Exercise of the Week #3

This week we’ll be looking at a logic puzzle. These can appear in verbal reasoning or critical thinking examinations, requiring students to analyse each statement and consider whether an assumption can hold true for the rest of it. Let’s take a peek:

Last Week’s Answers

Here are a few quick techniques you can employ to write persuasively:

1. Lists of three: Humans are quite attached to the number three. Using lists of three allows you to pack in more information, to be more memorable, and to be more persuasive. (See?)

2. Emotive language: Pull on the heart strings! If you’re writing to persuade someone to donate to a dog’s shelter, describe those poor, lonely puppies, who cry for a good home!

3. Rhetorical questions: Haven’t you heard of them? These are questions which don’t require an answer. Would you like to live on the streets?

Here’s an example paragraph arguing against the points given:

It’s not unusual to dislike homework. Many students consider it to be a burden, further constraining their already busy schedules so that they are unable to spend time doing the things they enjoy. However, homework that is well-thought-out by teachers needn’t take students hours to complete: in fact, studies have shown that most students spend no longer than an hour each evening on homework. That’s not too honorous, is it? 

It has been said that scrapping homework would provide teachers more time to prepare their lessons and mark other work. While this is true, it is the job of teachers to both set and mark homework (as well as planning lessons.) If marking homework is getting in the way of other responsibilities, teachers have not been considering the homework they are setting thoroughly. A well-considered task shouldn’t take forever to mark!

Finally, there is an argument that homework does more harm than good. But, as the school day is limited, these extra weekly hours are vital to ensure topics covered in class are consolidated. Not everything can happen in the classroom. 

Well-considered homework prepares students to learn independently, engages them, and provides critical consolidation of work already covered. If it were banned, I am certain we would see grades fall and achievements dwindle. Would you want that for your child?