One of the reasons we started this blog was to get educators talking. We last posted about relationships and promised a part two. However, at this time we would like to invite our readers to give us some ideas on how to encourage dialogue. Our hope was to create a space where people might feel motivated and comfortable to agree or disagree with ideas we have posted, thereby exploring their own thoughts and considering the ideas of others.
We can see that you are reading our blog posts. Thank you! Now take the next step and post a response. We need you to help guide our future blog posts.
In the meantime, we are reposting an earlier blog about HOMEWORK for you to consider as you begin a new school year. Tell us what you think.
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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.
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 a study skills class is in order.
There are so many things to consider about homework and much has
been written in the past couple of years. Take some time to look at some
of the references we posted 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?”
