A classroom teacher’s view on homework

Research can be a divisive subject in the education community, and we hope you can value this instructors point of view. How do you interact with households about homework?

When considering research, teachers discover it helpful to interact their policy with the families of their students. After recently completing a Learners Edge course, Jennifer Lindsey, a fourth grade instructor from Pennsylvania, showed on her homework philosophy that includes the purposeful functions instructors and households play.

I do see research as having a function in the academic process and I do not agree with Alfie Kohn (see short article), who appears to think homework is useless, or worse, has a negative impact. While Kohn asserts there is almost no research that shows research to be helpful, I did not see a convincing amount of tough data to support doing away with all research.
Yes, the quantity of research must be based on the students age and grade level. As the majority of Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it needs to be fairly easy to offer mathematics homework one night, spelling or reading one night, and so on to avoid overloading 5 to 8-year-olds. Research can be a divisive subject in the education community, and we hope you can value this teachers point of view.

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LE: What is your position on the concern of research?
I respond to as a teacher and as the parent of school age kids when I answer this question. I do see homework as having a role in the academic procedure and I do not agree with Alfie Kohn (see article), who appears to believe research is worthless, or worse, has a negative impact. While Kohn asserts there is nearly no research study that proves homework to be advantageous, I did not see a persuading quantity of difficult information to support doing away with all homework.
Yes, the amount of research must be based on the students age and grade level. As the majority of Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it should be reasonably simple to give mathematics research one night, checking out or spelling one night, etc to avoid overloading 5 to 8-year-olds. Trainees should not end up being bored or frustrated if instructors are innovative with projects and in communicating the function of the task. Those are my goals as a fourth-grade teacher. I see research to extend knowing. Would I appoint 30 mathematics issues to trainees who I know would deal with them, or to trainees who have shown their understanding of the skill? No, in those cases, it is my task as the teacher to modify the assignments.
Our textbook mentions it can take 24 repetitions of an ability for a trainee to reach 80% proficiency. I think practicing skills is beneficial. Kohns comparison with tennis does not make sense to me. There are skills in tennis you must practice to enhance. There are fundamental math skills kids should practice to construct a strong structure before moving on to higher-level math abilities. Kohn mentions how students may end up being better at keeping in mind, but not believing. I see this as two various things; we need trainees to remember specific realities and after that carry on to using those abilities as thinkers and problem solvers.
As a parent, it can be difficult to squeeze in homework some nights! We do the best we can, and if we have concerns or problems, I reach out to the teacher. Again, great teachers make it a point to know what some home circumstances may be like and to customize accordingly.

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