A classroom teacher’s view on homework

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

I do see research as having a role in the instructional process and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see short article), who appears to think homework is worthless, or even worse, has a negative effect. While Kohn asserts there is practically no research that proves homework to be useful, I did not see a persuading quantity of hard data to support doing away with all homework.
Yes, the quantity of research should be based on the students age and grade level. As many Kindergarten-3rd grade instructors are self-contained, it should be fairly basic to give mathematics homework one night, checking out or spelling one night, and so on to avoid overloading 5 to 8-year-olds. Homework can be a dissentious subject in the education community, and we hope you can value this instructors point of view.

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LE: What is your position on the problem of homework?
I respond to as an educator and as the parent of school age kids when I answer this question. I do see research as having a function in the instructional procedure and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see post), who appears to believe homework is worthless, or even worse, has an unfavorable effect. While Kohn asserts there is almost no research that proves research to be useful, I did not see a persuading amount of hard data to support eliminating all homework.
Yes, the quantity of homework ought to be based on the trainees age and grade level. As the majority of Kindergarten-3rd grade instructors are self-contained, it should be relatively basic to provide mathematics research one night, spelling or checking out one night, and so on to prevent straining 5 to 8-year-olds. If teachers are innovative with projects and in interacting the function of the task, students need to not become bored or disappointed. Those are my goals as a fourth-grade instructor. I see homework to extend knowing. Would I assign 30 mathematics issues to students who I understand would deal with them, or to trainees who have demonstrated their understanding of the skill? No, in those cases, it is my task as the teacher to modify the assignments.
Our book points out it can take 24 repeatings of a skill for a trainee to reach 80% proficiency. Kohn points out how trainees may become much better at keeping in mind, however not thinking. I see this as two different things; we require trainees to keep in mind certain facts and then move on to utilizing those abilities as thinkers and issue solvers.
As a parent, it can be difficult to squeeze in homework some nights! We do the finest we can, and if we have concerns or problems, I reach out to the teacher. Again, excellent instructors make it a point to understand what some home situations may be like and to customize accordingly.

When thinking about homework, instructors find it beneficial to communicate their policy with the households of their trainees. After recently completing a Learners Edge course, Jennifer Lindsey, a 4th grade teacher from Pennsylvania, assessed her research approach that includes the purposeful roles instructors and households play.

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