The Great Homework Debate

Hello Kim and Walden group,

I teach 6th grade social studies, and personally I hesitate to assign more than two days of formal homework. I usually assign biographies and or longer reading passages on a Monday and look for feedback on Thursday through formal written assignments or even a pop quiz. The only other homework I give is test and quiz review for that weeks quiz. I expect a lot of participation from my classes, and they know this so unless they are slacking in class participation I keep homework light. I do occasionally hit them with a heavier load of work, but I would rather have them focused in class with me to guide them than to create busy work to do at home. Just like in classes that we have all been in, busy work is something that students can identify immediately and I stay as far away as possible from that type of assignment.

Barry

Hi Kim and Barry

I recently had the problem of homework with my son's grade5 teacher. He gave the class 52 sums to complete for the next day then turned around and gave them 55 additional sums when they brought in the previous one for the following day. How much home-work is too much?

Ameina:
I am of the opinion that 107 sums in two days is a monuental undertaking for the student. However, I think that perhaps the teacher was a bit overzealous. How may sums do they need to practice before he is certain they have grasped the concept? In addition, he is giving himself a mountain of work to mark all those sums. We need to put ourselves in the parent's place sometimes. If his child came home with that, I am sure he would have been there at the crack of dawn the next day!

Hi Everyone- I teach a high school elective class. I know and understand students take my class as a repreave from their vigerous core classes and I try very hard NOT to assign homework. If students use their class time wisely then they should have little to no homework. However, in each class I do give them one big homework assignment and I give them one month to turn it in. Throughout the month I remind them, give them weekly pointers on how far along they should be,periodically show examples, check for understanding and question, I am available at lunch and after school..... This year was the first time I have had students try to turn it in late and I had one parent e-mail me very irrately about "How dare I, as an elective teacher, assign homework." I was very shocked by this attitude and wondered if other elective teachers experience this kind of behavior?

Kim:
I teach 7th Grade Literature and I too give work to span the entire week. I don't do packages, but maybe I should! I see nothing wrong with your approach and I think the amount of homework is appropriate. I have a question though. Do you find that the parents prefer that to daily work? That is a very interesting way of giving homework..I like it.

I try to keep homework to minimum. I like to include thirty minutes of daily reading and a few math problems and that is all. I started this trend after realizing that most of my students were not doing the homework themselves, instead their parents would do it for them.

Hello Walden Family
I am a third grade teacher who teaches all subjects. I have had issues with homework since my first year teaching. This is my third year and some parents want a lot of homework for their child and some want a little. So what do you do? Well, I assign 15 minutes of reading with a reading log every night, a 5 minute timed math sheet, and studying of science and social studies study guides. Not all of my students do this but I give a homework party at the end of every month for those students who brought their homework in every day. That worked the first two years, this year, it has not been that successful yet.

Our homework policy is 10 minutes for each grade. So 2nd grade should have about 20 minutes of homework. This helps prepare them for the work load in 3rd grade.

I think that your idea for a weekly packet is a great idea. It is minimal work to be completed over the course of the week and seems like just enough to keep the kids refreshed with what they are learning. The only thing that came to mind was that some kids might struggle with keeping up with it over a nightly basis if they do not have a parent or guardian at home to keep them on task. I personally believe that homework is not always necessary and if it is used, it should not be more that fifteen minutes and should only be used as a review. Kids spend all day in school engaged in learning activities. Just like we need our time at night, they do as well. I am curious about the success rate in your class with students turning the homework in fully completed and on time.