First of all, if ayoung child goes to school and sits and listens and works and learns for sixhours, they deserve to do what they want when they get home. The need to play, move, laugh, yell,imagine, and be KIDS!
Second, mostparents have worked hard all day as well. When they get home they have to prepare food, wash clothes, clean thehouse, pay bills, etc. They shouldnot have to sit at the kitchen table with their child crying over some stupidhomework for an hour.
Third, how dogiving worksheets that are drill and kill really help children learn? What’s the point?
So, what is thepoint of homework? Homework shouldteach children responsibility. Homework should be a tool to help parents see what their child is doingat school. Homework should extendlearning from the classroom to the home. Homework should be MEANINGFUL!
If I were incharge of the world, primary grade children would NOT be allowed to spend morethan 30 minutes on homework each night. They might be asked to read 20+ minutes and then have ONE otherassignment. I would try to makethe assignment engage with the parent and connect the real world with what’sgoing on in the classroom. Forexample, the assignment might be to ask their parents what a veteran is and tofind out who the veterans in their family are. The assignment might be to ask their parents how they usemath in their jobs. The assignmentmight be to cut out a picture from the newspaper and write one or two sentencesabout it. Take a look at my monthly activities and use those as a springboardfor reinforcing skills at your particular grade level.
Kids, I’m on yourside! Parents, I’m on your side! Teachers, I’m on your side as well, buttake a hard look at your homework assignments and see if they are reallyeducational, 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, HarrisCooper puts together a variety of
research studies on homework. He findsthat in elementary school,
homework has almost no impact onacademic achievement. In middle
school, the results are mixed. In highschool, 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 upsome homework facts:
Excessive-homework-assignments-1633056.php
I also found an interesting interviewwith a Finnish education
expert. In Finland, children spend fewerhours in school, do very
little homework, and don't takestandardized tests. I'll have to
watch the show about it with DanRather--it should be on next week.
But here's an interesting quote thatsuggests drill and kill is a
really outdated mode of education--herelates it to "the old
industrial mindset":
"There’s no evidence globally thatdoing 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 thingis ensuring school is a place
where students can discover who they areand what they can do. It’s
not about the amount of teaching and learning."
