A classroom teacher’s view on homework

.

When considering homework, instructors discover it advantageous to communicate their policy with the households of their trainees. After recently finishing a Learners Edge course, Jennifer Lindsey, a fourth grade teacher from Pennsylvania, assessed her homework philosophy that includes the purposeful functions instructors and families play.

Research can be a dissentious subject in the education community, and we hope you can appreciate this teachers point of view. How do you communicate with families about homework?

LE: What is your position on the concern of research?
When I address this concern, I address as a teacher and as the moms and dad of school age kids. I do see homework as having a role in the academic process and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see article), who appears to believe homework is useless, or worse, has an unfavorable effect. While Kohn asserts there is nearly no research study that shows research to be helpful, I did not see a persuading quantity of difficult data to support eliminating all homework.
Yes, the quantity of research must be based on the trainees age and grade level. As most Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it should be relatively easy to offer math homework one night, spelling or checking out one night, etc to prevent overwhelming 5 to 8-year-olds. I see research to extend learning.
Our textbook points out it can take 24 repetitions of a skill for a student to reach 80% competency. Kohn points out how trainees might end up being better at remembering, however not believing. I see this as 2 different things; we require students to remember certain facts and then move on to using those abilities as thinkers and problem solvers.
As a moms and dad, it can be hard to squeeze in research some nights! We do the finest we can, and if we have issues or concerns, I reach out to the teacher. Once again, excellent instructors make it a point to understand what some home circumstances may be like and to customize appropriately.

I do see homework as having a role in the academic process and I do not agree with Alfie Kohn (see short article), who appears to believe homework is useless, or even worse, has an unfavorable effect. While Kohn asserts there is practically no research that shows homework to be helpful, I did not see a convincing amount 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 the majority of Kindergarten-3rd grade instructors are self-contained, it must be reasonably simple to offer math homework one night, spelling or reading one night, etc to prevent straining 5 to 8-year-olds. Homework can be a divisive topic in the education neighborhood, and we hope you can value this instructors point of view.

You may also like...