Homework every night -- 9th Lit

Hello All,

I've been noticing an unfortunate and frustrating trend in our Lit class.  Many students aren't doing their homework (although more students in 3rd period did do their work last night).

I know that students resist doing homework, so we had a discussion about it today.  The point of homework (not busywork, because I don't give busywork) is to reinforce the skills that we practice in class each day.  If students see it several hours later, and practice that skill several hours later, studies have shown that they have increased retention and concept obtainment--that's the point of homework.
We also discussed the point of high school.  At the end of the day, you go to high school to learn how to learn.  At some point, their boss could say, "Hey, look at this thing.  I like this thing.  Make me a thing like this thing," and our students would need to go through the steps of:

1. What are the elements in that thing that work?
2. How do I get (research) the information I need to replicate those elements?
3. How do I put it together in a pleasing way in order to get my point across clearly and neatly?
4. How do I make sure I'm giving my boss what s/he wants?

This is what we do with each assignment.  We build these skills so that students are able to go through these steps on their own by senior year.  We might be doing it through a fun story, but the end goal is still the same: To make them better communicators and able to give their bosses what they want in order to be successful.

So, the students have homework every night.  They do need to reinforce their USATestPrep skills, as well as their vocabulary skills, but every night they should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What did we do in class today?
2. Why did we do that?  What skills did we learn about/practice?

Today, we're reading "The Most Dangerous Game" in their textbooks.  We're pulling out examples of simile, metaphor, and personification to see how the author used imagery to create the mood and irony in the story.  We'll be adding how the author sequenced the story using the stages of plot and examples of characterization to build the images in your mind tomorrow.

Their homework specifically for tonight is to finish reading "The Most Dangerous Game" and fill out their handout.  Their handout is specifically asking them the questions that reinforce the skills we've been practicing in class.  They will have 2 assignments using this knowledge tomorrow, followed by a quiz over "The Most Dangerous Game" and "The Lottery."  Some questions will be comprehension questions.  Some will be applying the skills we have been practicing in class.

If you have any questions, please let me know.