A classroom teacher’s view on homework

.

Research can be a divisive topic in the education neighborhood, and we hope you can appreciate this instructors point of view. How do you communicate with families about homework?

LE: What is your position on the concern of homework?
When I answer this concern, I address as an educator and as the moms and dad of school age kids. I do see research as having a role in the educational process and I do not agree with Alfie Kohn (see article), who appears to believe research is worthless, or even worse, has a negative effect. While Kohn asserts there is almost no research that shows homework to be advantageous, I did not see a convincing amount of tough data to support eliminating all research.
Yes, the quantity of homework ought to be based upon the trainees age and grade level. As most Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it should be relatively easy to offer math homework one night, checking out or spelling one night, etc to prevent straining 5 to 8-year-olds. If instructors are creative with projects and in interacting the purpose of the assignment, trainees need to not become annoyed or bored. Those are my objectives as a fourth-grade teacher. I see research to extend learning. Would I assign 30 mathematics issues to students who I know would battle 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 customize the assignments.
Our textbook points out it can take 24 repetitions of a skill for a trainee to reach 80% competency. I believe practicing abilities is beneficial. Kohns comparison with tennis does not make sense to me. There are skills in tennis you need to practice to enhance. There are standard math abilities children should practice to develop a solid structure prior to proceeding to higher-level math abilities. Kohn points out how students may progress at keeping in mind, but not believing. I see this as 2 different things; we require trainees to keep in mind certain truths and then move on to utilizing those skills as thinkers and issue solvers.
As a moms and dad, it can be difficult to squeeze in homework some nights! We do the finest we can, and if we have issues or issues, I reach out to the instructor. Again, good instructors make it a point to know what some house circumstances might be like and to customize accordingly.

When thinking of research, teachers find 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 research viewpoint which consists of the purposeful functions teachers and households play.

I do see research as having a role in the instructional procedure and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see article), who appears to think research is worthless, or even worse, has a negative effect. While Kohn asserts there is almost no research study that shows research to be beneficial, I did not see a convincing quantity of hard information to support doing away with all research.
Yes, the quantity of research ought to be based on the trainees age and grade level. As many Kindergarten-3rd grade instructors are self-contained, it should be relatively easy to offer mathematics homework one night, checking out or spelling one night, etc to prevent overwhelming 5 to 8-year-olds. Research can be a divisive topic in the education community, and we hope you can appreciate this teachers point of view.

You may also like...