Whose Homework Is It Anyway?

Whose homework is it anyway?  Another topic for discussion regarding “at the heart of it” is certainly homework.  It is a topic that has been on our minds for a very long time both as moms and as educators. We’ll each share a story or two.

Judy

The homework thing was never more apparent to me than at  my daughter’s science fair project in elementary school.  As a third or fourth grade student, my daughter was required to turn in a science fair project most of which, if not all, was to be done at home.  I questioned coworkers about this asking for advice and suggestions on what they had done with their kids. I assumed they would suggest some projects my daughter could complete on her own with guidance from me.  Oh no, I soon learned. After discussion and sharing of stories regarding the homework assignment for their children, it became apparent that the assignment was not for her it was for US.  Forced “parental involvement” I guess.

My colleagues, who were very engaged in the lives of their children, quickly informed me that in order for my child to have the best science fair project, my child and I would have to do the project together.  “Oh my”, said I.

And then I tried to engage myself in engaging my daughter on her project.  It was like engaging her in making her bed or doing the dishes.  Her decisions and product were not  always up to my standards and I stressed --out loud.  Seriously.   

So, in order for this science project to be the best science project, certainly up to par with the parents of her friends, I knew we would  have to abide by my standard---the one I set for myself as an adult.  Let’s be honest here; as an educator I watched many parents who wanted their child to be the best, be the winner, and they would do everything they could do to make that happen.  I never much appreciated that and now I was doing the same because I was in competition with them!  “So whose project was this anyway,” I asked myself and decided to back off a bit---maybe more than a bit.

My daughter brought her project to school and I must say it was in the middle plus range of projects.  She had the purchased poster board and markers for display and plenty of guidance on how and where to do research.  I made lots of suggestions about procedure and what to measure--the scientific process--but I didn’t actually “do” the project.  Looking around the science fair as an educator myself, I was able to determine which parents did the projects, helped with projects and which parents let their kids work on their own.  There was a significant difference between these categories and I was pretty certain about what the old “bell curve” would dictate here.

Often, knowing that I was an educator, friends and acquaintances would complain to me about how much homework “they” had every night.  They would complain that with their work schedules and responsibilities at home after work, they didn’t have enough time to complete “their” homework and were concerned their kids’ grades would suffer. In many cases, the adults didn’t even understand the directions or how to complete the assignment.  WHAT?

As a school principal, I often received calls from prospective parents asking about the amount of assigned homework, not as an indication of too much homework but as an indication of the quality of the school.  More homework, more scholastic integrity and therefore a “better” school than the one with less homework.  Or, there were the parents who wanted their children to be assigned a lot of homework to keep them busy until the parents got home from work.  

As a teacher, because of district requirements, I often assigned homework that most often   wouldn’t be completed.  The type of class was not conducive to homework but in order to comply and have a “relevant” class, I assigned it anyway.  What a struggle. I knew that most homework assignments needed parental understanding and support and I also knew that not all parents, for a variety of reasons, were in a position to give that support.  There was no good purpose to this convoluted homework practice and it certainly did not have the student at the center of the decision. And I asked once again, “whose homework is it anyway?”

Yes, there may be some quality homework assignments and these assignments must support and enhance the classroom work rather than be exercises in repetition or plain busy work.  This assignment must be made with the student in mind supporting significant learning that is relevant and FUN!  

Dani

As a first grade teacher in a large public school district, I was required to follow the district’s homework policy, which was 30 minutes of homework per night, for six-year-olds. I do not believe in worksheets to “keep children busy,” or in homework for a math curriculum that is so obscure parents have a hard time figuring it out, or in collecting and keeping track of meaningless paperwork. I have no disagreement with children reading each night. Appropriate reading for first graders would be looking at picture books, being read to by a family member, or reading on their own, depending on their current reading skills and the materials available to them. Realizing early on that many of my students did not even have books at home so they could not meet this requirement, I allowed them to borrow books from my personal classroom library. They may have been favorite read-alouds that they wanted to share with their families, books they were especially fond of, or just something new to look at. The first time a child asked if he could borrow a book, his face lit up when I said yes. I never really kept track of who borrowed what or worried about losing books. I was just happy that they were excited about reading. I think what really made that powerful was choice. Children could make choices and decisions about things that were relevant and interesting to them.

