Research can be a dissentious subject in the education community, and we hope you can value this instructors perspective. We would like to hear your ideas about homework. What is your approach? How do you communicate with families about homework?

When thinking of research, teachers discover it useful to communicate their policy with the families of their trainees. After recently completing a Learners Edge course, Jennifer Lindsey, a fourth grade teacher from Pennsylvania, assessed her homework viewpoint which includes the purposeful functions teachers and households play.

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LE: What is your position on the problem of homework?
I answer as a teacher and as the moms and dad of school age kids when I address this concern. I do see research as having a role in the instructional process and I do not agree with Alfie Kohn (see post), who appears to believe research is useless, or even worse, has a negative impact. While Kohn asserts there is practically no research that proves homework to be useful, I did not see a persuading quantity of hard data to support eliminating all homework.
Yes, the quantity of research ought to be based upon the trainees age and grade level. As many Kindergarten-3rd grade instructors are self-contained, it needs to be relatively basic to offer mathematics research one night, spelling or checking out one night, and so on to prevent overwhelming 5 to 8-year-olds. If instructors are innovative with projects and in communicating the purpose of the assignment, students ought to not become bored or frustrated. Those are my goals as a fourth-grade instructor. I see homework to extend learning. Would I assign 30 math issues to trainees who I know would have problem with them, or to trainees who have demonstrated their understanding of the ability? No, in those cases, it is my task as the instructor to customize the tasks.
Our textbook points out it can take 24 repetitions of a skill for a trainee to reach 80% competency. I believe practicing abilities is rewarding. Kohns comparison with tennis does not make sense to me. There are skills in tennis you need to practice to improve. There are fundamental mathematics abilities kids must practice to build a solid structure before moving on to higher-level math skills. Kohn mentions how students might become much better at remembering, however not thinking. I see this as two various things; we require students to keep in mind certain truths and after that proceed to using those skills as thinkers and problem solvers.
As a moms and dad, it can be challenging to squeeze in homework some nights! My own kids have brought home tasks I believed improper or too lengthy for one night. We do the very best we can, and if we have issues or issues, I connect to the teacher. Knowing some trainees have little or no assistance in the house should be acknowledged by teachers. Once again, great instructors make it a point to understand what some home situations may be like and to customize appropriately. When possible, colleagues can work together, as explained in 2 supplemental course posts, by establishing a discovering lab or integrating “Drop-In” times during the school day
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I do see research as having a role in the educational process and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see short article), who appears to believe homework is worthless, or worse, has a negative impact. While Kohn asserts there is nearly no research that shows homework to be helpful, I did not see a persuading quantity of tough data to support doing away with all research.
Yes, the quantity of research need to be based on the students age and grade level. As a lot of Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it ought to be relatively easy to give mathematics research one night, spelling or checking out one night, etc to avoid straining 5 to 8-year-olds. Research can be a dissentious topic in the education neighborhood, and we hope you can appreciate this teachers point of view.