Home Work is described as extra set of tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed outside of class. Homework creates anxieties for students and it frustrates parents and it cuts into other activities that children could be doing. Often times it has been my experience as an educator that homework is rushed and children have not mastered or learn anything new from doing homework. It has been my experience in many instances that some parents even do their children’s homework just to avoid the constant back and forth with the children.
I can say I absolutely hated homework as a child and I do not like giving homework as a teacher and have avoided doing so. I am from a Caribbean background and homework was mandatory and it was brutal. You sometimes would be given 100 hundred maths or English to complete at nights in grade 4 through 6. And this was not the only homework you had to do. This was rediculous. Anyone from the Caribbean knows exactly what I am talking about.
As a child I spent many hours after school trying to complete my homework. I was into competitive dancing from 4 so I had to get my homework done. Why do we need homework? And where did it all started anyway? What does it really prove? As a teacher I have decided that piling on homework is really not the answer. There are many creative ways to get children to review what has been taught during the class, instead of giving busy work. At least that is what I call it. I found that when I worked in a Private school some of the parents wanted homework because they claimEd the children had nothing to do. Normally these are the children who may not have after school activities and parents need something to distract and keep them busy hence as I said before busy work.
I am not saying that homework is all bad. I do believe that at the high school up to college level having assignments is important. But I really do not think that at the Elementary level children need not to be saddled with tons of homework. I run a tutoring site and many parents have been reaching out to me because their Kindergartens and grade ones have homework which is really just too much. So some of my little ones are already frustrated with school. Oh come on now! The early years are supposed to be fun🙇🏽♀️🙇🏽♀️🙇 not stressful.
Homework at the Elementary level should be fun and light if it is going to be given and quite frankly I refuse to call it homework as it turns many children off from just the mention of the word. I totally get that practicing times tables or even a musical piece or a poem makes sense. Also with large class sizes it becomes very hard for teachers to complete modules of their curriculum therefore giving extra practice to take home enables them to complete the syllabus. Not having to mark a lot of homework also benefits teachers. I got carpal tunnel when I worked in the private school because I spent many hours in the nights and weekends from marking homework and correcting students work. It was time wasting.
The problem with the school system is that too much time is spent on wrote learning instead of developing skills. Too much time is spent on theory instead of applicable experience. If homework has to be given why not make it experiential for students. During the week keep it short and creative as there are limited hours after school before bed time. Also bear in mind that many students have after school activities and some parents work long hours.
Create practical learning activities for various subjects. For example they can write a poem or a song as it pertains to the topic of whatever the subject is. For Math they can use groups of numbers of items in their. kitchen cupboard or objects at home for multiplication. If it’s Science for example they can read a food label etc. LanguageArts they can look for nouns around the house and list them etc. If it’s Adjectives they could taste different items in their kitchen( this all with the help of an adult of course)
The point I am trying to make here is that homework does not have to be sitting around a table for many hours as this frustrates young children and there are many ways that we can still get them to connect to learning. As a matter of fact this method will even be better because young children like to learn through different experiences and here we also appeal to different senses. We now live in a digital world and this generation does not like to keep still so we must get creative in Our methods in how we teach them.
They are way many more creative ways now to give young children homework so there is no need to stick to the old ways that we grow up with. I will definitely do a follow up part 2 for more in depth ideas but let us not turn our kids off from learning. Home work proves nothing. School should be remembered as fun and enlightening not dreading homework.
Send me your thoughts or ideas about homework if you can relate.🖍
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