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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Is there a lot of busy work in high school?

Homework to learn is great, homework as a (false) marker of rigor is what I would call busy work. [/quote]

There can be a lot of homework depending on the class/level. It's not busy work and can be challenging. There is time at school for organized students to get a jump on their work.  Classes are every other day so homework is never assigned one day and due the next.

One of the challenges students need to get used to is GDS is a heavy class participation school. Homework is often around preparing for what they'll be doing in class. Students need to quickly get used to assessing information, forming an opinion, and advocating their opinion in writing or through discussion/presentations. The forming and advocating their own opinion part takes some getting used to for some students. There is also some group work at GDS for homework and in-class depending on the subject.

Students that are successful realize they are responsible for making sure they know what they need to know/asking questions of the teacher/classmates if they don't understand. In very generalized terms, for homework, English frequently has reading/annotating at home/prep for in-class writing, discussion, quizzes, presentations. There are some take-home short answer or essays. History has reading, often from primary-sources, some take-home short answers or research type papers, in class presentations, discussions, in-class writing/quizzes/tests.   Foreign language depends on the language. Spanish generally has reading, writing, speaking and listening assignments (not all in the same assignments). In the lower level they teach vocab so homework may include more worksheets, listening to videos, and practicing some spoken phrases. They encourage students to try to speak as much as possible without worrying about being exactly correct so they will speak very often in class. As students progress, the classes are almost taught like an English class, but all in Spanish. They read and analyze literature, prepare a lot of presentations that include outside research on the topic, etc. There will be in class writing, listening, and speaking quizzes/tests and lots of presentations. Honors/UL Math gives suggested homework, but it's not graded/reviewed by the teacher. It would be difficult to do well without doing it however.  The math grades are mainly based off quizzes/tests--no projects.  Science will generally have problems and lab write-ups for homework along with in-class labs/quizzes/tests.

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