Whitmer students, grades 9-12, were recently given an assignment from their English teachers called “interactive homework”. This assignment was passed out in all core English courses, on November 15th, with directions to have students work with their parents to complete the given task. Students and parents are given a full week to complete the assignment and turn it back into their English teacher.

Students will have these assignments twice a quarter until the end of the year. The hope is that these assignments will create more of a bond between students and their parents. It allows a connection between the students’ school life to their home lives. Mrs. Densmore, one of Whitmer High School’s English teachers, is the organizer behind these interactive homework assignments.

“I am currently in an administrative program through Concordia University, and we are required to do an implementation project which means we take a look at the school’s goals that are written in the school improvement plan. Then we come up with a project of our own to accomplish at least one of those goals” English teacher Mrs. Densmore describes.

The first activity was an assignment to start the groundwork of these assignments. After this, students will have more of an opportunity to express deeper conversations with their families at home.

“The first activity that went home was a basic explanation of what interactive home was so that parents knew the what and the why but from here the goal will be a bit different. It will be to talk about behaviors to talk about emotions and situations at school with parents and so that creates a partnership with the school and home,” Densmore explains.

The benefits for these activities were more than enough of a reason for Mrs. Densmore to feel compelled to do these assignments school wide. She breaks down the background and studies driving the interactive homework.

“Studies show that the more parents are involved all the way through school, the GPA is higher, the absences are lower, and the long term success rate of students increases. And the benefits to the families alone is that increase communication with the side benefits of having a more successful student overall. It also lets the school know where we are in terms of social emotional learning”.

There are several lessons that can be taken from this. The most important one is how important it is to communicate.

Mrs. Densmore shares the impact that participating in the in

teractive homework can potentially have, “I think that people need to understand, or can take away from the assignments, how important it is to communicate. Whether you communicate with family at home, teachers here, or other students, really talking about the SEL strategies that will be in the future editions of the homework assignments benefits everyone. It requires you to take a look at your approach to other people and how you communicate with others, how you treat others, how you want to be treated by others and it kind of helps build a sense of self and hopefully build interpersonal communication skills”.