A Conversation Invitation: The Case for Ending Homework
The formation of this post is an authentic example of how
homework should always be assigned. I was sitting in Red Emma’s, just finished
reading “The End of Homework” by Etta Kralovec and John Bell. Posted the book
on my Insta-story captioned, “I have strong feelings about this…” To my
surprise, within the 24 hours allotted for the post to be up, I received almost
thirty direct messages from folks wanting me to elaborate on my feelings. If
this were my classroom, I would label this a teachable moment and task my
students to research the question of ending homework, on their own, for homework! Since my readers are not
my students, I can’t tell them to do the research to their question, so I have
decided to write this post, and assign the task of reading of it as homework!
Fellow edu-blogger, Stacey Riedmiller, teaches 4th
grade and I teach 8th. The purpose of homework differs between
elementary grades and middle grades, so I thought it was necessary to include
her perspective on this. The following is our response to the case to end
homework.
***
“Simply put, American
parents no longer have the time to give their children the help they need with
their homework.”
SR: Our children spend on average seven hours a day,
thirty-five hours a week in educational settings. Most full-time working adults
average approximately forty hours a week. When I step back and think about
these numbers and think about what has already been asked of my nine year olds
during those thirty-five hours, providing them with an absence from homework
seems to be the only humane option. With families working multiple shifts,
childcare being vastly different in each home, and guardians working to spend
just an hour or two, maybe just minutes with their children a day, it really
does seem that time has run out. One might counter with an argument that the
parents that do have time, do not spend that time supporting their children
with their after hours work. My attitude is this, American parents and
guardians (most of them) want what is best for their children. When we leave
them no time during the week to make it happen, it is not unbelievable that
weeknights with families end up being for talking, enjoying a meal together,
shuffling kids to after school activities, or passing like ships in the night.
As educators, we must understand that the makeup of our lives outside of
school, do not always look the same as those of our families.
VC: In the middle grades and beyond, that notion is unacceptable.
However, as educators, we cannot allow the heavy freight of homework to fall on
our students’ parents alone. An interloping line between parenting and teaching
forms when we do not consider who they are as individuals and the amount of
work they do to provide for their families. We have to be demiurgic and
intentional when setting expectations that revolve around family engagement.
Teachers can begin assigning family-based tasks that allow parents to be their
authentic selves, let their child see them as intellects, and give them the
chance to model critical thinking.
Before any assignment is tasked, a parent-homework survey
should be completed so that we, as teachers, will know what to expect from
parents. It may include questions about their educational background, work
hours, and whether they are in favor of family-based assignments. Make the
questions as respectful as possible. Show a peer that is a parent before
sending it home to make sure that it portrays your true intent: to build community
in their home that engages around completing homework.
“The demands we make
of our children often reflect the worst as well as the best in ourselves.”
SR: Alfie Kohn once said “In most cases, students should be asked to do only
what teachers are willing to create themselves, as opposed to prefabricated
worksheets or generic exercises photocopied from textbooks. Also, it
rarely makes sense to give the same assignment to all students in a class
because it’s unlikely to be beneficial for most of them.” When I first began my
career as an educator, I gave generic homework because all of the teachers
around me were doing the same. Guess how
many of those teachers were creating their own homework? Almost none. Guess how
many of them individualized what they sent home to actually meet each child’s
needs at that given moment? None. I am in no way suggesting that this fits the
mold for all educators, but we would all be kidding ourselves if we acted like
the vast majority of teachers did offer homework in this fashion. What if
students instead of spending time on traditional homework modeled more of the
homework many of us do? The kind of homework with pure curiosity at the core.
That kind of work where our engagement level is up because we feel empowered by
the possibility of learning something new, something that means something to
us. I am talking about the work where we have to know the answer to our
question, because it is burning inside of us. How can we support this kind of
inquiry with our kids?
VC: This is so true. At my worst: I have gone weeks without
a homework assignment. Then, when I tried to assign something for the students
to do outside of school, no one got it done. It was a joke. That experience
made me become the teacher who gives arbitrary homework every night, just to
maintain consistency. I could not even keep up with grading those daily
assignments and my students began to catch on, which meant they took the
homework as a joke, again. Both of these instances could have driven me to end
homework once and for all but I could not do such a thing because I knew my
students needed and deserved exactly what Stacey described as, “homework with pure curiosity at the core.”
At my best: We do not call homework homework, we call it life-work. When we are in the heat of a
lesson, I may come up with an assignment on the fly, something that is directly
related to the lesson of the day and was conceived out of a teachable moment.
Generally, I may assign an ongoing, independent critical-thinking question on a
Monday and allow students multiple days, over the course of their learning that
week to complete it. This is where the term life-work comes in because the
question is always one that makes them look at things from a new perspective…
its life changing! I also make many of their assignments visual now, instead of
forcing them to do writing assignments that I cannot keep up with or reading
assignments that drain them after a long day. Visual assignments are much more
fun and creative. For example, if we are learning about theme, I may have them
bring in an item from home that metaphorically displays the theme of the short
story we read. This, I find, is actually more challenging than just writing a
5-sentenced paragraph about the theme. For some kids, it becomes so hard that
they need a couple of days to see the examples their peers bring in. No, not
all teachers are assigning tasks like this but it is not because they cant or
do not want to, it is because they have not learned how to do it yet. We should
not end homework, we should put our energy into teaching teachers how to be
innovative when assigning it.
