Revolutionary Idea: Assign Less Homework
Homework. A heavily contested subject. Ask any secondary teacher and they have.a theory on homework. I have found that many teachers base their notions of homework on how they received homework in secondary school. If they were honor students, teachers have a hard time distinguishing their experience from their students' experiences (let's admit, our students aren't all running home to do their homework and get As.). If the teacher struggled to do homework in high school, they are much more understanding, but due to the pressures of curriculum and standardized testing, assign just as much homework. Even the "former slacker turned teacher" can be frustrated when a student returns without a name on the paper. I have also found that many teachers take pride in making their classes almost impossible and monopolizing much of the students' time. These teachers fail to realize the impact they are having on the other classes that the student may be taking. Chances are if they are spending 5 hours doing homework for one class, they are not doing the homework for other classes. This leads to cheating circles and dishonesty and all of the other things that damage school culture and staff culture. It is time that we think critically about the how we assign homework.
Our students are pulled in a dozen directions at once. Often, they are in school 8-10 hours a day, then they go home to households that aren't always quiet and conducive to doing homework. Many students share spaces with little siblings, have chores and other household responsibilities. Or students are forced to work to provide for their families. Little kids don't understand "leave me alone, I have to read about the causes of WWI". But more than that, our students deserve some time off in their day.
Consider this. A high school junior is in school from 9:15-4:15pm. The bus to school comes at 8 am and it takes them about 30 minutes to get ready, so they are up at 7:30. They eat breakfast at school. They are taking 4 academic classes a day, and they each assign 1 hour of homework. They are in after school activities that last until 5:30 then they get home around 6. Just in time for dinner. Dinner is from 6-6:30. They now have 4 hours of homework to do. That means bed around 11:30 if they do all of their homework and sleep 8 hours. They have an hour, if they don't procrastinate, to do something for themselves. And they worked ALL DAY. I don't know about you, but I don't work like this, because it isn't healthy. There are many days I go home, and I do nothing but eat dinner, watch T.V. and go to bed. I can actually do this probably 3 days a week and still be considered successful at my job.
There are a few things I would like to suggest for you to consider when thinking about homework and assigning homework:
1. Is the length of the assignment reasonable for a student to do after being at school all day?
I don't know about you, but I find my brain fried at the end of the school day. I've come to realize that asking students to read 20 pages of a textbook for my class after school is somewhat unreasonable. In college, they will have far more down time before class and after class to complete assignments. The length of the secondary school day limits the amount of hours that a student can spend on homework. Assigning lengthy homework will most likely result in frustration for you and your students.
2. What is the objective of your homework assignment?
Students shouldn't go home to "teach themselves" large chunks of information. Consider your assignments. Is this homework meant to preview a concept to be introduced fully in the next lesson or is it meant to reinforce a concept that has previously been taught? Is it a reading assignment that is meant to extend or provide examples of a concept taught in class? These should be the parameters of homework. Asking students to go home to struggle through a concept with little to no support is setting them up for failure and frustration.
3. Does the homework accomplish the task using the path of least resistance?
What I mean by "path of least resistance" is does this homework assignment do what it sets out to do and ONLY what it sets out to do? For example: can I reinforce the concept of federalism taught in my government class with this 5 page article instead of the 10 page article? I try to ask myself am I assigning reading that is succinct and accomplishes the goal I've set out for the homework. The 10 page article may be more interesting to me, but I have to consider my students' time. Nothing is gained in those other 5 pages, but I may lose a lot when students don't bother to read anything because it's too long. A junior in high school is much more likely to go home and read 5 academically challenging pages than he/she is to go home and read 10 academically challenging pages. A lot can be accomplished in 5 academically challenging pages but nothing is accomplished in zero pages.
I am not advocating for ZERO homework. Homework is beneficial for students and can reinforce subjects and concepts taught in school. It is an important facet of a rigorous classroom. However, it is not necessary to bog students down in homework simply because that is how school "used to be" or because "that's how college will be". High school students are not in college and like everything else, homework should be scaffolded. Freshman in high school are not freshman in college and shouldn't be asked to academically perform like freshmen in college even if they are in Advanced Placement classes. Freshmen in high school and freshmen in college are not on the same cognitive level as freshmen in college; there is a considerable amount of brain growth that happens between 14 and 18.
