Homework is an important part of school when it is offered meaningfully following activities and learnings taking place in the classrooms. I used to be uncomfortable with the kind of homework that caused children to actually hate bringing books and paperwork home. That mostly useless busywork makes both children and parents upset. And that it actually benefits the learner is hardly debatable. Homework should be related to things learned in class during most recent teachings and always be in the form of something that children can do on their own in the proper setting supervised by parents. I love my grandchild's teacher but the homework "packets" that come home are just drill and kill kinds of activities that make the child want to either do anything to avoid the chore or to do it fast and careless so that playtime doesn't have to wait too long. Rarely do the activities coincide with what was taught at school that day. I suggest to teachers that they quit relying on the endless pre-printed packets of worksheets and send kids home with something that they might still be excited about because it sure was exciting in class. I will always emphasize to parents that their participation in homework is critical as it send the child a clear message about the importance of school as do many things that parents ought to do during their child's elementary school years. Sure, students have to come back to practice skills taught some time ago so as to imprint the knowledge strongly but the packets are enthusiasm killers for most kids. I would so much more prefer homework that correlates directly with the lessons of the day.
"Boys and girls, today I taught you how to use commas to separate a series of objects
in a sentence. For your homework tonight, write 5 sentences that contain a series of
objects. Ex. I went to the closet and took out my shoes, shirt, and jacket."
That is a simple, direct and easy to complete homework assignment for a first grader. I suggest further, that there is a good chance that the child will not only remember exactly how to do it when at home but he/she might actually even have some remaining enthusiasm about the teaching and learning. And how easy that will be for mom or dad to monitor. The same thing can be done following the math lesson of the day.
These thoughts come to mind every time I see the little first grade grandchild with the big homework notebook chocked full of worksheets, drill pages and instructions written so poorly that I am surprised that anyone figures out how to do them correctly. And don't ask me to go into my feelings about little pictures that one is supposed to be able to discern in those language and reading worksheets. Most look like ink blot to me.
Your Pal (PrinciPal)
