The Ins And Outs Of Homework

For years homework has been given to students without much thought about it. The practicing of skills is the go-to and most valid reason for homework being given to students. But is it necessary for that practice to be traditional homework? There are other ways of letting students without weighing them down with hours of worksheets and math problems. It is best if homework is student-centered and brings about real-world learning for them. Traditional homework is often lengthy and causes a lot of stress on the student and their family. When this happens no practice happens which makes the whole situation unnecessary. This is not to say that making it student-centered would make it any better but it might help a little bit.

Something has to happen about what homework is and how it is assigned. If it is going to be meaningful the assignments need to help in a students understanding of the content they are learning in the classroom. It should not be given because it is expected of the teacher to give it. When it is given just to be given it is not really helpful and often leads to stress for both the student and their family.

ProCon.org. (September 27, 2018). ProCon.org. Is Homework Beneficial? - Top 3 Pros and Cons. Retrieved from https://www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005411

Homework, to me, is something that those in education need to get on the same page about. Most homework today is given out tradition or the need for extra items to create a grade. This is unnecessary and shows just how bad grading practices often are. To me any homework assigned should be meaningful and add to the content being taught. To be meaningful the assignment must bring in real-world issues. This will allow students to see how the content relates to the world around them. Another way to implement homework is to allow the assignments to be passion projects. Let students have assignments based on what they like. They can do this and show understanding at the same time.