Homework

I'm not a fan of homework as a general rule.  I believe it's misused by teachers.  Teachers feel pressured to have additional data points in the gradebook.  I heard a great comment the other day on a podcast that said, "Originally, grades were used by teachers to communicate with students in a quick and efficient manner.  Now, grades use teachers and have totally overrun the education process.    

I like practice.  Kids should practice a lot.  Practice reading.  Practice drawing.  Practice solving word problems.

As a coach I used to carefully plan practices.  I would plan out practices to the minute and I expected that with the correct practice my athletes would get good results.  I never sent the kids home and said, "Okay, we weren't able to get to everything today so I want you to take your mom in the backyard  practice your form tackles for 30 minutes."

If you told me that an athlete found a coach that would work with them outside of practice then I'd be all for it, assuming the kid was getting good coaching.  Putting in more time is effective when it's effective practice.

My criticism with homework is that it's not applied correctly.  It's meant to replace classroom time instead of support practice. 

Here's what I would like to see.

Parents talk with their kids for 10 minutes every day and answer the following questions. 
  1. What did you learn in school today?  Make them be specific.  What did the teacher say?  What activities did you do?  What was your favorite part of the lesson?  Etc. 
  2. What do you see in the real world that is similar to what you're doing at school?  Be ready for a blank stare.  Kids separate school from the real world so a question like this will seem out of left field.  When was the last time your kid saw someone reading?  What about writing?  We use computers all the time in the real world and a kid should know how to type but you don't hear kids say, "wait a second, I'm finishing my typing homework."  Why not?  Also, kids need to attach math and science principles to their reality.  Even if their reality is simply that "someone" out there uses math to build rockets.  
Obviously that is only the beginning of a 10 minute conversation but let's start there are see how we do.  

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