A classroom teacher’s view on homework

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

.

LE: What is your position on the concern of research?
I respond to as a teacher and as the parent of school age children when I answer this concern. I do see research as having a function in the educational process and I do not agree with Alfie Kohn (see article), who appears to believe homework is worthless, or worse, has an unfavorable effect. While Kohn asserts there is practically no research that shows research to be helpful, I did not see a convincing quantity of tough information to support getting rid of all homework.
Yes, the amount of homework need to be based upon the students age and grade level. As the majority of Kindergarten-3rd grade instructors are self-contained, it should be relatively easy to provide mathematics homework one night, reading or spelling one night, and so on to prevent overwhelming 5 to 8-year-olds. If instructors are innovative with projects and in interacting the function of the task, students ought to not become frustrated or bored. Those are my goals as a fourth-grade instructor. I see research to extend learning. Would I designate 30 math problems to students who I understand would deal with them, or to trainees who have demonstrated their understanding of the ability? No, in those cases, it is my job as the teacher to customize the tasks.
Our book mentions it can take 24 repetitions of an ability for a student to reach 80% proficiency. I think practicing abilities is rewarding. Kohns comparison with tennis does not make sense to me. There are skills in tennis you need to practice to enhance. There are basic math abilities children need to practice to build a solid structure prior to proceeding to higher-level mathematics skills. Kohn points out how trainees might become much better at remembering, but not thinking. I see this as two different things; we need students to keep in mind specific truths and then proceed to using those skills as thinkers and issue solvers.
As a parent, it can be challenging to squeeze in homework some nights! We do the finest we can, and if we have issues or concerns, I reach out to the teacher. Once again, good teachers make it a point to understand what some home scenarios might be like and to modify accordingly.

I do see homework as having a function in the educational procedure and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see post), who appears to believe homework is useless, or worse, has an unfavorable effect. While Kohn asserts there is practically no research study that proves homework to be helpful, I did not see a convincing quantity of hard data to support doing away with all homework.
Yes, the amount of research ought to be based on the students age and grade level. As a lot of Kindergarten-3rd grade instructors are self-contained, it ought to be reasonably simple to offer mathematics research one night, spelling or reading one night, and so on to avoid straining 5 to 8-year-olds. Research can be a divisive topic in the education neighborhood, and we hope you can appreciate this teachers point of view.

When considering homework, instructors find it useful to communicate their policy with the households of their trainees. After recently finishing a Learners Edge course, Jennifer Lindsey, a fourth grade instructor from Pennsylvania, reviewed her homework viewpoint that includes the purposeful roles instructors and families play.

You may also like...