But ESL students, on the other hand, may disagree. Adult learners will argue that they have busy schedules and a life outside the classroom, which translates into “ ”. Young learners and teens may come to terms with the fact that they have to do homework, but do we want them to do it because they are compelled to do it... or do we want them to do it because they are excited to do it? Which would you prefer?
The only way to get young students excited about doing homework, and get adults to set aside some time for it, is through . And here are 5 examples:
A Word Book or Vocabulary Journal is a classic among teachers of very young learners who are not adept at using dictionaries; here they have a chance to make their own. Help them design their very own Word Book from scratch, out of construction paper, cardboard, or any materials you have on hand. At the end of a reading task or activity, make a list of the words they have learned for the day. Their homework assignment is to enter each of the new words in their Word Book. The littlest ones simply copy the word and draw a picture of it; older students can use the word in a sentence that illustrates its meaning. There is no need to copy “dictionary” definitions. They may also cut out pictures from magazines or newspapers and get as creative as they like. But one thing is certain… these will be words they won’t easily forget!
This is an extremely engaging way to provide extended practice of any grammar point. Say you want your students to practice . Tell them you need information on this year's Oscar nominations. Tell them to go to and give them a list of questions they must answer:
You may assign any number of research tasks: ideal places for a family vacation ( ), best restaurants in the city ( ), or anything based on local information. Just make sure you give them a website to go to, a set of questions to answer or a task to complete, and above all don't forget to plan the assignment with a grammar point or learning objective in mind.
This is an ideal assignment for adult students. Most read the newspaper anyway, right? Or watch the evening news. Ask them to choose a news story that has piqued their interest, and have them:
”, thus prompting them to use , for example ( )
This is clearly one of the homework assignments that works best with adult learners or those who specifically study . Give them an email to read and ask them to write an appropriate reply. Or give them a situation that would require them to compose a message, like a complaint over a bad service experience or an inquiry into vacation rentals.
Choose a TV series that is shown in English, either with or without subtitles (you may ask students to cover the subtitles). Choose a show that is suitable to your students’ ages. Tell your students that their homework for that night will be to watch an episode of , whether they usually watch the show or not. Give them a task to complete after viewing the episode: a synopsis of the episode, a character description, or a questionnaire (Do you usually watch this show? If not, would you start watching it? Why/why not?)
Another great way to get students actively engaged in their homework assignments is to ask them to come up with some ideas for creative assignments on their own and share them with the class. They may surprise you!
And if you’re still stumped as to which worksheets to assign to , , or , BusyTeacher.org is always available to help, 24/7, with wonderful ideas for activities and great ready-to-print worksheets.
If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing buttons below. And if you are interested in more, you should follow our Facebook page where we share more about creative, non-boring ways to teach English.
Successful therapy relies on using assignments outside of sessions to reinforce learning and practice newly acquired skills in real-world settings (Mausbach et al., 2010).
Up to 50% of clients don’t adhere to homework compliance, often leading to failure in CBT and other therapies (Tang & Kreindler, 2017).
In this article, we explore how to use technology to create homework, send it out, and track its completion to ensure compliance.
Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free . These science-based exercises will explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology including strengths, values, and self-compassion, and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students, or employees.
Is homework in therapy important, how to send homework to clients easily, homework in quenza: 5 examples of assignments, 5 counseling homework ideas and worksheets, using care pathways & quenza’s pathway builder, a take-home message.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy has “been shown to be as effective as medications in the treatment of a number of psychiatric illnesses” (Tang & Kreindler, 2017, p. 1).
Homework is a vital component of CBT, typically involving completing a structured and focused activity between sessions.
Practicing what was learned in therapy helps clients deal with specific symptoms and learn how to generalize them in real-life settings (Mausbach et al., 2010).
CBT practitioners use homework to help their clients, and it might include symptom logs, self-reflective journals , and specific tools for working on obsessions and compulsions. Such tasks, performed outside therapy sessions, can be divided into three types (Tang & Kreindler, 2017):
Therapists strategically create homework to lessen patients’ psychopathology and encourage clients to practice skills learned during therapy sessions, but non-adherence (between 20% and 50%) remains one of the most cited reasons for CBT failure (Tang & Kreindler, 2017).
Reasons why clients might fail to complete homework include (Tang & Kreindler, 2017):
Homework compliance is associated with short-term and long-term improvement of many disorders and unhealthy behaviors, including anxiety, depression, pathological behaviors, smoking, and drug dependence (Tang & Kreindler, 2017).
