A classroom teacher’s view on homework

Homework can be a dissentious topic in the education neighborhood, and we hope you can value this teachers viewpoint. We would like to hear your ideas about research. What is your viewpoint? How do you communicate with families about homework?

LE: What is your position on the problem of research?
I address as a teacher and as the moms and dad of school age children when I address this question. I do see research as having a role in the instructional procedure and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see post), who appears to think research is useless, or worse, has a negative effect. While Kohn asserts there is nearly no research study that shows research to be advantageous, I did not see a convincing quantity of difficult information to support doing away with all homework.
Yes, the amount of homework ought to be based upon the students age and grade level. As the majority of Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it must be relatively simple to offer math homework one night, reading or spelling one night, etc to prevent overwhelming 5 to 8-year-olds. Students need to not become bored or annoyed if teachers are creative with tasks and in communicating the purpose of the assignment. Those are my objectives as a fourth-grade instructor. I see research to extend knowing. Would I assign 30 mathematics problems to trainees who I understand would battle with them, or to students who have shown their understanding of the ability? No, in those cases, it is my task as the teacher to customize the assignments.
Our book points out it can take 24 repetitions of an ability for a student to reach 80% proficiency. I think practicing abilities is beneficial. Kohns contrast with tennis does not make sense to me. There are skills in tennis you need to practice to enhance. There are basic mathematics skills kids should practice to construct a solid structure prior to moving on to higher-level math abilities. Kohn mentions how students might progress at remembering, but not thinking. I see this as 2 various things; we need students to bear in mind specific truths and then carry on to using those abilities as thinkers and problem solvers.
As a parent, it can be tough to squeeze in research some nights! We do the best we can, and if we have issues or problems, I reach out to the teacher. Again, excellent teachers make it a point to know what some home scenarios may be like and to modify appropriately.

I do see homework as having a function in the academic process and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see short article), who appears to think homework is useless, or even worse, has an unfavorable effect. While Kohn asserts there is practically no research study that shows homework to be advantageous, I did not see a convincing quantity of tough information to support doing away with all research.
Yes, the amount of research need to be based on the students age and grade level. As most Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it needs to be fairly simple to provide math homework one night, spelling or reading one night, and so on to avoid overloading 5 to 8-year-olds. Homework can be a divisive subject in the education community, and we hope you can appreciate this instructors point of view.

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When thinking about research, instructors discover it advantageous to communicate their policy with the households of their trainees. After recently completing a Learners Edge course, Jennifer Lindsey, a fourth grade teacher from Pennsylvania, assessed her research approach that includes the purposeful functions instructors and households play.

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