“Because schools
cannot control the home environment, homework raises the profoundly difficult
question of how to achieve a leveled playing field.”
SR: If we want a leveled playing field in education,
homework is not the arena. Homework will never, under any circumstances, ever,
be a level playing field for our kids. While some children are listening to
audiobooks in the back of their mother’s minivan on the way to soccer or music
lessons, some are cooking their siblings’ dinner. Some of our children are
homeless and do not have materials or a space to use to do their work. And
while one might be swayed with heartfelt stories of resilience, shaming children
or acting as though they are not doing enough in these latter situations would
show a complete ignorance of the real lives so many of our kids are already
leading. Punishing a child for not having their homework done, a child in a
situation where survival is the number one priority, continues to be one of the
most shameful practices of the US Educational System.
VC: If homework is the only way to achieve a “leveled
playing field”, we should all consider ourselves doomed. Homework is by
definition, a reinforcement of the learning or a pre-assessment of what will be
taught – never should it be considered the lesson. The classroom is where we
prepare our students to live in their limitless potential, despite the degree
or nature of the home environment.
In places where we know a student does not have parents at
home or a home at all, we can use that as a reason to pair them with a mentor
in the community. Chances are, they will appreciate the mentor and maintain a
love for learning at the same time. Homework does not have to remind us of the
differences between our students but when it does, we should never ignore them,
we should embrace them.
“How can we raise
“whole children” when they have little time to do anything other than school
work?”
SR: I find it hard to believe that so many educators expect
my nine year olds to hold not one, but two full time jobs. A child attends
school weekly, averaging almost the equivalent of a full-time job an adult
might hold and then is expected to put in overtime when he arrives at home. The
moments that should be spent taking a deep breath, running, playing, talking,
exercising, relaxing, just being begin to not exist for children. I often hear
teachers complain about children lacking problem-solving skills. It is in these
moments that I wonder if these teachers realize they are the ones robbing our
children of the very experiences that build problem-solvers. Experiences like
play, and knowing that if our children do not have the opportunities to feel
safe, loved and carefree at home, then we better be pulling out all the stops
so they can have these chances at school. Life lessons are learned at the hands
of those in our families. Storytelling is valued and honored in many different
cultures and across religions. Are the overtime requirements placed on children
providing them opportunities to connect with their families and learn their
stories?
VC: Unfortunately, this research has proven to lack the
timelessness that I expected when I initially purchased the book. It was
developed way before the Internet was a common household tool, before social
media, and before the marking of the neo-civil rights movement that we are living
in today. In urban areas, like the ones I have taught in, many students do not
participate in more than 1 extra-curricular activity. The lack of funding for
youth programs leaves our children with more idle time to find who-knows-what
online, while intentionally crafted homework assignments prompt freethinking
time. Who says a reading teacher cant assign a musically-grounded homework
assignment? Who says a math teacher can’t do the same? Is it a crime for the
science teacher to ask to students to go the museum on the days that it is free
to do independent and fun research of their choice? If homework is assigned
intentionally, we can use it to shape and mold our children into this “whole”
child we want. However, I believe building the whole child has less to do with
homework and more to with teaching our students to identify their triggers and
adopt tools for social-emotional adversities such as anxiety, doubt, and depression.
This, again, is about more than homework – its life work.
“It’s simply the
fatigue factor that keeps these programs from having the desired outcome.”
SR: Alfie Kohn spent much time with the research around
homework as he prepared for his book The
Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing. To quote him again
“For starters, there is
absolutely no evidence of any academic benefit from assigning homework in
elementary or middle school. For younger students, in fact, there isn’t
even a correlation between whether children do homework (or
how much they do) and any meaningful measure of achievement. At the high school level, the correlation is weak and tends to disappear when more
sophisticated statistical measures are applied. Meanwhile, no study has
ever substantiated the belief that homework builds character or teaches good
study habits.” Can it be the fatigue factor when the research so blatantly
states otherwise? Are we blaming parents and guardians for something we already
know to be ineffective?
VC: I have taught in a school that begins at 7:30AM and ends
at 4:30PM. These hours make the requirement of homework sound like pure
torture. Students do not need adult level responsibilities but it is our
responsibility to build on their creative stamina, even after the school day
ends. The research may not prove homework to be effective but should we allow
social media to take the place of practicing newly acquired skills? Do we
really want to engender a generation of followers and consumers instead of
leaders and creators? I understand the need to create or finish a product can
become daunting and lead to perfectionism and depression but the reality is,
the power to create is not easy to harness, assigning at least 1-2 independent,
research-based, or artful assignments a week will be a catalyst for the
determination and drive that our students will use outside of the educational
setting.
“Maybe its time
parents finally admit… homework disrupts family life beyond a tolerable limit.”
