Monday, April 19, 2010
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This is a collection of the thoughts of a middle school principal for his students, teachers, parents and anyone else who will listen
Mountains of NH
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About Me
- Mr. Pollet
- Currently the principal of Rye Junior High School. Married with two children (15 and 9).
I grappled with this very same question last summer while taking a grad class at UNE called Curriculum Theory and Design. The instructor Dr. Gnecco encouraged a debate on this very issue, the homework myth an article written by Peter Magnuson.
ReplyDeleteHere are some of my thoughts about assigning homework.
* If HW is assigned, it should have purpose.
* Purpose for example, I teach science. Perhaps a class could benefit from reinforcement on a force (a push or pull). So, you ask the students to write down in their agenda book for the night to identify 5 forces at home and write them down on a piece of paper for discussion in class tomorrow. Encourage the student(s) to discuss the 5 forces they identified with someone at home. Why is a force?
The debate from class last year left me with these questions that I still grapple with:
*As a parent, I cannot help wonder why a school should decide how families should spend their time after school? What message does this send to our children?
*What about after school activities? sports, enrichment activities or just plain time to be a kid.
*What about struggling learners? i.e. How do students feel when they were not able to get their classwork done time after time and so they are assigned HW in order to keep up. What message are they receiving? (you didn't get your classwork done because you're not smart enough.) How might a teacher differentiate the HW?
*What about single parents?
*What is the culture of the school community and the community at large? Perhaps taking this thought into consideration will help to individualize the homework myth.
We all need time to reflect and process what we are learning or have learned. There is not enough of this being done in the classroom. I believe that we need to incorporate this time into the classroom so we help prepare our students for real life experiences.
Heidi