Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't wait for a study claiming that the amount of time spent practicing piano has no correlation with the mastery of the instrument.

There is no sound pedagogical evidence that learning a kinesthetic skill (e.g., an instrument, most sports, etc), is in any way equivalent to gaining mastery of concepts (e.g., what children do in school).

Kinesthetic skills require drilling to develop the necessary physical response. Mental learning does not.

Learning may or may not require practice. Like you said - there is proof that it does not. But even if we assume that it does not, so much of what kids learn at that age is really more a skill than an undersanding. Handwriting is a skill, arithmetics is a skill, reading is a skill, spelling is a skill, analyzing problems is a skill. That's at least 50% of all the learning in elementary school. Skip the homework and you may get people who understand the concept of multiplication, but can't multiply 5x6 without a calculator.

I think the new superintendent Starr is on board with the general idea that too much homework doesn't do anybody any favors. He is doing a big social-emotional learning push in MCPS which I think is fantastic. Learning is so much more than learning facts and if the goal is to be a successful and happy adult with good social skills, which are increasingly essential in the work place, you absolutely have to build social-emotional learning into schooling. It's about time for MCPS: Here's a thread on SEL: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/275478.page

Anonymous wrote:I can't wait for a study claiming that the amount of time spent practicing piano has no correlation with the mastery of the instrument.

There is no sound pedagogical evidence that learning a kinesthetic skill (e.g., an instrument, most sports, etc), is in any way equivalent to gaining mastery of concepts (e.g., what children do in school).

Kinesthetic skills require drilling to develop the necessary physical response. Mental learning does not.

I had no homework until 7th grade and still managed to get good work habits, graduate Phi Beta Kappa from college, and get a Ph.D. Elementary school is not the time to figure out good work habits. It's the time to learn to get along with others, play, have fun, and develop curiosity and a joy of learning, NOT to develop an association between stress, tedium, family conflicts, frustration, pointless work, and fear of your teacher and learning.

I am not 10:44, but the way I interpreted the comment is that Psychology Today is not a scientific journal...it is more like a pop culture mag. And the author's writing style does not exactly come across as impartial - the guy literally wrote the book on not doing homework so I find it hard to take his analysis very seriously.

That said, I wish my 1st grader had less homework. I worry it's too much. I'm not sure how much of it is sticking. But I do feel like it is instilling some good work habits.

Funny, I posted a similar thread a week or so ago, and most people prefer homework. But there is very little evidence that it is helpful in any way for elementary school. And the battles it causes can be epic. Why add stress to the kids' lives like that (and mine)?

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/273536.page

21:17 I'd vote for you in a heartbeat

Anonymous wrote:Calm down. It is just a psychological gig.

What does that mean? Are you saying it isn't legit because it came from psychologists?

18:55. Is this MCPS homework? We aren't to middle school yet. Making a cross out of natural objects sounds religious.

Calm down. It is just a psychological gig.

I can't wait for a study claiming that the amount of time spent practicing piano has no correlation with the mastery of the instrument.

If it were up to me, I'd assign no homework until 2nd grade. In grades 3-5 I'd just assign math problems 2x week and weekly independent reading. Grades 6-8 I'd assign some homework, but no more than an hour/night total with most weekends off. In high school, I'd get rid of the ridiculous amount of work assigned to kids in favor of meaningful homework averaging no more than 2 hours/nt. And I'd have at least one weekend a month declared "nothing due on monday" weekend.

So who wants to elect me superidentent of schools? ; )

I couldn't agree more. All the literature points the same way - homework doesn't make a difference until 8th grade. Our home life has been destroyed by never-ending homework, joint projects, dioramas, hanging book reports, essays, book reports, science projects, "set up your bedroom in Spanish", now do it again in "French", joint projects, costume projects, create flashcards, make a nest using natural materials, create a "cross" out of natural materials (in seventh grade??? WTF?) , make a poster of yourself in five athletic poses (in high school? - come on, that's third grade homework) and joint projects. Why do I mention "joint projects" three times? Because every f**king foreign language teacher my kid has had likes to do joint projects with another kid in the class and my daughter, the worker bee, gets stuck with the one dud kid in the class whom we cannot even get on the phone. He promises he will do his half of the project before break but dodges daughter in classroom then he goes on vacation. Parents don't care. Parents and kid go to Europe and don't even respond. Teacher doesn't care - it's always "too late" for re-pairing. My daughter's grade on that homework assignment is low because the dud kid wouldn't pull his own weight. Hate joint assignments. Hate them. Hate all homework. Kids don't have a life outside of school, homework, and church. What a pity.

Here here! Every time I've tried to argue for less homework, however, I'm met with a ton of resistance from educators and parents alike who think we need to have our kids drill and practice in order to achieve. It's time to look at the data, which frankly just doesn't support this theory. Not to mention that the homework grind is stressing out kids and their families.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-homework-myth/201211/homework-unnecessary-evil

Wake up MCPS!