SR: I will admit, as a parent, that homework does disrupt
family life. My oldest daughter will be a third grader in approximately two
weeks. She is a child who loves to learn, but does not love school. I saw it in
her with the “optional” packets sent home in kindergarten. She had no interest
in spending her time outside of school working on worksheets. Who could blame
her? When first grade rolled around, it got even worse. Homework that year was
required and my bright, articulate, rule following child would scream, kick and
cry her way through her work. Work, by the way, that required little to no
thought on her end. What was the point? It was certainly hard to see it as a
parent and educator watching the social experiment unfolding before my very
eyes. I was watching a genuine love of learning being pulled from my child. She
could have been playing, interacting with her family in positive ways or
problem solving as she lived her life. Instead, she spent many nights fighting
with me over something I understood had no value. Disruption, unlocked.
VC: This can only be said if a school is not collaborating
on the assignments. Homework should be given in collaboration with other
teachers, parents, and the voice and choice of the students. Yes, 4 hours of
homework a night is unacceptable. This is why each subject should claim their
homework night and move forward as a school in fidelity to such agreement.
Administrators and teachers of the arts should be assigned the task of working
with subject areas or grade-levels to alleviate “homework packets.” If the
assignment is not meaningful, it should not exist.
“As Americans, we
don’t like to talk about class, but when we talk about the homework spread
across the kitchen table, we have to recognize that some tables are bigger than
others. Our class position in this society influences our ability to help
children with their homework in subtle and complex ways.”
SR: Class affects us all, like the quote says, in subtle and
complex ways. It provides us all with opportunities or maybe it doesn’t. It
baffles me just how many educators lack the skills of picking up on these
subtleties. Maybe you send home a homework assignment where children are to
write about their favorite thing they did over summer break. If you are not
being mindful about families and their experiences, you might be thinking this
is an assignment anyone can be successful with. It took a child telling me that
his favorite part of summer was when he got to walk to the Carryout with his
dad. I had other kids talking about trips to Disney World and this child is talking
about a visit to the local gas station. Other things like expecting all parents
to have access to smartphones, the Internet and printing capabilities, again,
just show our own ignorance and lack of understanding about our families. Not
all guardians work 9-5 jobs or have their own means of transportation, yet
teachers are rolling their eyes at the empty chairs during parent-teacher
conferences. Until we step back and do the work when it comes to getting to
know our families, homework becomes yet another startling reminder that we
aren’t trying hard enough. Do parents have access to support so they can assist
their kids? And do our assumptions about what parents “should already know” get
in the way of building partnerships? Are you available to help coach or even
speak with them at a time that works for their schedule?
VC: Its equality versus equity. Differentiation is key here.
If we recognize that there are nuanced representations of class in our
students, then we must develop a homework schedule and assignment bank that all
students can access. In the case of homework, every student should be tasked
with what they need as individual learners. If we are rallying to end homework
because we do not want to go the extra mile of differentiating it for our learners
and developing a burgeoning rapport with their parents, we should not be
teachers.
“Rather than
connecting us in a meaningful way with the school, it often alienates us from
our children as they are forced to take on their role as student while we don
the teacher cap.”
SR: We know that a child’s first teacher is their parent.
The ways our families teach us are organic. They submerge us in language and
touch, little nuances that are special to each family unit. This is the kind of
genuine teaching that should be expected of parents and families. When we
replace storytelling, survival techniques, religion and customs with basic
comprehension and direction following, we pull at the strings of the
parent-child relationship. We put strain on the unit by forcing children to
participate in mundane tasks with their parents at the front of the ship.
Mindlessly tasking and dragging them along, kicking and screaming out of sheer
boredom. If we want our children to have strong family units, we should find
ways to help support their connections with one another, not add unnecessary
strain.
VC: My grandmother, who raised me, dropped out of school in
the 8th grade. She never read to us, helped or checked our homework unless it was an assignment that
required her to do such. I remember reading Shakespeare in 9th grade
English. We were told to analyze the quote, “What’s in a name…” and to find the
meaning and history of our names. Only she knew the history of the Clays and
why my mother chose Valencia as my first name. I also remember having to write
a list to make a recipe for chocolate cake in my math class, and yet again,
only she had that! Together, we were both students when completing these
assignments. She was learning about Shakespeare while I was learning about
myself. These are just a few examples of authentic homework assignments that
can be done in a home of parents who may or may not be educated to the highest
standard. It is okay for parents to feel like students at times. This does not
mean that we are donning the teacher hat, this means we are promoting learning
as a life-long process.
“Homework must be
examined in the context of how it affects the organization of the family and
the family structure as well as how its impact is felt across socioeconomic
lines.”
SR: Bottom line, we know the research and it supports not
giving students homework. We also, as smart educators, examine a lack of equity
when it comes to the playing field of home education. Taking all of these
things into account: the strains on the family unit, impact across
socioeconomic lines, lack of effectiveness supported by years of research…
what’s the point? At what juncture do we decide that the quickest move we can
make in the work of leveling the playing field of education is to actually pull
homework from the table?
VC: I totally agree. Homework must be examined but not
ended.
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