First of all, if a
young child goes to school and sits and listens and works and learns for six
hours, they deserve to do what they want when they get home. The need to play, move, laugh, yell,
imagine, and be KIDS!
Second, most
parents have worked hard all day as well.
When they get home they have to prepare food, wash clothes, clean the
house, pay bills, etc. They should
not have to sit at the kitchen table with their child crying over some stupid
homework for an hour.
Third, how do
giving worksheets that are drill and kill really help children learn? What’s the point?
So, what is the
point of homework? Homework should
teach children responsibility.
Homework should be a tool to help parents see what their child is doing
at school. Homework should extend
learning from the classroom to the home.
Homework should be MEANINGFUL!
If I were in
charge of the world, primary grade children would NOT be allowed to spend more
than 30 minutes on homework each night.
They might be asked to read 20+ minutes and then have ONE other
assignment. I would try to make
the assignment engage with the parent and connect the real world with what’s
going on in the classroom. For
example, the assignment might be to ask their parents what a veteran is and to
find out who the veterans in their family are. The assignment might be to ask their parents how they use
math in their jobs. The assignment
might be to cut out a picture from the newspaper and write one or two sentences
about it. Take a look at my monthly activities and use those as a springboard
for reinforcing skills at your particular grade level.
Kids, I’m on your
side! Parents, I’m on your side! Teachers, I’m on your side as well, but
take a hard look at your homework assignments and see if they are really
educational, necessary, and reasonable!
NOTE!
I wrote the above blog last week before I met my daughter at the NAEYC Conference in Orlando. Holly brought up the fact that many parents WANT homework and are impressed with lengthy assignments because they think it will make their children smarter. You might be surprised at what Holly's research revealed!
In the book Battle Over Homework: Common Ground for Administrators,
NOTE!
I wrote the above blog last week before I met my daughter at the NAEYC Conference in Orlando. Holly brought up the fact that many parents WANT homework and are impressed with lengthy assignments because they think it will make their children smarter. You might be surprised at what Holly's research revealed!
In the book Battle Over Homework: Common Ground for Administrators,
Teachers, and Parents, Harris
Cooper puts together a variety of
research studies on homework. He finds
that in elementary school,
homework has almost no impact on
academic achievement. In middle
school, the results are mixed. In high
school, moderate levels of
homework can help the learning process.
But it needs to be meaningful
and relevant and not just busy work.
Here’s another interesting editorial:
1822665.php
And here's a good article that sums up
some homework facts:
Excessive-homework-assignments-1633056.php
I also found an interesting interview
with a Finnish education
expert. In Finland, children spend fewer
hours in school, do very
little homework, and don't take
standardized tests. I'll have to
watch the show about it with Dan
Rather--it should be on next week.
But here's an interesting quote that
suggests drill and kill is a
really outdated mode of education--he
relates it to "the old
industrial mindset":
"There’s no evidence globally that
doing more of the same
[instructionally] will improve results.
An equally relevant argument
would be, let’s try to do less.
Increasing time comes from the old
industrial mindset. The important thing
is ensuring school is a place
where students can discover who they are
and what they can do. It’s
not about the amount of teaching and learning."