Should Teachers Give Homework?
Posted by PLB Blogger · 8 Comments
My thoughts on homework are plentiful and while I vacillate across the spectrum they’re riddled with questions, some rhetorical and some thought provoking. Should we be giving students homework? What is the purpose of homework? What are we teaching children through homework?
Are we teaching students that they have to bring their work home? That relationships with family and friends and people in their community are less important than the job (homework). Will we have students so trained after 17 years (with college) to place their job over everything else? Will their inter-personal relationships suffer? If the pedagogy is effective in school, why homework? If the current scheduling system of 5-6-7 classes during the day necessitates a need for homework because not enough can be done during the day, might it be better to switch to three 2-hour long classes so that there’s time to collaborate and focus on learning while diving deep into content that allows teachers and students time to flourish?
When we have a student who has homework in every subject does it push them to stay up late and reduce the amount of sleep they get? What impact does reduction in sleep have for students on their health? In their ability to perform in school? Are students, by the result of doing too much homework, less awake or unable to focus because they spend so much time outside of school on homework? Does homework lead to potential behavior problems because students need the opportunities and time to socialize IN school?
What are your questions, concerns, solutions and thoughts regarding homework?
I teach third grade. My partner teacher send s homework home almost every night. I believe that after working from 9:00 a.m to 3:30 p.m. with 35 minutes off for lunch and a short morning snack break, these 8-9 year olds need time after school and at night to play, read for fun, relax and get to bed! Of course, I encourage some math fact practice and studying for tests, but don’t think homework for homework sake is healthy. Because we don’t dedicate very much time for physical activity during the day, kids need to be active after school!
I vacillate over homework as well! I have taught elementary school for over 33 years. Homework should NOT be just busywork, which often homework is. There is no reason for teachers to give 30 of the same kinds of math problems, when a child can prove he/she knows the “how” and “why” in three problems. Homework should be an “integration” of the skills that have been taught during the day. It can’t be planned for the month or by the week. If a certain kind of poem is taught, a child can write with that structure from home. If a “small moment” story is taught, working on one part of the story to revise after a peer or teacher conference can be done at home. An art activity synthesizing the work done in school can be done for homework. Internet research can be done for homework. Homework should be engaging. Children should be able to do their homework independently and not have their parents have to do it for them. (So many classroom projects are on display that the parents have done. That used to make me crazy!).
While homework starts to create responsibility, one has to be aware of the number of students in after school programs until 6:00 p.m. By the time the students eat with their families, they need down time, and do not need the added stress of “homework” when students are tired and stressed out, making family life more of an argument. In the elementary grades, reading time should be stressed. Students should have time for individualized reading, and parents should make the time reading higher level books to their children. This is a win-win situation. Students become literate, and parents enjoy spending quality time reading with their children.
I also think that teachers should e-mail questions every day to parents about what students did in school that day to provide “specific,” not broad questions where parents and students can spend meaningful time talking about what students have learned. This is a great assessment for the child to review the day’s events and talk about the “big ideas” of the day.
If students are into other activities after school, such as ballet, or lego building, or Chinese yo-yo, that should be the homework. Children now are over programmed, “hurried” and are tired. They don’t have time to just play and socialize.
Students LOVE working on the computer. Many differentiated math games teach the facts and can be utilized as homework.
Students should be able to choose the activities they are passionate about after school. Not all students want to be on baseball, basketball and soccer teams. There are other exercises students can get into after school.
My thinking varies from child to child, family to family…. How much homework to give? How little? Does every family have a computer? Who needs what kind of homework? Maybe there should be three kinds of choices per day for homework, meeting the needs and interests of all students.
Marcy, That’s an interesting and intriguing idea about three kinds of choices per day for homework. I wonder what that might look like in implementation.
Ellen
Thanks for commenting Catherine and what a great reminder about physical activity!
Ellen
I teach difficult courses at the high school level and I feel that we need to get our students ready for college. At the college level, whether we agree with it or not, we are supposed to spend 3 hours studying for every hour we spend in the college classroom. This is the real world for the student. High school is a training place where we have to learn skills for our future. This is different from being employed where we are supposed to be using the skills we learned and maybe only have “homework” from our jobs when there is a special project. I value home and family, but I think we need to teach our students to spend some time “learning the skills” they will need in the future. Homework without a purpose is punishment. Homework to get the students more comfortable, faster, and more efficient at doing their test questions or learning new concepts is very important.
Esther,
Thanks for sharing this thoughtful perspective on homework!
I teach 5th grade and my thoughts have changed 360 degrees. I started out giving homework. I had the same group of students who did not do their homework all year even when I had them stay in at recess time to do it.
Sometimes the students were not yet at the independent stage of their learning and were frustrated with their homework. I finally dawned on my and I asked myself “Why am I punishing students who do not have the support at home to help them with the homework?” The kids that had to stay in to get their homework finished also were the ones that needed to go outside and run around and play with their peers. I recently heard at an inservice that the frontal lobes of the brain continues to mature until 24 years of age. I have not had time yet to research this further, but I question when I give homework if my students have the capacity to independently start their homework when the decision making part of the brain may not be ready to perform this task. Food for thought.
Although getting kids ready for college is part of the mission, COLLEGE is college and children are not held in one building running from here to there all day long. The work is set from the get go in college!
I do not agree with just sending work home for students to have work to do at home.
My girls go from 6 am wake-up, leave for school 7:00 am, start school day by 8:00 am go until 3:15 pm, get home at 4:00 pm, then snack and homework until 9:00 pm. I do not have my girls over booked in loads of activities because there isn’t any room to do that. THEN the schools want to add volunteer time to our day, forcing parents and kids to work as volunteers. Then we can’t even get a break in the summer time. One English teacher gave 5 books to read over the summer and didn’t do anything with them until the final exam, 9 months later! And she never even talked about the books. My family is tired of the school telling us to read this and do that! TIRED! My girls love to read, but there just doesn’t seem to be time for them to enjoy their interests. And I am not talking about candy ready, they love literature. Kids are now required to annotate their English books, I never did this in college! Then math questions that are supposed to take 1 hour, take 3 hours to complete. I did the math, and I am good at math, it took me 3 hours to complete.
There has to be a better way.
I feel the biggest problem with our education system, grade school to high school to college is that it has become a business and the focus is on profit not the process of learning. Everyone wants to make a buck off of our children with their “new method”.
So you think I am just a crazed parent. No I am a former college professor in physical education.
Big hole in our existence is that we are forcing our kids to learn on their butts!
As a physical educator I find myself frustrated that I can’t get my kids exercising as much as I know they need to because they feel responsible to finish all of the projects and homework that they are given.
DO LESS BE MORE!