Greater homework adherence increases the likelihood of beneficial therapy outcomes (Mausbach et al., 2010).
With that in mind, therapy must find ways to encourage the completion of tasks set for the client. Technology may provide the answer.
The increased availability of internet-connected devices, improved software, and widespread internet access enable portable, practical tools to enhance homework compliance (Tang & Kreindler, 2017).
Clients who complete their homework assignments progress better than those who don’t (Beck, 2011).
Having an ideal platform for therapy makes it easy to send and track clients’ progress through assignments. It must be “user-friendly, accessible, reliable and secure from the perspective of both coach and client” (Ribbers & Waringa, 2015, p. 103).
In dedicated online therapy and coaching software, homework management is straightforward. The therapist creates the homework then forwards it to the client. They receive a notification and complete the work when it suits them. All this is achieved in one system, asynchronously; neither party needs to be online at the same time.
For example, in Quenza , the therapist can create a worksheet or tailor an existing one from the library as an activity that asks the client to reflect on the progress they have made or work they have completed.
The activity can either be given directly to the client or group, or included in a pathway containing other activities.
Here is an example of the activity parameters that Quenza makes possible.
A message can be attached to the activity, using either a template or a personally tailored message for the client. Here’s an example.
Once the activity is published and sent, the client receives a notification about a received assignment via their coaching app (mobile or desktop) or email.
The client can then open the Quenza software and find the new homework under their ‘To Do’ list.
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Quenza provides the ability to create your own assignments as well as a wide selection of existing ones that can be assigned to clients for completion as homework.
The following activities can be tailored to meet specific needs or used as-is. Therapists can share them with the client individually or packaged into dedicated pathways.
Such flexibility allows therapists to meet the specific needs of the client using a series of dedicated and trackable homework.
Examples of Quenza’s ready-to-use science-based activities include the following:
The Wheel of Life is a valuable tool for identifying and reflecting on a client’s satisfaction with life.
You can find the worksheet in the Positive Psychology Toolkit© , and it is also included in the Quenza library. The client scores themselves between 1 and 10 on specific life domains (the therapist can tailor the domains), including relationships, career development, and leisure time.
This is an active exercise to engage the client early on in therapy to reflect on their current and potential life. What is it like now? How could it look?
The wheel identifies where there are differences between perceived balance and reality .
The deep insights it provides can provide valuable input and prioritization for goal setting.
While stress is a normal part of life, it can become debilitating and interfere with our everyday lives, stopping us from reaching our life goals.
We may notice stress as worry, anxiety, and tension and resort to avoidant or harmful behaviors (e.g., abusing alcohol, smoking, comfort eating) to manage these feelings.
Visualization is simple but a powerful method for reducing physical and mental stress, especially when accompanied by breathing exercises.
The audio included within this assignment helps the listener visualize a place of safety and peace and provides a temporary respite from stressful situations.
Research into neuroplasticity has confirmed the ability of the adult brain to continue to change in adulthood and the corresponding capacity for people to develop and transform their mindsets (Dweck, 2017).
The 20 guidelines (included in our Toolkit and part of the Quenza library) and accompanying video explain our ability to change mentally and develop a growth mindset that includes accepting imperfection, leaning into challenges, continuing to learn, and seeing ‘failure’ as an opportunity for growth.
Adopting a growth mindset can help clients understand that our abilities and understanding are not fixed; we can develop them in ways we want with time and effort.
Committing to change is accepted as an effective way to promote behavioral change – in health and beyond. When a client makes a contract with themselves, they explicitly state their intention to deliver on plans and short- and long-term goals.
Completing and signing such a self-contract (included in our Toolkit and part of the Quenza library) online can help people act on their commitment through recognizing and living by their values.
Not only that, the contract between the client and themselves can be motivational, building momentum and self-efficacy.
The contract can be automatically personalized to include the client’s name but also manually reworded as appropriate.
The client completes the form by restating their name and committing to a defined goal by a particular date, along with their reasons for doing so.
We can help clients realize their goals by building supportive habits. Process goals – for example, eating healthily and exercising – require ongoing actions to be performed regularly.
Process goals (unlike end-state goals, such as saving up for a vacation) require long-lasting and continuous change that involves monitoring standards.
This tool (included in our Toolkit and part of the Quenza library) can help clients identify positive actions (rather than things to avoid) that they must carry out repeatedly to realize change.
We have many activities that can be used to help clients attending therapy for a wide variety of issues.
In this section, we consider homework ideas that can be used in couples therapy, family therapy, and supporting clients with depression and anxiety.
