A classroom teacher’s view on homework

LE: What is your position on the problem of research?
I respond to as a teacher and as the moms and dad of school age children when I address this concern. I do see research as having a function in the educational process and I do not agree with Alfie Kohn (see post), who appears to think homework is worthless, or worse, has a negative impact. While Kohn asserts there is nearly no research study that shows homework to be beneficial, I did not see a persuading amount of hard information to support getting rid of all research.
Yes, the amount of research need to be based on the students age and grade level. As many Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it ought to be relatively simple to give math research one night, spelling or checking out one night, etc to prevent overloading 5 to 8-year-olds. I see homework to extend knowing.
Our textbook points out it can take 24 repetitions of an ability for a trainee to reach 80% competency. I believe practicing abilities is worthwhile. Kohns comparison with tennis does not make good sense to me. There are skills in tennis you need to practice to improve. There are standard mathematics skills kids need to practice to build a solid structure prior to proceeding to higher-level mathematics skills. Kohn mentions how students may become better at keeping in mind, but not thinking. I see this as 2 different things; we require students to bear in mind specific facts and then proceed to utilizing those skills as thinkers and issue solvers.
As a parent, it can be difficult to squeeze in research some nights! We do the finest we can, and if we have concerns or problems, I reach out to the teacher. Once again, great instructors make it a point to understand what some house circumstances may be like and to customize accordingly.

When thinking of homework, teachers discover it helpful to communicate their policy with the families of their students. After recently finishing a Learners Edge course, Jennifer Lindsey, a fourth grade teacher from Pennsylvania, showed on her research approach which consists of the purposeful functions instructors and families play.

Research can be a dissentious subject in the education neighborhood, and we hope you can value this instructors perspective. We want to hear your thoughts about homework. What is your approach? How do you communicate with households about research?

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I do see homework as having a function in the academic process and I do not agree with Alfie Kohn (see post), who appears to think homework is useless, or even worse, has an unfavorable effect. While Kohn asserts there is nearly no research study that shows homework to be advantageous, I did not see a persuading quantity of difficult data to support doing away with all research.
Yes, the amount of research must be based on the students age and grade level. As the majority of Kindergarten-3rd grade instructors are self-contained, it needs to be relatively simple to give math homework one night, checking out or spelling one night, etc to prevent overwhelming 5 to 8-year-olds. Homework can be a divisive topic in the education neighborhood, and we hope you can appreciate this teachers point of view.

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