Should homework be banned ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. We need to go the opposite direction and restore it in ES and MS.

+1

I agree! Restore homework, especially in upper ES and in MS!

If MS students had 20-30 minutes of homework for each class they take each day, they'd only have 60-90 minutes of homework each night because they only take 4 classes each day, and certain classes (PE and Mascot Time) do not have homework. So even if a kid had a tough schedule (four core classes in one day), that means their other day is much easier, so they can split the homework up over the two days.

The schools not giving homework is contributing to the laziness of this generation.

4 x 30 is 120 minutes aka 2 hours. You want 12-14 year old kids to spend upwards of 8 hrs per week on homework?

My kid had a good 2 hrs of HW every night in MS. It prepared him well for a challenging HS and now he thinks college is easy.

When you are a student, your "job" is schoolwork. 8 hours a week sounds fine for MS, and probably keeps some kids from getting into trouble online and out of the home.

We really need to stop the idea that all MS kids will be nothing but trouble unless kept busy at all times. Their kids, and they should act like it. My friends and I had no problems being kids when we were in MS. No trouble and still had tons of fun.

So-called codling is not the problem.

You are still failing to see homework through the lens of racial equity.

Yes, homework needs to be banned entirely.

I think you might need to do some English homework yourself.

Homework shouldn't be excessive, but having 20 minutes of math, 20 minutes of World Language, 20 minutes of English, and 20 minutes of other subjects combined is not excessive.

80 minutes in one night is a lot.

+1

One hour and twenty minutes ? Sounds reasonable to me.

+1

We really do have a problem with coddling and holding our children back if people think middle school students shouldn't be able to handle 80 minutes of homework each night.

So-called codling is not the problem.

You are still failing to see homework through the lens of racial equity.

Yes, homework needs to be banned entirely.

Hi Communist. The next thing you ask is banning businesses and employment since (because you didn’t do your homework) your ethnic group are low earners.

[Anonymous]

Homework is worthless.

Those who do it don’t need it.
Those who need it don’t do it, or do it all incorrectly (because they can’t do it independently), or copy.
The papers I get back can’t be counted for a grade because I don’t know who did them.

The vast majority of math work I collected when I assigned homework was copied straight from photomath. Worthless for everyone—the copier and the grader. Maaaaaybe 10% of kids benefited from it. That’s being generous though.

I’ve stopped assigning it. In my 90 minute block we do the lesson and I assign an activity/problem set. If they finish it in class (my strong students all do) then there’s no homework—they don’t need it. If they don’t finish it, they come back during the remediation block to finish it with me. They also have no homework, because they don’t know how to do it well enough to do at home (and I won’t be able to trust anything they return anyway)

If the rare kid wants extra practice I have posted problem sets to schoology. There is usually 1 each year who requests more work due to intense anxiety, and a few more who want work to do with their tutors.

Cutting hw has had no impact on test scores IME

—HS math teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Homework is worthless.

Those who do it don’t need it.
Those who need it don’t do it, or do it all incorrectly (because they can’t do it independently), or copy.
The papers I get back can’t be counted for a grade because I don’t know who did them.

The vast majority of math work I collected when I assigned homework was copied straight from photomath. Worthless for everyone—the copier and the grader. Maaaaaybe 10% of kids benefited from it. That’s being generous though.

I’ve stopped assigning it. In my 90 minute block we do the lesson and I assign an activity/problem set. If they finish it in class (my strong students all do) then there’s no homework—they don’t need it. If they don’t finish it, they come back during the remediation block to finish it with me. They also have no homework, because they don’t know how to do it well enough to do at home (and I won’t be able to trust anything they return anyway)

If the rare kid wants extra practice I have posted problem sets to schoology. There is usually 1 each year who requests more work due to intense anxiety, and a few more who want work to do with their tutors.

Cutting hw has had no impact on test scores IME

—HS math teacher

Is this the same as 5, 10, 20 years ago? Are your students the same, are they learning the same?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homework is worthless.

Those who do it don’t need it.
Those who need it don’t do it, or do it all incorrectly (because they can’t do it independently), or copy.
The papers I get back can’t be counted for a grade because I don’t know who did them.