Conflict is inevitable in most long-term relationships. Everyone has their idiosyncrasies and individual set of needs. The Marital Conflicts worksheet captures a list of situations in which conflicts arise, when they happen, and how clients feel when they are (un)resolved.
Families, like individuals, are susceptible to times of stress and disruptions because of life changes such as illness, caring for others, and job and financial insecurity.
Mind the Gap is a family therapy worksheet where a family makes decisions together to align with goals they aspire to. Mind the gap is a short exercise to align with values and improve engagement.
The following exercises are all valuable for helping clients with the effects of anxiety and depression.
Activity Schedule is a template assisting a client with scheduling and managing normal daily activities, especially important for those battling with depression.
Activity Menu is a related worksheet, allowing someone with depression to select from a range of normal activities and ideas, and add these to a schedule as goals for improvement.
The Pleasurable Activity Journal focus on activities the client used to find enjoyable. Feelings regarding these activities are journaled, to track recovery progress.
Practicing mindfulness is helpful for those experiencing depression (Shapiro, 2020). A regular gratitude practice can develop new neural pathways and create a more grateful, mindful disposition (Shapiro, 2020).
Each activity can be tailored to the client’s needs; shared as standalone exercises, worksheets, or questionnaires; or included within a care pathway.
A pathway is an automated and scheduled series of activities that can take the client through several stages of growth, including psychoeducation , assessment, and action to produce a behavioral change in a single journey.
The creator can add two pathway titles. The second title is not necessary, but if entered, it is seen by the client in place of the first.
Once named, a series of steps can be created and reordered at any time, each containing an activity. Activities can be built from scratch, modified from existing ones in the library, or inserted as-is.
New activities can be created and used solely in this pathway or made available for others. They can contain various features, including long- and short-answer boxes, text boxes, multiple choice boxes, pictures, diagrams, and audio and video files.
Quenza can automatically deliver each step or activity in the pathway to the client following the previous one or after a certain number of days. Such timing is beneficial when the client needs to reflect on something before completing the next step.
Practitioners can also designate steps as required or optional before the client continues to the next one.
Practitioners can also add helpful notes not visible to the client. These comments can contain practical reminders of future changes or references to associated literature that the client does not need to see.
It is also possible to choose who can see client responses: the client and you, the client only, or the client decides.
Tags help categorize the pathway (e.g., by function, intended audience, or suggested timing within therapy) and can be used to filter what is displayed on the therapist’s pathway screen.
Once designed, the pathway can be saved as a draft or published and sent to the client. The client receives the notification of the new assignment either via email or the coaching app on their phone, tablet, or desktop.
The Positive Psychology Toolkit© is a groundbreaking practitioner resource containing over 500 science-based exercises , activities, interventions, questionnaires, and assessments created by experts using the latest positive psychology research.
Updated monthly. 100% Science-based.
“The best positive psychology resource out there!” — Emiliya Zhivotovskaya , Flourishing Center CEO
Success in therapy is heavily reliant on homework completion. The greater the compliance, the more likely the client is to have a better treatment outcome (Mausbach et al., 2010).
To improve the likelihood that clients engage with and complete the assignments provided, homework must be appropriate to their needs, have a sound rationale, and do the job intended (Beck, 2011).
Technology such as Quenza can make homework readily available on any device, anytime, from any location, and ensure it contains clear and concise psychoeducation and instructions for completion.
The therapist can easily create, copy, and tailor homework and, if necessary, combine multiple activities into single pathways. These are then shared with the click of a button. The client is immediately notified but can complete it at a time appropriate to them.
Quenza can also send automatic reminders about incomplete assignments to the client and highlight their status to the therapist. Not only that, but any resulting questions can be delivered securely to the therapist with no risk of getting lost in a busy email inbox.
Why not try the Quenza application? Try using some of the existing science-based activities or create your own. It offers an impressive array of functionality that will not only help you scale your business, but also ensure proactive, regular communication with your existing clients.
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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.
Transform your study habits and get better grades with MyStudyLife's game-changing student planner. Organize your schedule, track homework and achieve success . Revolutionize the way you tackle your academic journey with MyStudyLife, the ultimate high school or college schedule planner and online organizer rolled into one. Seamlessly integrate your academic life with this comprehensive tool ...
2. Make a board game. This is definitely one of the most creative homework assignments. Let your students come up with an idea for a board game about the lesson content. They have to make cards, and pawns, draw, write, cut, and paste. They have to use their imagination and inventive ideas to create a coherent board game. Click to open.
