The first main type of homework is private reading of library books, including work on vocabulary. Pupils are expected to complete one book report / task per month, plus a Personal Private Reading Record sheet kept in their folders, with Reading for Gold worksheets completed in class or at home. We also have a Reading for Gold award scheme for pupils who read and report on a certain number of books throughout the session (20 for gold, 12 for silver and 8 for bronze).
Pupils should complete one language revision task per week from their homeworkbooklets and also any outstanding class work or redrafting, every second week. They should complete at least 2-3 redrafted or final folio pieces in class or at home per term and they are also expected to prepare notes or research for some tasks at home, e.g. an interview, or talk or library report / task (see above).
The homework jotter should therefore go home every week and the class jotter maybe every second or third week for corrections, finishing off, preparation etc. If a folio item is being completed at home, pupils should only take that piece home not the entire folio. Parents should sign the homework jotter.
In addition, some pupils will have regular individual homework following on from class corrections, such as spelling or punctuation. Homework booklets and help sheets should also be used to revise or reinforce basic skills. All pupils should have a spelling corrections section and a new words / vocabulary section in their homework jotter. Home readers should be used as a source for learning vocabulary and spelling.
Pupils need clear, consistent guidelines and the school calendar should help towards this aim, as well as helping to prevent the homework overload. We must also avoid getting homework which offers little positive return as English staff find it difficult enough to keep up with the correction workload, without landing ourselves with an additional load of homework exercises which can be counter-productive e.g. loads of language exercises which pupils can easily copy from each other anyway.
Meaningful homework must be mainly related to the on-going coursework, such as individual corrections (e.g. Working with Words help sheets), completion, redrafting, preparation or research, such as for a talk or folio article, and above all the home reader, where reasonable time-limits and targets should be set and a variety of homework tasks given or chosen (Reading for Gold), from vocabulary and language work to short interviews / talks or creative writing, as well as report sheets or full book reviews or essays. Some tasks, such as vocabulary, could be the same for all books read, while other tasks will vary according the book, or folio item required.
Special items must therefore be planned in advance to fit into this framework: e.g. a piece of research for a talk or folio piece, or book report or completion of certain folio items or mini-projects by a certain deadline date.
We must make it clear that if homework isn’t completed properly, this is eventually self-penalising, as pupils fall further behind, grades and comments become poorer and parents unhappy after a bad report i.e. it’s smart to keep ahead and up-to-date.
The most positive thing we can teach pupils in all years is to develop the love of reading for its own sake and the skills needed to enter the magic world of imaginative literature. This is the main part of their English homework and unless they keep up the reading habit throughout the school, their linguistic and imaginative skills will not develop.
While the nature of the subject requires a flexible homework policy (to suit individual needs) pupils will be expected to complete at least a short homework assignment on average once per week, plus private reading. This will variously include such tasks as talk preparation and written work, as well as continuous reading from a selected novel. It should be impressed upon pupils that full preparation for Standard Grade awards cannot be achieved without completing homework assignments and meeting deadline dates on time. Special emphasis should be placed on more advanced reading (e.g. quality fiction and newspapers) for C/G pupils hoping to progress to Higher Level in S5/6. The St. Gd. Course Notes and Bitesize notes /website should also be regularly used and reinforced. C/G pupils should complete a home reading task / report each month and G/F at least once per term. One report should be on newspaper or magazine journalism.
Pupils should be made aware of the assessment requirements by means of a departmental handout and a clear set of deadline targets should be issued. Pupil Record sheets are also kept in their folio and these should be updated at the end of each term. Staff should stress to pupils the importance of compiling a folio which allows choice and which far exceeds the minimum of five pieces.
Teachers should aim for a minimum of 1 redrafted piece of Writing, 1 Critical Essay and one Talk grade per term. By the end of S.3 all pupil should have completed a minimum of 5 best pieces, which should be kept in a safe place by the teacher. Pupils should also keep copies of previous drafts or final drafts, preferably on disk. While S. 4 work should be better, some pupils may need to use S. 3 pieces, but only as a last resort.
Any C/G pupils who are underachieving and / or not producing homework etc should be given a verbal warning, encouraging them to improve, followed by a letter home if there is no improvement. They will then be interviewed by the PT at the end of term and probably moved to another class or entered for G/F. Conversely, G/F pupils may be moved up to C/G if they are making progress and do well in the S.3 exam.
While pupils have to sit an external exam in May of S.4, this only counts for one third of the assessment and the rest is based on continuous assessment of coursework. Thus, pupils will be assessed and supported in order to improve their skills. S. 3 pupils will sit a formal exam in April or May and S. 4 a Prelim in December which will be used to provide them with exam practice and an indication of performance under exam conditions.
S. 4 pupils should also be made aware of the necessity of sitting all parts of the exam and of the need for certification to provide proper evidence to the SQA if unable to attend part, or all, of the exam.
An English course at this level requires a heavy commitment from the student in terms of application and homework and unless you are prepared to make this, you will not cope with the course. You must read plenty of quality fiction and journalism, continue working on vocabulary and study your support material thoroughly so that you fully understand the skills and techniques required for each part of the course. You must spend at least 2-3 hours or about one night per week on English homework, plus additional reading time. It is essential that you meet the following deadlines dates:
June – sampling texts and possible choice(s) for summer reading + brief notes
Aug - final choice + further notes.
Early Sept - notes on points of interest, possible topics etc.
Mid Sept – plan and first draft.
End Sept – redraft.
Week before Oct holiday – first assessment.
Mid Nov – redraft as required.
End Nov – Reassessment.
Writing
Early Sept – genre 1 plan and first draft.
Early Oct - assessment 1. .
Early Nov – genre 2 plan and first draft.
Early Dec - assessment 2.
Close Reading / Textual Analysis
NAB1 – end Nov
NAB 2 – mid Jan
Reassessment / Drop Down Nabs – Feb- March
End of unit Critical Essays
Poetry – end Sept
Novel – end Dec
Drama – mid March
You will also do a number of practice or exam preparation essays, plus home reading reports etc.
In addition you will have reports or discussion tasks to do on quality journalism each month, plus reports on home reading once your PS is completed.
Authentication
Department policy is that each internal essay (Personal Study and Writing) should evolve from work done in class, with additional work in class and at home, before completion of final draft in class under exam conditions. Personal Study = one hour, Writing = up to a double period.
Study Package
At Higher level, you will be given a package of support material comprising a study folder and two study guides (both worth nearly £10 each) on receipt of £10 deposit, refundable at the end of the course when you return all your English texts and material.