Yesterday, we participated in #edchat on Twitter. The topic of discussion was homework. Parents and teachers discussed the merits (or not) of homework. Here are some of the main topics:
1.) Homework must be relevant and helpful. It must move the student forward and not be busy work. It is helpful if it reinforces what the kids learned in class.
2.) Homework needs to be engaging.
3.) It needs to be balanced and diffentiated. Some kids don’t learn from homework. Should they be forced to do mindless work?
I think it was great to have a discusison about this subject and how it affects the children. In our discussion with the teachers, it is clear that parents and teachers communicating, collaborating can really bring about change. I am a parent and I like some homework for my kids. I like it because it helps me see what they learnt in school. Also, as a child, I loved school. Actually, even as an adult I really enjoyed going to college. However, I agree with many teachers that giving homework for the sake of homework is not good. When my son was in Kindergarten and 1st Grade at a different school district, his homework was 1-2 hours per day. He was only 6! We moved to a different school district when we bought our house. The first thing we noticed that the homework was significantly less. It reinforced the lessons learnt during the day or required my son to prepare for class the following day. Both I felt were acceptable. Now my son is in 6th Grade. He gets some homework, it is not overwhelming thus far. He seems to like it, especially the speeches, model building, and math work.
I will not even attempt to summarize the discussion yesterday. The link to the archive is here.
What I will say is that I loved the following about it:
1.) The spirit of collaboration and coming together to discuss and find solutions.
2.) Respect and tolerance for different perspectives. I felt that everyone truly wanted to learn from each other’s perspective.
3.) Both sides: Homework is great and Homework is no good really came together to address the issue and what can be done to find a solution that works for parents, teachers, educators, and schools.
4.) With parents and teachers working together, homework will evolve and so will education.
In the end, it is about having a conversation, an open mindedness to different views, ideas. That is the true essence of getting an education and I feel that with such continued discussions, both parents and teachers will bring about many changes that will improve and innovate education.
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This post is wrriten by Ms. Aparna Vashisht-Rota, Founding Mom of Parentella.
Related posts:
- The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
- Parent Teacher Communication: A Teacher’s Perspective
- Memorial Day Weekend!
- On to Middle School!
Tags: Child, edchat, education, Educators, Homework, K through 12, Parent, Personal and Class Pages, School district
