Homework?

I am a high school math teacher in southern New Jersey. I have taught everything from pre-algebra to AP calculus 2. I currently am the school's only AP calculus teacher, so half of my schedule is calculus and the other half is whatever else I get, which changes every year. Like most teachers, I went through school with my math teachers following the "Lecture...examples...homework problems" model. I had homework problems assigned every night and rarely did them all. I was fortunate enough to be very good at math and would only do enough problems to make sure I knew what I was doing. I would usually start with the last few problems, and if I could do those, I figured I was good for the lesson.

As a teacher, I started off using the same model I saw when I was in school. After all, if it worked for me, why wouldn't it work for the kids in my class? I teach in the same district I went to, so these kids aren't any different than I was. Our math curriculum has been through a lot of changes since I started teaching 14 years ago. I have taught lecture-based, discovery, and flipped classes, but all have had regular homework.

As I was sitting at my computer Monday night, I saw an "assignment" from the #flipclass moderators. They suggested we watch Jon Corippo's (@jcorippo) webinar/Google Hangout about different homework before the chat that night. I had no idea who he was, but I saw it at the same time the webinar was starting, so I clicked the link and checked it out. It really made me think about how I organized my classes. Here are a few things I heard that made me think:

1. Schools give homework to assert dominance over the students' lives. If kids have to spend 7 hours a day in school, then do hours of homework each night, that helps re-iterate that school is the most important part of a kid's life.

2. Imagine if teachers had to work all day, then go home EVERY night and do 2-3 hours of work mandated by their school/district. How many teachers that you know would do that?

3. What is the purpose of the homework we are assigning? If it isn't meaningful to the students, why are we assigning it?

4. Many teachers justify the amount of homework by saying "This is what it will be like when you get to (middle school/high school/AP classes/college)." Is that really a justification for assigning a lot of work and is that really what they will see?

Earlier today I was scrolling through my Twitter feed and came across a post that got me thinking about homework again. Todd Nesloney (@TechNinjaTodd) posted responses to a prompt called "As a parent, I wish you knew..." that gave real responses from parents to educators. Many of the parents that responded mentioned the amount of and quality of homework their kids received. The one that moved me the most (and there could have been more than one of these, but I stopped after the first) was one that said, "After a long day of work, all I want to do is come home and spend time with my kid, but I have to argue over hours of homework." I don't think that is an exact quote, but it is pretty close.

My wife is also a teacher and has told me that many of her friends say that homework is harder on the parents than the kids. I also hear other teachers in my building complain about how much homework their kids get. The thing I don't hear is people doing anything or trying to do anything about it. If you don't believe the amount of homework your kid is getting is fair, why are you still assigning the same amount? The attitude that "my kid has a lot of homework, so all of you can do it too" is ridiculous.

Many schools/districts have instituted policies that all classes will have homework every night and also have summer assignments. This is especially true for advanced/AP classes. They often claim that this increases rigor. I think that it is wrong to assume that more work equals more rigor. We have to assign better work to increase rigor, not necessarily more work. Other districts have instituted a "no homework" policy. I think this is just as wrong. One of my favorite quotes is from Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski: "People set rules to keep from making decisions." This implies that if someone makes a policy on homework, or anything else, they don't have to make a tough decision when questions come up. This is a trait of a poor leader.

As a new parent, I want nothing more than to come home after work and pick up Dominick (my son) and sit on the couch or in a chair and hang out. He is almost 2 months old and the most important thing in my life already. I can't imagine how bad it will be in a few years when he is asking questions and able to do more than eat, sleep, and cry! I'm not saying that I am against homework. In fact, I'm far from it. I am, however, against meaningless homework. As teachers, we need to seriously look at what we assign as homework. If it is something that we would be upset about if our child came home with it, then it shouldn't be assigned. We need to find ways to make homework meaningful and assign it whenever it is. There will be some days when students have a lot of work that night, and that's fine...that's life...as long as it is meaningful.

Thanks for reading, Bobby