Here are a couple of thinking questions you could give as homework. 'Think about the best things about your country. Explain them to yourself in English. You'll tell the class about it tomorrow.'. 'Think about the most important person in your life and why they are/were important. Describe them to yourself in English.
Others need to have parents nearby to help keep them on task and to answer questions when problems arise. Ask your child where the best place is to work. Both you and your child need to discuss pros and cons of different settings to arrive at a mutually agreed upon location. Step 2. Set up a homework center.
Firstly, divide your class into smaller ability groups, 3 or 4 groups would work. Each group can be given their own coloured homework basket. You then fill the coloured homework baskets with activities, games and task cards that the students can take home and play with parents, carers or older siblings throughout the week.
The Toronto District School Board offers a simple guideline to help determine how much homework is appropriate at each grade level. Following the guideline of 10 minutes per grade level, each grade should have this amount of homework: 30 minutes in Grade 3. 40 minutes in Grade 4. 50 minutes in Grade 5.
A schoolwide effort to reduce homework has led to a renewed focus on ensuring that all work assigned really aids students' learning. I used to pride myself on my high expectations, including my firm commitment to accountability for regular homework completion among my students. But the trauma of Covid-19 has prompted me to both reflect and adapt.
The challenge: Managing time and staying organized. Some kids struggle with keeping track of time and making a plan for getting all of their work done. That's especially true of kids who have trouble with executive function. Try creating a homework schedule and set a specific time and place for your child to get homework done.
Set up a homework play date. Go outside. Turn it into a game. Let them play teacher. Use a timer. Create a special homework space. Remember to be positive. Get help if you need i t. Thankfully, there are ways of making homework less boring and that little bit more fun for your child.
4. Listen to a Podcast. 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.
Create a board game. Complete a quiz - you could also ask students to write the quiz in groups and then swap and complete for homework. Write a lesson plan for teaching the topic to a younger class. Teach the teacher - create a poster, Complete a series of exercises. Complete a family tree, real or imaginary.
7 Types of Homework for Students. There are seven types of homework. These are practice, preparation, extension, integration, research, application, and flipped homework. Each type of homework has its own role for students learning. The important task for teachers is to select homework that will best provide holistic support to a student.
Homework Planner Apps for Students. 1. Student Planner- Homework Agenda & Notes. The first app on the list is a simple homework and notes management app. It keeps track of homework, assignments, projects, and to-do lists. The layout is minimal, all the tasks are neatly organized with a colored bookmark for easy identification.
These cool tools let you add and mark off items as you go. 1. Synchro. Synchro is a task tracker extension built for students. A clean, intuitive tool, it lets you add tasks, specify the deadlines, and choose the current status. Synchro lists all the tasks under three columns- to-do, in progress, and completed.
The Crossword Solver found 30 answers to "Homework tasks (11)", 11 letters crossword clue. The Crossword Solver finds answers to classic crosswords and cryptic crossword puzzles. Enter the length or pattern for better results. Click the answer to find similar crossword clues . Enter a Crossword Clue.
Quick win: One of our favorite websites that makes homework fun is Tang Math! 6. Set up a homework play date. Holding a homework playdate where your child can invite one of their best school buddies over to do homework together can be a great way for them to learn and make sure the work gets done, especially older children in elementary school.
The National PTA and the National Education Association support the " 10-minute homework guideline "—a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But many teachers and parents are quick to point out that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students' needs, not the amount of time spent on it.
7. Urge the learner to follow a less desirable task with a more desirable task. Make the conclusion of the first appropriate to perform the second. 8. Provide consistent expectations within the capacity and ability level of the learner. 9. Urge the learner to set time limits for finishing homework tasks.
Assigning Homework in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is known to be a highly effective approach to mental health treatment. One factor underlying its success is ...
Go on a treasure hunt. As a fun homework task that will get your students out and about, ask them to go on a treasure or scavenger hunt, finding certain things that are related to your topic. For younger children, this could be as simple as collecting leaves, flowers, or twigs they might find in their local park, or particular shapes or colours ...
Homework Assignments That Work. 1. A Word Book. A Word Book or Vocabulary Journal is a classic among teachers of very young learners who are not adept at using dictionaries; here they have a chance to make their own. Help them design their very own Word Book from scratch, out of construction paper, cardboard, or any materials you have on hand.
CBT practitioners use homework to help their clients, and it might include symptom logs, self-reflective journals, and specific tools for working on obsessions and compulsions. Such tasks, performed outside therapy sessions, can be divided into three types (Tang & Kreindler, 2017): Psychoeducation