Pros and Cons of Homework - Marist College

Pros and Cons of Homework After watching Alfie Kohn's interview and reading his article, "Re-Thinking Homework," I believe that he makes some excellent points; some that I have never thought of before. When it comes to the topic of homework, I have always heard teachers share their opinions on it, but I have never taken any time to do research on the topic and to really reflect about what I believe is right and if it "does more harm than good." As I reflect on previous student years of mine, in elementary school, I remember always getting homework assigned to complete during the week and having a break from homework on the weekend. I remember that there were days that I could not go outside to play with my friends because I had to complete my homework. It was torturous, watching my neighbors riding their bicycles outside, from my window. In middle school, math was one subject I always struggled with. I would wait for either one of my parents to come home after a long day of work to sit down with me and help me complete a particular assignment. Kohn explains about one of the negative effects of homework: "Many parents lament the impact of homework on their relationship with their children; they may also resent having to play the role of enforcer and worry that they will be criticized either for not being involved enough with the homework or for becoming too involved." The more stressful homework was, the less motivated I was with my schoolwork, and the less I enjoyed the learning process as a whole as Kohn mentions. In high school, when I switched to a private school, homework was no longer called "homework." The word "homework" has a negative connotation. Just think, does anyone want to work all day and continue to work at night when they get home? My school would refer to "homework" as "homestudy." My principal would always preach that

"work" sounds scary and job-like. "Homestudy" is not as intimidating and the purpose is to practice what has been learned in school to further understanding and comprehension.

As a student teacher, in a first grade classroom, I have observed that first graders love to learn about new topics. Since they are young, my cooperating teacher and I will make a packet of work at the beginning of the week and send it home with the students on Monday to complete by Friday. This packet entails, a worksheet for Fundations (Wilson's Language Program) and various other worksheets on other topics that will be learned throughout the school week. My teacher encourages parents to work on a page a night with their child. Students, during the week, will have reading groups. After my cooperating teacher or I meet with each reading group and read the chosen book on their level aloud, using guided reading skills, students will be told to go home and read this book to someone they love. I believe, for first graders, having them bring home a book to read to someone else, after they have reviewed it with the teacher, is a great way to keep the learning process alive. All students are excited when I tell them that they can bring the book home so they can read it to someone they love, and all at once, they tell me who they are going to read it to when they get home. I like how the students get to take home the homework packet on Monday and that it is not due till Friday. However, I do not like how the packet consists of generic worksheets from textbooks. My teacher explains to me that she can't be as creative with the new Common Core Learning standards. Also, as Kohn states, "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. Those who already understand the concept will be wasting their time, and those who don't understand will become

increasingly frustrated." Making the packet include fun activities that the students can do at home, on their own (they love to show the ones they love what they can do), I feel will continue to ignite their love for learning and at the same time, help them practice what has been taught in the actual classroom during the school day. For example, for Fundations, one assignment that can be done at home is to use shaving cream to write out the digraphs, "th, ck, and wh" and to sound them out loud. For math, they could be given a choice board with different activities that they can choose from. For science, they can be given different nocturnal animals to cut out, color, and categorize, along with drawing their favorite nocturnal animal. This packet does not have to entail an excessive amount of assignments either, because as Kohn states, quality is more important than quantity. I would rotate the subjects of homework being given every week; say for example, for one week, just give two activities in the areas of math and Fundations. These fun activities still serve the purpose of consolidating and extending school learning, however, it does not seem as "work" to the students. Each student may receive a different packet that will be differentiated, depending on if the student is a lower or higher performing student. Furthermore, their learning style should be taken into consideration (visual, kinesthetic, etc.) so students are not set up for failure and higher performing students are challenged to deepen their learning. For students who don't understand a problem, instead of retrieving help from a parent, friend, or tutor, students should be told that their job is to leave the problem blank and come into school self-advocating for assistance for themselves, letting their teacher know that they need help. This would illuminate the stress off of the student and parents.

Kohn touches upon various excellent points. I believe homework should not be

completely illuminated, however, the assignments should be differentiated, fun, meaningful, beneficial, and not long. This ensures that any student can be set up for success and the negative factors Kohn brings attention to can be diminished. Learning needs to be meaningful to all students.

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