The vast majority of math work I collected when I assigned homework was copied straight from photomath. Worthless for everyone—the copier and the grader. Maaaaaybe 10% of kids benefited from it. That’s being generous though.

I’ve stopped assigning it. In my 90 minute block we do the lesson and I assign an activity/problem set. If they finish it in class (my strong students all do) then there’s no homework—they don’t need it. If they don’t finish it, they come back during the remediation block to finish it with me. They also have no homework, because they don’t know how to do it well enough to do at home (and I won’t be able to trust anything they return anyway)

If the rare kid wants extra practice I have posted problem sets to schoology. There is usually 1 each year who requests more work due to intense anxiety, and a few more who want work to do with their tutors.

Cutting hw has had no impact on test scores IME

—HS math teacher

Is this the same as 5, 10, 20 years ago? Are your students the same, are they learning the same?

My low students are much lower than in the past. My average/high students are the same as they’ve always been. Open enrollment has led to kids who have no business enrolling in course xyz signing up for course xyz though.

We are absolutely covering less than 20 years ago, but that’s got nothing to do with homework IMO and everything to do with “try challenging yourself! Sign up for honors math! It’s okay that you got a B- in gen Ed last year, you are motivated!” And “yes, you absolutely must take algebra II by junior year or you won’t get into college (even though you barely squeaked a D in algebra 1 or geometry)”. When a good portion of the kids are in those buckets, it has to slow down.

If we could track kids again (or at least follow teacher recommendations) I don’t think it would be an issue. Ideally we’d have three levels of each class—honors, gen Ed, and double block/remedial/part a/whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homework is worthless.

Those who do it don’t need it.
Those who need it don’t do it, or do it all incorrectly (because they can’t do it independently), or copy.
The papers I get back can’t be counted for a grade because I don’t know who did them.

The vast majority of math work I collected when I assigned homework was copied straight from photomath. Worthless for everyone—the copier and the grader. Maaaaaybe 10% of kids benefited from it. That’s being generous though.

I’ve stopped assigning it. In my 90 minute block we do the lesson and I assign an activity/problem set. If they finish it in class (my strong students all do) then there’s no homework—they don’t need it. If they don’t finish it, they come back during the remediation block to finish it with me. They also have no homework, because they don’t know how to do it well enough to do at home (and I won’t be able to trust anything they return anyway)

If the rare kid wants extra practice I have posted problem sets to schoology. There is usually 1 each year who requests more work due to intense anxiety, and a few more who want work to do with their tutors.

Cutting hw has had no impact on test scores IME

—HS math teacher

Is this the same as 5, 10, 20 years ago? Are your students the same, are they learning the same?

My low students are much lower than in the past. My average/high students are the same as they’ve always been. Open enrollment has led to kids who have no business enrolling in course xyz signing up for course xyz though.

We are absolutely covering less than 20 years ago, but that’s got nothing to do with homework IMO and everything to do with “try challenging yourself! Sign up for honors math! It’s okay that you got a B- in gen Ed last year, you are motivated!” And “yes, you absolutely must take algebra II by junior year or you won’t get into college (even though you barely squeaked a D in algebra 1 or geometry)”. When a good portion of the kids are in those buckets, it has to slow down.

If we could track kids again (or at least follow teacher recommendations) I don’t think it would be an issue. Ideally we’d have three levels of each class—honors, gen Ed, and double block/remedial/part a/whatever.

And this is mainly an issue in gen Ed after 1st quarter. That’s when all the C/D/F honors kids drop down so it’s no longer an issue in honors (but creates massive class size inequities and staffing struggles and behavior issues…)

[Anonymous]

No homework should not be banned. While it should be minimal in elementary school it should still exist. Homework in MS should exist to help master skills and create positive habits for high school. Homework in HS helps students master skills.

If as a society we continue to strive for equity then FCPS will achieve what Baltimore schools have achieved a zero education gap.

How did Baltimore do that by letting everything slide and ensuring that no one can meet minimum testing standards.

Or simply the ceiling collapsed on the floor.