The Homework Discussion
Jan. 3rd, 2015 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
franceslievensThis morning my twitter feed was crowded with a discussion on the relevance of homework. Some British newspapers had published opinionated pieces on it and everyone does have another opinion when it comes to homework. Most teachers seemed to be firmly in the "no homework"-camp. Homework gets set to appease inspection, but usually doesn't serve a learning purpose. It also puts unneeded stress onto kids who should enjoy themselves outside school and play.
As a teacher I fully agree. Homework shouldn't be about doing exercises that have already been done and understood during school hours. In Flanders, school inspection does not require set homework. It is up to the school to make a policy, but again they are not obliged. I have encountered teachers that set homework every day, while their colleague from a different form didn't set any homework at all. Another teacher, from the first form no less, would simply write up everything the kids hadn't finished during the day. I couldn't help wondering if it was indeed the kids' responsibility to finish those exercises at home.
Those experiences, and seeing my niece struggle with heaps of homework in first grade, made me choose a school with a clear homework policy for my kids. Little Bit started first grade in September and she doesn't have any homework. She isn't too quick to catch on with reading, so we practice every day at home for 10 or 15 minutes, and that's it. Every now and then she brings her exercises home with her. This way we can see how (and what) she's doing in class and when she really worked too slow during the day, she has to finish something at home. Usually she brings this home over the weekend, so she can choose herself when she does her work. I think I've seen her folder twice.
When the kids are in the higher grades they do get set homework or there are more exercises they need to finish at home, because they have to manage their time all by themselves and sometimes that goes wrong.
On the other hand I do sometimes set homework for my pupils. Why? There are several reasons. The first one is rather selfish: I use it as a way to communicate with parents. The morality lessons are built on interaction between the pupils, expressing emotions, listening to opinions. A lot of parents and pupils don't consider it to be a "real" subject. With homework I show pupils and their parents morality is a course that does require work and shouldn't be taken lightly. Usually it only requires work during the lesson, but sometimes you work at home.
Second, homework gives pupils more time to think something through. One of the main goals of my class is to be able to form an opinion and express it in different ways: in writing or orally. When I give the kids a moral problem and say they have to hand in 5 or 10 lines about it the next lesson, I give them a week to mull over it, talk to other people about it, read something if they like. With this strategy I hope that children who are anxious in class, can write something in the comfort of their home when they had time to think. The same goes when I ask them to prepare a short presentation for the class.
Third there are the slackers, who take their work home because they devoted their time to talk and play instead of the exercise.
And how often do I set homework? Since September I've given homework to my eldest pupils twice, once to the middle group, and the youngest never. With great reluctance they write it down in their diaries, and always there are pupils who don't hand it in.
Will I keep it up? When I think my pupils will learn something from it, otherwise it's not worth the hassle.
As a teacher I fully agree. Homework shouldn't be about doing exercises that have already been done and understood during school hours. In Flanders, school inspection does not require set homework. It is up to the school to make a policy, but again they are not obliged. I have encountered teachers that set homework every day, while their colleague from a different form didn't set any homework at all. Another teacher, from the first form no less, would simply write up everything the kids hadn't finished during the day. I couldn't help wondering if it was indeed the kids' responsibility to finish those exercises at home.
Those experiences, and seeing my niece struggle with heaps of homework in first grade, made me choose a school with a clear homework policy for my kids. Little Bit started first grade in September and she doesn't have any homework. She isn't too quick to catch on with reading, so we practice every day at home for 10 or 15 minutes, and that's it. Every now and then she brings her exercises home with her. This way we can see how (and what) she's doing in class and when she really worked too slow during the day, she has to finish something at home. Usually she brings this home over the weekend, so she can choose herself when she does her work. I think I've seen her folder twice.
When the kids are in the higher grades they do get set homework or there are more exercises they need to finish at home, because they have to manage their time all by themselves and sometimes that goes wrong.
On the other hand I do sometimes set homework for my pupils. Why? There are several reasons. The first one is rather selfish: I use it as a way to communicate with parents. The morality lessons are built on interaction between the pupils, expressing emotions, listening to opinions. A lot of parents and pupils don't consider it to be a "real" subject. With homework I show pupils and their parents morality is a course that does require work and shouldn't be taken lightly. Usually it only requires work during the lesson, but sometimes you work at home.
Second, homework gives pupils more time to think something through. One of the main goals of my class is to be able to form an opinion and express it in different ways: in writing or orally. When I give the kids a moral problem and say they have to hand in 5 or 10 lines about it the next lesson, I give them a week to mull over it, talk to other people about it, read something if they like. With this strategy I hope that children who are anxious in class, can write something in the comfort of their home when they had time to think. The same goes when I ask them to prepare a short presentation for the class.
Third there are the slackers, who take their work home because they devoted their time to talk and play instead of the exercise.
And how often do I set homework? Since September I've given homework to my eldest pupils twice, once to the middle group, and the youngest never. With great reluctance they write it down in their diaries, and always there are pupils who don't hand it in.
Will I keep it up? When I think my pupils will learn something from it, otherwise it's not worth the hassle.
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no subject
Date: 2015-01-04 09:29 pm (UTC)So, I'll be the one who is all for homework!
I'm not speaking from a primary school perspective, but here's what I believe (and know) in the context of secondary school:
At my school (which unlike many other German schools has lessons in the afternoon) the students are expected to do their homework (which we set for a whole week) in study periods, so it is called Wochenplan. So, at least in theory they don't have any homework to do at home. On paper this is great, because there is less pressure at home, but of course it is not perfect. It works well enough with the younger pupils who have 4-5 such study periods every week, but it becomes difficult in about Year 8 and more or less a disaster in Year 9 and 10 when they only have two such study periods per week and because they know they have to work at home anyway, they don't use the time at school.
So, where do I stand in all this?
I am expected to set homework for English, but not necessarily for the other subjects that I teach.
I do think that homework is an important part of learning another language at school, because it gives you time to practise writing skills and do more grammar exercises. In class, they also need to speak and listen and read, so using new forms and new vocabulary in written work that is done outside the lessons is very helpful. Of course, this will only work if lesson & homework are actually connected and reinforce each other.
One of the positive aspects is the predictability of our system of homework - at least in theory you get all your tasks for the week on Monday and have time until Friday to complete them. You can decide with which task you want to start etc.
We have a whole system of sanctions connected to homework not handed in on time and that is a bit of a drag, because it becomes this administrative nightmare, but on the other hand, it shows the kids that we value the work they do. Also, in puberty it tends to become a battleground (and sometimes it encourages people to cheat which I think is worse than not doing the work).
I am not happy how it all works in Year 9/10 at my school and I'd like to make the change to regular homework and use the study periods differently.
In their last three years of school (if they stay on) our students get regular, old-fashioned homework. And there it is absolutely vital, because my students need to do reading and writing at home. Also, I use it for peer and teacher feedback - it tells me much better how they will do in their written exams & tests than their performance in class (and which aspects I have to focus on in class because they haven't yet mastered them).
That said, I don't set homework every lesson - I try to make sure it is not for the next day. Sometimes there are longer assignments which they can do over several weeks.