There is an overall consensus with people's comments that homework is a good thing in moderation. Homework is a great way for families to work together and get more involved but other family time is needed also. Teachers could possibly limit homework by better time management in the classroom.
For teachers, time management can be a difficult thing to do. This is due to limited hours in the day and mandatory standards to be met.
For teachers, time management can be a difficult thing to do. This is due to limited hours in the day and mandatory standards to be met.
- Teachers could combine assignments in content areas. For example, a Math assignment based on a story read during Reading class (word problems).
- Teachers could collaborate with one another to see what homework assignments are due. This would help to avoid homework overload.
- Teachers could create family projects that could be expected approximately every three months. The projects should be something that parents expect in advance and be interesting and fun.
Homework is an essential assessment for teachers to use for their students. Knowing how much homework is too much can be a difficult task but should be addressed. Feedback from students and parents would be a great way to know how much homework is too much. Teachers can make adjustments to lesson plans according to feedback and student progression.
Here is a link to a parent's complaint of too much homework:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQJq4i8ebzU
Another link that includes tips for time management for teachers:
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/classroom-management/new-teacher/48352.html
Homework Mangagement Software:http://www.studyminder.com/
I completely agree with many of the things that you listed here. As a parent, I have participated in family projects for my child's school. It is a good "family time" activity that is also homework, so it is like knocking out two things at once. I also agree that teachers need to watch how they manage their time in the classroom. You had some creative ways on how to limit homework. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI agree that students are sent with a somewhat homework overload but at the same time classroom time is very limited. I think the idea you gave to link math and a story that was read to the students would be a great way to have better classroom management. Another idea for homework is maybe to assign homework each evening if necessary but to just do small assignments, which should take no longer than an hour to complete that way the parents can still engage in quality time with their student and you as the teacher can still get the stuff that wasn’t finished with in class done.
ReplyDeleteFamily projects, in my experiences with them are not always the greatest things. Yes, you will have many students/parents to participate but you will also have many that do not bring anything back and then get upset when all the other kids parents did it but not theirs. My mom is a teacher and they would do family projects every so often and this happened very frequently. Also, you run into the issue of what was supposed to be a family project turned into a parent project and the student did not help at all. That is a huge problem because then the student did not get to help in the project like they were meant to and did not reap the benefits of the project.