“I Assign Stupid Homework”
One argument I frequently hear in response to the argument that homework is oftentimes of marginal academic benefit, busy work or stupid is
“We should assign better homework.”
Exactly which teacher thinks they are assigning stupid homework or busy work?
I teach pre-service teachers and I will sometimes ask them “What percent of your homework was busy work?” Usually the response is “Uh, like ALL of it.” Take a look at FaceBook, it’s not hard to see the negative impact that homework is having on families.
In my teacher credential classes, I NEVER had a class or topic on homework.
- I was never presented with research about homework.
- I was never taught how to evaluate homework.
- How to distinguish what was good or bad homework.
- How to differentiate homework.
- How to be considerate of family time.
- How to write really clear directions that don’t frustrate students and parents.
- How to judge how long an assignment will take my most struggling student.
- How to handle my advanced students who really don’t need the practice.
Survey
So here is a survey. If you’re a teacher, do you think your homework is stupid? If we are going to stop giving stupid homework and give higher quality homework we should first identify if we are giving stupid homework.
