I hate homework.
Much like the average 6th and 7th grader, I hate homework. I hate doing it, and I hate giving it. In a perfect work, my students would never have it, and neither would I.
Our world isn’t perfect.
Why do I hate homework?
Our students are in school from 8:30am-4:00pm. At Headwaters, our Middle School students are in Activities (non-academic: PE, Music, Sports). And, that is still a long day. If our students leave school directly after dismissal, they probably get home somewhere between 4:30-5:15, depending on travel distance and traffic. After they take a break, get a snack, and have some time for free play—which I strongly advocate for—it is 6:00pm. Then, it is time for dinner. And downtime, then a shower (hopefully). Then, let’s call it 7:30pm. Then it is time to start homework. This isn’t even counting the students who have after school activities, like swim team, dance, sports, etc., which many of our students do.
Kids need sleep. While many of our students are staying up too late, many aren’t. An 8:30pm bedtime is absolutely not out of the question for a lot of our students (even though they usually won’t admit it, because that’s not cool!), especially for the most physically active ones, who also happen to be the busiest after school. If they even have 30 minutes of homework, that early—and necessary—bedtime becomes impossible to accomplish.
Kids also need time to play freely, spend time with family, and do what makes them happy. We cannot expose them to all of life’s possibilities in school. They need free time to explore on their own.
I still assign homework. But…
I really try my hardest to give ample time to complete assignments in class. All of the homework I give falls within the following categories:
- Finish an in-class assignment. I always poll the class. If more than half has over 20 minutes of work left, I move it to the next class for in-class work time. There are 2 nights before our next class meeting, so I figure 20 minutes over 2 nights is fair.
- Study for an upcoming assessment. The only test-y kind of assessments I give are on vocab./root words, and we have practiced the words for weeks in class before the assessment.
- Read. I expect my kids to read nightly, and they can read whatever they want.
“When I was in school, I had homework…”
One of the most dangerous things we say as teachers starts with the phrase, “When I was in school…”
I hated (most) of school. I was a terrible student, and a complete pain for most of my teachers to have in class—If you’re reading this, I am sorry. I am not teaching now to put the students through much of the misery I experienced. I am here to inspire learning, and I want my students to enjoy coming to school and my classes. I also want to enjoy teaching them.
Furthermore, I want to live in a society where working too hard and too much is not cool. Providing time for students to spend time with family, be freely active, and explore their passions is training for their futures—just as much as teaching them good writing skills is.
When they grow up, I want them to continue to value free time, so maybe they will start a business like the school they once attended—where we value work, family, friends, and free time to explore what life has to offer beyond the walls of this school.
I have SO many other reasons about why I hate homework, but I'll leave it at this for now. To be continued...
I have SO many other reasons about why I hate homework, but I'll leave it at this for now. To be continued...
Hey Jaclyn,
ReplyDeleteIf you're talking about middle school students, perhaps you are right. However, I can often tell which students get to my class from a background where they never received homework (some school mandate that in our area). They often simply cannot keep up, because they lack the independent study skills to succeed. Should kids have free time for family and friends and other developmental needs? Heck yeah. But they need to start somewhere I think with small amounts of homework the way you discussed.
I don't think I will be easily convinced that this idea should apply to high school students. If we're attempting to achieve college-readiness, they should absolutely be able to read and comprehend fairly complex ideas on their own. I'm not sure how you would instill such a thing except by a gradual and consistent increase in this practice over their high school years. Also, when I teach a certain skill, like balancing equations in chemistry, I am sure to have students who will figure it out in class with 3-4 examples, but I will also have those who need 20 or more iterations to master such a skill. How to solve this skill gap without homework is a question that perhaps I just don't have the know-how for, but it seems to me that homework gets it done pretty effectively.
And I get that I'm an old school curmudgeon about this kind of stuff and perhaps not a student favorite, but so far I've been pretty effective from what evidence I have, and my students generally seem to appreciate the standards I hold them to.
I also appreciate that there are different kinds of learners out there and some will respond to different approaches better, so I try to be clear with students and parents where I'm coming from and what I expect.
But I'd be happy to read the research which shows that I'm doing it wrong. If there is another way, I'm pretty amenable to changing my mind, and I'm sure my students would enjoy less homework.
Your teammate,
Nate.
Nate,
DeleteI super appreciate that you read and replied. Thank you. I totally see your point. My experience is strictly with Middle School, and I wonder if my feelings would actually change for High School teaching. I can't say, because I don't have the experience.
But, in more recent years, I have started teaching with the idea that "content is completely irrelevant." If that really is the case, then why is the extra practice important? This digs deep into the roots of our education system as a whole. They have external assessments they have to pass, and they have to get into college, and be ready for college. But what does that all mean?
I am not sure, but I sure do like thinking and writing about it. I started following your blog. I look forward to reading more about you and your teaching.
Jaclyn