A classroom teacher’s view on homework

Homework can be a divisive subject in the education neighborhood, and we hope you can value this instructors viewpoint. We want to hear your ideas about homework. What is your philosophy? How do you interact with families about homework?

LE: What is your position on the concern of research?
When I address this question, I address as an educator and as the moms and dad of school age children. I do see homework as having a role in the educational process and I do not agree with Alfie Kohn (see short article), who appears to believe research is worthless, or even worse, has an unfavorable impact. While Kohn asserts there is practically no research that proves homework to be helpful, I did not see a convincing amount of hard information to support doing away with all homework.
Yes, the quantity of research ought to be based on the students age and grade level. As a lot of Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it must be reasonably basic to give mathematics research one night, checking out or spelling one night, etc to prevent overloading 5 to 8-year-olds. Students need to not become disappointed or bored if instructors are innovative with assignments and in interacting the function of the project. Those are my goals as a fourth-grade instructor. I see research to extend learning. Would I appoint 30 mathematics issues to trainees who I understand would have problem with them, or to trainees who have shown their understanding of the ability? No, in those cases, it is my task as the instructor to customize the assignments.
Our textbook points out it can take 24 repetitions of an ability for a student to reach 80% competency. I believe practicing skills is worthwhile. Kohns comparison with tennis does not make sense to me. There are abilities in tennis you should practice to enhance. There are standard math skills children should practice to build a solid foundation before proceeding to higher-level math skills. Kohn points out how trainees might progress at remembering, however not believing. I see this as two various things; we need trainees to keep in mind specific realities and after that move on to using those abilities as thinkers and issue solvers.
As a parent, it can be hard to squeeze in research some nights! We do the best we can, and if we have concerns or issues, I reach out to the teacher. Once again, great instructors make it a point to know what some house situations might be like and to customize appropriately.

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

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I do see homework as having a function in the educational process and I do not agree 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 nearly no research that shows research to be advantageous, I did not see a convincing amount of tough information to support doing away with all homework.
Yes, the quantity of homework should be based on the trainees age and grade level. As a lot of Kindergarten-3rd grade instructors are self-contained, it must be reasonably basic to provide math homework one night, spelling or reading one night, etc 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 instructors point of view.

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