A classroom teacher’s view on homework

.

When considering homework, teachers discover it beneficial to interact their policy with the households of their students. After just recently finishing a Learners Edge course, Jennifer Lindsey, a fourth grade teacher from Pennsylvania, reviewed her homework philosophy which consists of the purposeful roles instructors and households play.

Research can be a dissentious topic in the education neighborhood, and we hope you can value this instructors perspective. We wish to hear your thoughts about research. What is your approach? How do you communicate with families about homework?

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 concern. I do see homework as having a role in the educational procedure and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see post), who appears to believe research is worthless, or even worse, has a negative effect. While Kohn asserts there is nearly no research that proves research to be useful, I did not see a convincing quantity of hard data to support getting rid of all homework.
Yes, the quantity of homework should be based upon the students age and grade level. As many Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it should be reasonably simple to give mathematics homework one night, reading or spelling one night, and so on to prevent straining 5 to 8-year-olds. If teachers are creative with projects and in interacting the purpose of the assignment, trainees need to not end up being bored or disappointed. Those are my goals as a fourth-grade teacher. I see research to extend knowing. Would I appoint 30 math problems to trainees who I understand would deal with them, or to trainees who have demonstrated their understanding of the ability? No, in those cases, it is my task as the teacher to modify the projects.
Our book mentions it can take 24 repetitions of an ability for a trainee to reach 80% competency. I think practicing abilities is rewarding. Kohns comparison with tennis does not make sense to me. There are abilities in tennis you need to practice to enhance. There are basic mathematics skills children must practice to build a strong structure prior to moving on to higher-level mathematics skills. Kohn points out how students may end up being much better at remembering, but not believing. I see this as 2 various things; we require students to keep in mind certain realities and after that proceed to utilizing those skills as thinkers and problem solvers.
As a parent, it can be hard to squeeze in homework some nights! We do the best we can, and if we have issues or problems, I reach out to the instructor. Again, good teachers make it a point to know what some house circumstances may be like and to customize appropriately.

I do see homework as having a function in the instructional process and I do not concur with Alfie Kohn (see post), who appears to believe homework is worthless, or even worse, has a negative impact. While Kohn asserts there is nearly no research study that shows homework to be beneficial, I did not see a persuading amount of hard information to support doing away with all research.
Yes, the quantity of homework need to be based on the trainees age and grade level. As the majority of Kindergarten-3rd grade teachers are self-contained, it needs to be relatively easy to give mathematics research one night, spelling or checking out one night, and so on to avoid overwhelming 5 to 8-year-olds. Research can be a dissentious topic in the education community, and we hope you can appreciate this teachers point of view.

You may also like...