A classroom teacher’s view on homework

When thinking of homework, instructors discover it useful to interact their policy with the households of their trainees. After just recently completing a Learners Edge course, Jennifer Lindsey, a fourth grade instructor from Pennsylvania, reviewed her research philosophy that includes the purposeful roles instructors and families play.

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

LE: What is your position on the concern of research?
I respond to as a teacher and as the parent of school age children when I address this concern. I do see homework as having a function in the educational procedure and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see post), who appears to believe homework is useless, or even worse, has an unfavorable impact. While Kohn asserts there is almost no research that shows homework to be advantageous, I did not see a convincing amount of hard information to support getting rid of all homework.
Yes, the quantity of homework ought to be based on the trainees age and grade level. As a lot of Kindergarten-3rd grade instructors are self-contained, it ought to be relatively simple to give mathematics homework one night, spelling or reading one night, and so on to avoid overwhelming 5 to 8-year-olds. Trainees ought to not become frustrated or bored if instructors are innovative with projects and in communicating the purpose of the assignment. Those are my objectives as a fourth-grade instructor. I see research to extend knowing. Would I appoint 30 math problems to students who I know would deal with them, or to students who have shown their understanding of the skill? No, in those cases, it is my task as the instructor to modify the assignments.
Our textbook points out it can take 24 repeatings of an ability for a student to reach 80% proficiency. I believe practicing skills is beneficial. Kohns contrast with tennis does not make good sense to me. There are skills in tennis you must practice to improve. There are fundamental mathematics skills children should practice to develop a solid structure prior to carrying on to higher-level math skills. Kohn mentions how trainees might progress at remembering, but not thinking. I see this as 2 different things; we need trainees to keep in mind certain facts and then carry on to using those abilities as thinkers and problem solvers.
As a parent, it can be difficult to squeeze in research some nights! My own children have brought house assignments I believed inappropriate or too lengthy for one night. We do the best we can, and if we have concerns or issues, I connect to the instructor. Understanding some trainees have little or no assistance at home need to be acknowledged by educators. Again, excellent teachers make it an indicate understand what some house scenarios might be like and to modify appropriately. When possible, colleagues can interact, as explained in 2 extra course short articles, by establishing a finding out lab or incorporating “Drop-In” times throughout the school day
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I do see homework as having a function in the instructional process and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see short article), who appears to think research 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 information to support doing away with all research.
Yes, the quantity of homework need to be based on the students age and grade level. As most Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it ought to be reasonably basic to offer mathematics homework one night, spelling or checking out one night, etc to avoid overwhelming 5 to 8-year-olds. Homework can be a dissentious topic in the education neighborhood, and we hope you can value this teachers point of view.

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