choice to do or not to do the recommended homework, but this is the first step.

Here is an example of how far empowerment goes. In the advanced classes of Chemistry II - Honors and A.P. Chemistry, my students are given considerable latitude in preparing lab reports that may number twenty pages or more. I admonish them to produce a report that reflects scholarly work. They submit the report, prepared according to their own perceptions of excellence. If it doesn’t meet my standards, they’ll get it back with a critique, and a due date for resubmission. Since I have been doing this I found that students often exceed my expectations, and their reports rival a post-graduate treatise in format, style, and thoroughness.

Parents who aren’t comfortable with just turning ‘em loose might want to request a document I have prepared and edited many times during the past thirty years or more; it has been in endless evolution. It is addressed to the parent of a Chem I student, and it is called, “How to Help Your Student Succeed in Chemistry.” Parents frequently want to monitor their students’ progress, and this document provides considerable insight regarding the means to accomplish this objective.

Let me end this with a paragraph taken from a former student’s letter for distribution to my future students. It says infinitely more than I can explain. Ryan, an Air Force full scholarship recipient, pursuing a degree in Aeronautical Engineering writes…

“If you are willing to accept this amount of responsibility, I guarantee you will surprise yourself at what you can accomplish with the proper motivation. In addition I am sure that you will find yourself going above and beyond the requirements, for the simple sake of excellence. The emphasis on education in the place of getting “a good grade” is what makes this course so fulfilling.”

Ryan was an excellent student, and is a fine person. He appreciated the fact that he learned in an empowered environment. While he was an A.P. Chemistry student, and even now I continue to evolve my classroom environment. I extend the best of what my alumni commend, to all of my classes. I am still finding that I have not reached the limit of what empowerment will do for young people.

By the way, there is another page at this web called "Having Trouble?" It is excellent reading, even for an "A" student.

There are several links below that will help you navigate this and to reach other websites.

Q: What is the difference between the terms "Due Date" and "Deadline"?

A: This distinction has a philosophical basis. Because I do not like to give assignments with a short time for students to submit them, two days to two weeks are common time frameworks; with significant assignments as long as two months are allowed. Ambitious young people have many commitments, and they need to learn time management skills. The proper laboratory for developing time management skills requires time. Procrastination, however, often is accompanied by a penalty in the world of the future for students. They will benefit from both wise and unwise choices regarding their time management.

The due date is a conventional concept. It is the date an assignment is due. Let's illustrate by saying that a lab report is due on a Wednesday, and the deadline is on the following Monday. The student may make a conscious choice that more time is needed, so the student does not submit the report on the Wednesday mentioned in preference to improving the report over the weekend, or simply because of other demands on the student's time.

As long as the report is submitted on the following Monday, it is regarded as being on time. If the student does not submit the report on the following Monday, it is regarded as being late, and penalties accrue from the Wednesday due date, through the date it is actually submitted. This means that an assignment that was due on a Wednesday, but submitted on the following Tuesday accrues a 10% per day penalty for each day that follows the Wednesday due date. A penalty of 10% per day is assessed for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday; 60% in other words.

There is a method of "dropping" the assignment to the student's Drop Box on Blackboard, and subsequently sending it to the instructor to reduce penalties. However, the student may not send a report to the instructor and then continue to work on it. That is dishonest, and a ploy to avoid ligitimate penalties.

If the student is deathly ill, or there is a family emergency during the days that follow the due date, the penalties still apply. With exercising the privilige of a grace period comes the potential risk of loss.

Students should always make every effort to submit their work by the due date, and use the time extention toward the deadline as an exception rather than as a standard way of doing things. It may seem harsh, but learning life's realities is not always easy. Penalties can be avoided in this generous environment in which students are given considerable time to accomplish their tasks. If the student generally "uses" this time to get other work done, then they run the risk of penalties, and they know in advance that they are doing this.

Q & A from Students.

Q: When should I have the outlines completed?

A: Students should have the outline completed for the section or sections and bring the outlines to class with them on the day of the lesson. Outlines are done on the pack of pages only. The fronts of pages are left blank. The student information block (SIB) should appear on each page. If you can print computer labels, this will speed the process. Simply print a blank line for the date. Each section of the outline should begin with the objectives copied from the book in RED ink. The details of why we do these things will be explained before the first textbook lesson.

(2) Q: When should I do the homework problems, listed as Section Review, completed?

A: First, let me beg you not to do them until after the lesson on the section. Your textbook is just one of dozens of textbooks on the market. The textbook does not constitute the chemistry course - your teacher does prepare lessons using as many as seven books to gain the best approach to teaching and learning. Your instructor presents the topic differently from the book with great frequency. This could have an adverse affect on your answer or the approach you use to derive an answer.

If a lesson is completed in one day, do the practice as soon as possible but no later than two days. For example, a lesson completed on a Tuesday must be ready for your instructor by Thursday's class period. This gives you Tuesday and Wednesday evening to do them.

If a lesson takes more than one day, you should answer as many practice items as you can, based on what was covered in class - then leave the rest until the next day.