I've gotten two pieces of advice that have helped me tremendously in my career. The first was in abnormal psychology my junior year of college ad I don't think the professor meant for it to be advice. He said "professors are often textbook cases of narcissistic personality disorder. They all think the only class that a student is taking is the class they are teaching!". The second bit of advice was "Most students don't sit around and think. I HATE MISS SO-AND-SO so I'm not going to do her homework! That will teach her to be more likable!". I've clung to this a lot throughout my career-- I try to remember my students are in 7 other classes and I try to remember that when they don't do my homework it probably has nothing to do with me.
Our students are pulled in a dozen directions at once. Often, they are in school 8-10 hours a day, then they go home to households that aren't always quiet and conducive to doing homework. Many students share spaces with little siblings, have chores and other household responsibilities. Or students are forced to work to provide for their families. Little kids don't understand "leave me alone, I have to read about the causes of WWI". But more than that, our students deserve some time off in their day.
Consider this. A high school junior is in school from 9:15-4:15pm. The bus to school comes at 8 am and it takes them about 30 minutes to get ready, so they are up at 7:30. They eat breakfast at school. They are taking 4 academic classes a day, and they each assign 1 hour of homework. They are in after school activities that last until 5:30 then they get home around 6. Just in time for dinner. Dinner is from 6-6:30. They now have 4 hours of homework to do. That means bed around 11:30 if they do all of their homework and sleep 8 hours. They have an hour, if they don't procrastinate, to do something for themselves. And they worked ALL DAY. I don't know about you, but I don't work like this, because it isn't healthy. There are many days I go home, and I do nothing but eat dinner, watch T.V. and go to bed. I can actually do this probably 3 days a week and still be considered successful at my job.
There are a few things I would like to suggest for you to consider when thinking about homework and assigning homework:
1. Is the length of the assignment reasonable for a student to do after being at school all day?
I don't know about you, but I find my brain fried at the end of the school day. I've come to realize that asking students to read 20 pages of a textbook for my class after school is somewhat unreasonable. In college, they will have far more down time before class and after class to complete assignments. The length of the secondary school day limits the amount of hours that a student can spend on homework. Assigning lengthy homework will most likely result in frustration for you and your students.
2. What is the objective of your homework assignment?
Students shouldn't go home to "teach themselves" large chunks of information. Consider your assignments. Is this homework meant to preview a concept to be introduced fully in the next lesson or is it meant to reinforce a concept that has previously been taught? Is it a reading assignment that is meant to extend or provide examples of a concept taught in class? These should be the parameters of homework. Asking students to go home to struggle through a concept with little to no support is setting them up for failure and frustration.
3. Does the homework accomplish the task using the path of least resistance?
What I mean by "path of least resistance" is does this homework assignment do what it sets out to do and ONLY what it sets out to do? For example: can I reinforce the concept of federalism taught in my government class with this 5 page article instead of the 10 page article? I try to ask myself am I assigning reading that is succinct and accomplishes the goal I've set out for the homework. The 10 page article may be more interesting to me, but I have to consider my students' time. Nothing is gained in those other 5 pages, but I may lose a lot when students don't bother to read anything because it's too long. A junior in high school is much more likely to go home and read 5 academically challenging pages than he/she is to go home and read 10 academically challenging pages. A lot can be accomplished in 5 academically challenging pages but nothing is accomplished in zero pages.
I am not advocating for ZERO homework. Homework is beneficial for students and can reinforce subjects and concepts taught in school. It is an important facet of a rigorous classroom. However, it is not necessary to bog students down in homework simply because that is how school "used to be" or because "that's how college will be". High school students are not in college and like everything else, homework should be scaffolded. Freshman in high school are not freshman in college and shouldn't be asked to academically perform like freshmen in college even if they are in Advanced Placement classes. Freshmen in high school and freshmen in college are not on the same cognitive level as freshmen in college; there is a considerable amount of brain growth that happens between 14 and 18.
I've gotten two pieces of advice that have helped me tremendously in my career. The first was in abnormal psychology my junior year of college ad I don't think the professor meant for it to be advice. He said "professors are often textbook cases of narcissistic personality disorder. They all think the only class that a student is taking is the class they are teaching!". The second bit of advice was "Most students don't sit around and think. I HATE MISS SO-AND-SO so I'm not going to do her homework! That will teach her to be more likable!". I've clung to this a lot throughout my career-- I try to remember my students are in 7 other classes and I try to remember that when they don't do my homework it probably has nothing to do with me.
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