Thursday, April 15, 2010

Homework

At first look I couldn’t believe homework was a hot topic. I think I was like most people and just accepted that homework was a part of my school experience. As much as I did not like doing homework in grade school, I never believed there was an option. If you did not finish your homework, you had to hear it from the teacher, than you had to hear about it from your parents when you got home. It was a vicious cycle that never seemed to end. If you were lucky you could start your homework on the bus and spend less time having to do work at home.
As a teacher I understand the idea of homework. I myself have never used homework with my population of students with Autism, but I can understand why teachers see homework as beneficial. Before researching the topic I came up with my own list of pros for homework. I thought that homework was helpful because it reinforced material that was taught in the classroom, it allowed students to spend as much time as they may need on certain subjects, and it showed parents what material their child was working on at school.
Some of the cons I believed about homework had little to do with actually doing work and more to do with the amount of work teachers were giving to students, the amount of work that was only “busy work”, and the idea that work is given just to give homework. I do not like that homework is sometimes used as a punishment, or as a reward for good classroom behavior. Punishment and not assigning homework because of good behavior does not give students a positive impression of homework.
If we as a society believe that homework is necessary, we need to shift our thinking about homework. We need to give students a say in the homework they do. We need to empower students and teach them to take pride in turning work in on time, and doing their best work. If we treat homework as a necessary evil, we are creating a population of students that will hate schoolwork, and possible school all together.
When I began my research of homework I was sure I was going to find endless amounts of data explaining the positive affects homework has on a students learning. I was shocked to find the exact opposite. I repeatedly came across one name Alfie Kohn. Each article I read was either written by Alfie Kohn or Alfie Kohn was used as the resource for the article. It was not hard to see that Kohn was a powerful speaker and leader in the movement against homework.
As I read some of the articles I was struck by the commonness of the statements. Each statement I read was something I had thought myself or already heard in previous discussions about homework, Kohn did not give me new information that could help inform my opinion on homework. Some articles had a lot about the history of homework, which was a little interesting, but did not seem useful for a debate on homework.
I believe what is important is what is going on in our schools today. Teachers, Administrators, and Parents beliefs about homework are going to be the keys to changing our system of homework. More research, compelling research, needs to be conducted that will give concrete facts about the effectiveness of homework. If our system is going to change it will change because of proven data. Data that shows the best way for our students to stay on top of The 21st Century Standards, and on top of the race for the top.

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