Second Week

Well the second week of classes is over and done with and I think it was a pretty solid week. This week in our instructional methods class we focused on group presentations. We all paired up with a fellow student and we presented on a topic of our choice. They were brief presentations, only 5 minutes in length.

My partner was Jeff, and the topic we chose was homework. I thought it was a great topic because it provided a lot of opportunities for discussion. We created a power point presentation, and of course the smart board would not connect with Jeff's laptop, but we managed to get it done without the board. So we set up our presentation with the positives of homework, the negatives, and ended with our own personal opinions.We kind of ran short of time at the end so I didn't get to fully explain my own personal view on homework, so I figured what better place to explain it then on my blog!

I personally do not feel like homework should be a main part of teaching. I'm not saying I think there should be zero homework because obviously there will need to be projects, assignments, and readings that have to be done for class. But I am saying homework should not be useless busy work. The one thing i hate is when teachers will make homework worth a certain percentage of your grade. Kids are busy! Whether it be with sports, or part time work, or extra curriculurs some kids don't have time to do an extra 100 math questions. I don't think homework assignments like math assignments for example should be for marks. I think they should be used to supplement the material. What is the point in giving a students a 100 questions to do, if after 10 questions they know it? why should they then have to do the remaining 90 questions. My view is the homework should be for the student if they want extra help, if they get the problems then no need for the work. But if they are struggling it is a great way for them to practice. I always struggled in math and i know for me personally there were times when i didn't understand the homework so i didn't do it, and then the next day i had to ask the teacher for help anyway. So for me i think the time is better spent teaching the kids what they need to know, and then giving them a worksheet, and give them the last ten minutes or whatever the amount you think is necessary at the end of class to work on it, so if they have questions they can ask me right away and i can help them. Then they can take the rest of the work home and practice if they need it, and if they get it then they don't need to do it.

So basically what I am trying to say is, I think homework should be used appropriately. Obviously for some classes like history and English you need to give homework, like readings and essays, because you cant give them class time for all that or you will have no time to actually teach them anything. The thing i disagree with is giving homework just for the sake of giving homework. Like we said in our presentation there are many positives and negatives to homework, the key is to make sure to use homework right and to make sure that it is benefiting your students.