A new look at homework

Homework.

It’s debatable about who gets more frustrated with homework- the students, the parents or the teacher.

It is the nature of today’s classrooms that some students are finished their work before some have even started. Each day, some students have diligently completed and handed in all their work while others did not finish or cannot find theirs.

As a parent, I can relate to questioning, “Are you sure there’s no homework?” I’m torn between wanting to make sure my son is prepared for highschool, and yet also having the freedom to participate in sports… and just be a kid. We’ve spent the hours and hours at the kitchen table in tears. I admit to just giving my son the vocabulary answers, or grabbing the pencil crayons and colouring the title page just to get it over with!

This is one of the most debatable and inconsistent areas amongst intermediate teachers. Homework is widely disputed and research supports both sides of the argument. What is clear, however, is that meaningful and purposeful homework can help students learn important skills to promote academic success.

My philosophy about homework is that it should be to practice and strengthen the skills and lessons we are learning in class. The school day goes by so quickly and we don’t always get the time we need to practice and reinforce those skills. Homework should be meaningful and definitely not frustrating.

·      You can expect that we will assign homework for work that is not completed in a reasonable time during class.

·      We will also occasionally assign long-term projects that will need work out of class time to complete.

·      Students that are organized and productive in class will find they have very little assigned homework.

I’d like to propose a new way of thinking about daily homework. Education is no longer a one size fits all system. All of our students have different strengths and needs. This includes what they need outside of school as well!

What if homework was individualized? What if it was chosen with meaning and purpose- and connected to a goal?

What if parents, teachers and students worked together to create a home plan that meets the child’s personal needs?

You know your child’s strengths, stamina and schedule. If your child is an avid reader, it’s probably not necessary assign home reading for 20 mins/ night. If your child has difficulty staying organized, this is one of the most important areas to focus on to help them be successful. If your child is very busy with sports and is strong academically, perhaps he/she would prefer to work on a community service project and develop his/her leadership skills.

Let’s turn homework on its head and let you and your child decide what it might look like. We can support, guide and provide resources to help. I firmly believe that student ownership in their learning goes a long way!

Parents, when you read the following areas below, take note of what stands out as an area you would like to see your child improve in.

Choose 1. (Or 2 at the most.) In Grade 6, these are the skills we feel are important:

·      Quick recall of addition and subtraction facts to 20, multiplication and division facts to 12 x 12

·      Two hand typing with relative efficiency

·      Reading for enjoyment and understanding

·      Developing organization and planning skills

·      Developing writing skills

·      Improving spelling and vocabulary

·      Physical activity for enjoyment and exercise

·      Developing coding skills

·      Learning life skills such as cooking and building/ construction

·      Develop leadership skills and compassion for others.

We have many resources we can suggest to help foster these skills.

I sat down with my son and created a plan for first term. (Practice what you preach, right?) He is reluctant to work on these things- but I knew I was on the right track when I had buy-in from him. He was able to answer honestly about an area he needed to work on. When I showed him some of the writing prompts I was thinking about, he got a little twinkle in his eye and admitted that it actually could be fun. 

The prompt, by the way, was "Imagine you are 80 years old. Write a rant about kids these days."

Here is our plan: