Homework... is it really necessary?

Over the last three years, I've come to reconsider homework as a tool for reinforcement. Wow, what a revelation you say? Well, not for all of us. I've made many mistakes and observed mistakes made by other teachers.

Homework is sometimes assigned by teachers because the "lesson wasn't finished". This is an okay assignment, but the extreme is when the lesson hasn't been reviewed or practiced at all in class, with the teacher hoping the students will basically "learn it on their own". For example, "Read Chapter 13 and answer the questions on page 100". There is no purpose in this other than collecting more mind stuff, stuff for the students to recall or remember on a test. I suppose you could argue that is what school is about, learning "stuff" for the test, but I'd like emphasize that school can and should be about learning how to "think" versus collecting mental notes.

Homework is sometimes assigned to teach a skill. For example, writing a good paragraph. However, you can't teach skills at home. Skills must be taught first in the classroom. Then reviewed by peers or the teacher.

Homework is assigned to give the students ... homework. Well, I've seen that a lot and homework for the sake of "having something to take home" is the worst treatment of the homework opportunity that you can have.

I gained the insight that homework isn't necessary for students to learn something. You can lead a lesson, gather participation, ask for reflection, review answers, all in class, without giving them a worksheet to go home. This is a welcome relief for both students and teachers (and parents!), during this current storm of "learn the standards, choke them down, spit them out" approach in education.

A teacher has to decide what her or his purpose for homework in the first place before deciding to assign it.

In math, homework is nearly everyday to practice skills taught in class or to review skills previously taught. In science, I assign only homework if the work "isn't finished in class", and I make that an achievable goal. Since I check science homework only once a week, the students who actually have homework are those who "decide they love it". (This is a joke: most students, after seeing their friends have no science homework, get it done more quickly and in class.) I assign one or two questions from Social Studies. For both Science and Social Studies, my homework is for reinforcement.

I've recently required outlining the chapter in Social Studies. We read the chapter in class and students can either outline in class or at home. The outlines are modeled in class, and I've checked them for completion. Eventually I will, I think, not check them at all, because the purpose for outlining has been establised by the students themselves. After a test, I get affirmation from the class that the outlines "were a great help in preparing for the test". Students who aren't doing it start to make an effort to outline. The beauty of the outline assignment is that I'm not perusing for details, just "done" or "not done". I stamp their notebooks while they work out of the book, at the beginning of class. Easy peesy. I feel very good about this because this is a cross curricular skill.

Another approach I have for Science and Social Studies is, once in awhile, instead of "traditional homework", I've planned out "projects", which represent what they've gained out of a Chapter or possibly two chapters. I write up a rubric for the project and then they turn it in. It provides variety for them and for me. I think this is best about progress report time, because report cards at my school take up a lot of effort and is very timeconsuming. I've not yet done the same for math, but I hope to do so in the future.

The broadest support for homework is that it is a assessment of work habits. When homework is pertinent, doable, and essentially, light (two - very important - questions, 20 math problems, written paragraph response to a textbook experiment)... then the actual skill being taught and being assessed is the skill of responsibility.

And that, my friends, is what school and homework is really about.