Things got trickier when I couldn’t just say “read every night” because vocal, competitive parents expected more. I tried a number of strategies. I’d assign math pages from the student math workbook in addition to reading. I’d come up with elaborate projects related to things we were studying in the classroom to make assignments relevant and provoke curiosity. I’d make a weekly homework bingo board and families could pick five assignments for the week. I even tried differentiating homework by dividing students into three “homework groups” based on their reading levels. But then I had to come up with three different things each day and parents wanted to know what their child could do to “move up” a level. It was exhausting! And I still had lessons for each school day to plan and prepare for.

What I really wanted to tell parents was what one of my daughter’s teachers, years after I left the district, told me about homework: “The district has a homework policy. My belief is that after-school time is family time. Go for walks. Have conversations. Read together. Play games. Ride bikes. Do whatever it is your family enjoys doing together.” That teacher is the primary reason we stayed at that particular elementary school. And for middle and high school we chose a charter school that does not assign homework. 

          Here is what is really at the heart of this blog post. Research does not support a correlation between homework and student achievement, particularly in elementary school. For an excellent read on this, see Alfie Kohn’s comments here. Harris Cooper, Duke researcher, did a meta-analysis of nearly 200 studies on homework and his findings are here. 

If we continue to assign homework when the benefits are not proven, we also need to consider what harm we may be doing when we as educators assign work outside of the school day. What are children not doing because they are spending time on homework? Are we creating stress, fatigue, bad feelings toward school, and taking away from precious family time? And we might just be increasing disparities for students and families who do not have the resources or time to successfully complete work at home. We must consider the socio-economic diversity of families as well as the diversity we see in our classrooms.  As educators we are partners with the families of our students and as such, must know and understand their individual differences. Are they  willing and able to support assignments at home?  And if so, we must consider how we assess any work that is done at home.  In addition we may want to think about the student who aces the test but never turns in homework assignments, which is reflected in his grade.  Are we assessing knowledge and understanding of a subject or a study skill?  If homework is assigned to promote student responsibility, discipline, and organization, perhaps study skills lessons and activities at school would be more effective. 

There are so many things to consider about homework and much has been written in the past few years.  Take some time to look at some of the references we cited here and together with the thoughts in our blog, use them to evaluate and maybe even change some of your ideas about “whose homework is it anyway?”

Inquiry Part 2

Inquiry is a powerful and effective way of teaching and learning because it ignites curiosity and empowers children to take the lead. Inquiry is inclusive; all children have a voice. The teacher’s role is to guide, support, and encourage, not always a comfortable role as it requires teachers to step aside rather than the more traditional method of “stand and deliver.” The learning can be tailored so each child can take charge and become a productive learner. One of the current, and persistent, topics in education is the achievement gap. While Minnesota’s students continue to perform near the top of the nation overall, there remains a striking gap in achievement for students of color compared to white students. Instead of thinking about this achievement gap simply in terms of lower test scores, we are approaching it as a multi-faceted opportunity gap and  believe the inquiry method of teaching and learning is the best strategy for closing this gap.

Children and families come to schools with different experiences, skills, and opportunity. There’s a lot of talk about “school readiness” but who and what defines a child’s readiness for school? Typically and traditionally school readiness connotes a middle-class value defining how a child should behave and what a child should know on that first day of school. However, many children in our schools today do not fall into this traditional standard definition. We assert that all children are naturally curious and are excited to learn that which they don’t know. This is where we must start.

Consider an inquiry-based classroom with these strategies in place:

• curiosity is triggered through the introduction of a concept
• children ask questions and steer the learning
• teachers act as guides to help focus the learning in order to meet standards and individual needs
• assessment is an ongoing, intentional, and meaningful process

     There is power in teachers being guides in the learning  so children can become problem solvers and experts. The children are motivated to learn more about relevant topics, concepts, and skills. Begin where the child is and ignite the desire to learn. We have seen it in action. It works.

     Learning should not be a chore. The achievement gap is a gap in opportunities for children and teachers in classrooms where we continue to do the same things over and over and expect different results. We must consider new ways of addressing our students’ needs. Inquiry is a strategy that allows the teacher and the learner to navigate the pieces and the process of learning. Look for us to address these individual pieces in upcoming blog posts. We welcome your input, ideas, and constructive criticisms. Let’s talk.