The Bane of Our Existence

The homework dragon pulls his soap box towards the microphone, steps up and...
Testing! Testing? Testing :)... Is this thing on? :)

Homework is the bane of everyone's existence... the teachers who have to set and mark it... the parents who want it because they think it will benefit their children... the parents who hate it because they think that kids should be out having a childhood rather than being institutionalised (but they force their kids to do it anyway) and lastly the students...who have it in their job descriptions that no matter what the task, they must rebel against it. ;)

NB I believe that all generalisations are evil :)

Apparently there is no credible longitudinal research that says homework is of any use at all. Many will tout that it sets study habits for later life yet we've all seen students who have 'sucked up' for years do poorly and students that have pulled it all together at the end of school to do well.

In my experience it is mostly parents who want homework simply to keep the kids out of their hair at the end of the day. Rarely do they take part in the educative process. The more worksheets the better.

For many homework is all about nice handwriting, pretty title pages and leaving 'no white spaces' when colouring in. Perhaps homework could be a time where parents show that they are 'lifelong learners'. Where parents swear at the teacher for setting the tasks and causing conflict in the household but by the end of the year congratulate the teacher on engaging their child with learning and thinking.

What if we could provide activities for working on at home that caused a whole family to think? Had a child to think of someone other than themselves? Had the parents involved in the research phase? Had the parents actively engage in the process? Have students think,? Question? Improve their emotional intelligence? Explore? Research? Wonder? and learn how to learn?

Homework policies - every school has one. They quote from research that suites their needs. If they want to show that homework is beneficial they quote from one source. If they want to show that it is worthless then they quote from another.

So after nearly 20 years of teaching where do I stand?

Yep, there is homework that is just pointless busy work. Yep, there is homework that is rote and they will probably learn the facts desired... but what do we really want of our students? Do we want data inputers? Do we want to see students circumvent inane tasks by copying and pasting text from the Internet and then handing them in as assignments? Perhaps in a 'Flat World' we want students who can think. Students who can find out. Students who operate outside their comfort zones. Students who can locate the 'left of centre' resources needed to answer a given question. Students who know how to respond in a given situation. Students who are creative, thoughtful and know their mind.

This blog will outline some of the tasks that I have set students over the years that lead to comments like...

'You were the one teacher in all my education that taught me to think"
Alana - 10 years after leaving my class

Viv - on working in my classroom... 'Would you mind tutoring my son. His teachers really understand him'.
"So... what do you want me to show him?"
She swept her arm around my room towards all the activities that were going on.
'This. All of This!'

This blog will be a collection of activities I have tried. Activities that have suceeded and activities that have been refined so that they succeed.

Let's Give a few go.

The Homework Dragon