Awhile back, I posted a bit about the Montessori philosophy on homework. I decided to delve a whole lot deeper into the issue, as it relates to schools across the country, and what I found was fascinating.
Read the full article here, and let me know what you think! I’ll be taking tomorrow off from blogging, so have a wonderful weekend!
Thank you so much for posting this today. We are meeting at our school about this very topic this evening.
A very thought provoking article. As a spec Ed school social worker in my mid 20s I often struggle with similar questions. And how different approaches would maybe bring happier students with less behavioral issues.
I could not agree more with you on this topic. Although it is interesting for ME to see Jackson’s homework everyday and to get a (small) sense of what is going on in the class room, I hate that the first thing he needs to do when he gets home is open up his school bag and do more work. It just happens to work best for us that we get it out of the way right away so that we can enjoy our afternoon and evening. So far this has worked for us, but 1st grade homework is much less intense than what I hear is to come in 2nd & 3rd grade. Most of the things about Jackson’s school I really do love, but this is the one area that I feel could certainly be remedied. It is the school of thought, no pun intended, that with the common core, students need to master concepts and move on quickly and the teachers feel insane pressure to make that happen (especially in NJ) and homework is one way to keep driving home these ideas and lessons. We are very fortunate to be in a district that recognizes the ‘whole child’ and up to 3rd grade provides 2 recesses a day plus a free snack time. Plus the arts are heavily supported and encouraged, which of course is so awesome to see. Even though I feel that we are so lucky to live in such a fantastic district, I have had long teacher to teacher conversations with Jackson’s teacher about the detriment of common core, homework and over-scheduling and working our young learners. It is really true that education begins at home and we encourage and support learning of all kinds in our home, however, I wonder how long I am going to be able to keep up….and I teach……scary right? Thanks so much for this Lauren.
I agree with some of your points, but not all. I think there needs to be a more holistic approach to homework and that teachers should think about it creatively and in a way that supplements learning in the classroom (i.e longer-term interdisciplinary projects that can be worked on over the course of a semester…). One thing that really bothered me when I was teaching high school math is that all of the kids’ teachers would load them down with homework, as though spending time on what they had to do for their class was the only thing these kids had. My students were stressed out and over-worked, and I think this had been the case from elementary school on. The mounds of homework was on top of the sports, extra-curriculars, volunteering, etc… that these kids did after school because a) they enjoyed it, and b) they were told they needed to do this to get into college. I don’t, however, believe that all homework (or “busy work”) fails to teach critical thinking skills and is simply regurgitation of facts. Further, learning to follow instructions and do things that you don’t want to do are a key life skills. I use them everyday, both in my job and at home. I can’t tell you how much push back I got as a math teacher about when kids will ever use what they were learning in class (not just what they were doing at home), and a lot of that came from the parents as well (and of course trickled down to the attitudes of the kids). Yes, I’m sure most of them won’t be doing geometric or trigonometric proofs in their everyday lives. However, there is something to be said for learning trig identities (both where they come from and then memorizing them to have at their disposal), and then applying them to proofs. You are taking a set of tools and figuring out which ones to use to solve a problem. That is critical thinking. That is problem solving, and the ability to do that is crucial in life. I whole-heartedly agree that the amount of time kids spend at home on homework should be limited, but I disagree that all homework is useless just because kids don’t enjoy doing it or want to do it or it seems like its just memorization or regurgitation of facts. I did plenty of homework as a child, much of which I’m sure I didn’t want to do, and I loved learning and exploring new ideas on my own, and I still do. There are many factors that go into instilling a love of learning and a curious spirit. Banning homework won’t automatically do that.
I saw you got a repost on Huff Post! Congrats! I enjoyed the article, too.
Some great points, Noelle! Thank you for your thoughtful response!
I agree with you that children and teenagers need to learn to follow instructions and do things they don’t want to do; however, I don’t think homework is the only means to that end. Sometimes they won’t want to go to school. I’m not advocating that they just not show up. I argue that they can also learn to follow instructions while in school, or after school doing other things, for instance, when they are fixing their broken bicycle or filling out applications for work or a driver’s license. There are so many opportunities to learn these skills — nothing about homework in itself makes those skills more readily acquired. I think the reality is, young children and teenagers in particular are, like you stated, burdened with such a tremendous amount of homework that they are missing out on other very important parts of life. There is literally not one free moment in the day to do things they enjoy.
I enjoyed Aflie Kohn’s book The Homework Myth because he addresses these very issues. In one chapter, he interviewed high school math teacher Steve Phelps, who stated:
“In all honesty, the students are compelled to be in my class forty-eight minutes a day. If I can’t get done in forty-eight minutes what I need to get done, then I really have no business intruding on their family time.”
He went on to say that when he stopped giving homework, his students became more engaged and interested in what they were learning in his class, that they came in the following morning having gone home and done their own research on what had sparked their interest the day before. This lead to many more in-depth conversations and deeper-level learning for all the students in his class. I’m not in any way saying that learning math skills (or any skills) is not important. Of course it is! I just think there is no reason to believe it will only happen when we assign more and more homework.
Great article… and I’m always afraid to read the comments over there, but these were good!!
Yet something else I’m having anxiety over as we prepare for kindergarten next year… Although I will say that I think homework benefitted me, personally. I didn’t start getting homework assigned until 3rd grade, and it allowed me to review some of the goals and topics from the school day, on my own or with my mom, and I recall several instances where the objective really ‘clicked’ at home. I would never have pushed myself to review those ‘lessons’ without homework. Maybe I would have learned some other amazing self-motivated thing… and maybe I would have just reached that understanding in the classroom, eventually. I just remember some valuable homework moments in grade school…
… But I am sure I’ll be totally dismayed and shocked by the quantity of homework I’ve been hearing gets assigned these days. And for really young kids. Definitely seems thoughtless and leaves little time for much else :/