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Spearfish
High School Principal “Reflections & Projections” |
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Homework Through the years one of the most hotly debated topics in education is homework. The question of homework is focused on how much is too much and/or if any should be assigned at all. One would be remiss if you didn’t admit this; some homework is worthwhile, and some simply is not. Good homework will follow related in-class instruction and allows data driven feedback to the teacher which reinforces and hopefully broadens the learning environment. Bad homework is utilized simply as time filler and serves no specific purpose and in no way enhances or supports learning. An article in the October 2011 Principal Leadership magazine titled High Quality Homework” further emphasizes and attempts to explain the significance of homework in relation to the modern student. As pointed out, homework must be linked to good instruction and there is no question that good instruction is totally teacher based. As mentioned in this column over and over, the classroom teacher is the single most important factor in determining student learning and achievement. With that, homework must come after the students have had several opportunities for corrective feedback during class time through a teacher guided process of questioning and instruction. If that one fact does not happen, the homework then becomes filler and bad homework. According to the article, students also need extensive opportunities to practice with their peers in productive group settings allowing time to explain their thinking and hear the thinking process of others in the class. Rather we like it or not, the old adage of “learning on their own” is no longer successful with the majority of youth. The best homework is designed around practicing and enhancing something, not to master new information. Sadly, a 2007 MetLife survey indicated that 26% of teachers very often or often assigned homework because they ran out of time in class!! Sad, as that simply says that the homework was neither planned nor organized. It was simply assigned. |
The authors (Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher) place students into one of four categories in regard to homework. Many students are in the completer category. Simply put, the student takes the homework home and completes it. This student usually has great family support. A large number of the remaining students fall into the neglecter category. For one reason or the other, the homework is neglected and not completed. Most students in this category will use the “I was too busy” or “I forgot” excuse. Error makers compose the next category. The homework is attempted, but done incorrectly. In this case, practice does not make perfect. If a large number of students fall into this category, it is the teacher’s responsibility to re teach the concept. The worst category is the last one, the cheater! Simply, the student copies someone else’s work. Sadly this is becoming more and more common in education and deserves a column on its own! It is also the hardest for the teacher to deal with as it gives the false impression that the concepts are understood and more than likely they are not. Homework remains a “hot” topic that must be supported by parents. To watch your son or daughter do homework at night and disdain it in front of them, will cause problems. It is the school’s job to give meaningful homework. Please support that fact that homework will happen. SHS teachers spend countless hours developing and discussing the best ways to enhance the instructional process. Homework is just one aspect of those discussions. “How much” homework is not our focus, “relevant” homework is. As stated in the article – “When students are taught well and then apply that knowledge to independent tasks, learning occurs. And that learning is permanent.” That is our goal, learning that is permanent. Until next time, |