Tonight I watched the documentary,"Freakonomics", and it got me thinking about incentives and homework. Essentially, it got me thinking about homework, period.
I have never been a fan of homework. My husband brought up an interesting point: "Do 90% of the jobs in the work force give outside 'homework'?" My answer, of course, was no (although as teachers I think we give ourselves more homework than we should :)). Most of the time the work is "busy" and really doesn't serve to "engage" the student in learning what we want them to learn.
As I was browsing the Teach Paperless blog, I saw he also brought up some interesting thoughts about homework. I, too, saw Alan November this summer, and he talked about the fact that lecture should very well be on a podcast or video for students to view, and that classroom time should be spent collaborating on the work TOGETHER. Engaging as a class in learning, practicing and accomplishing - students even teaching one another (when we are willing to give up that power in the classroom).
I have been thinking a LOT lately about how much I allow the students, through inquiry, to help move the classroom through the learning process.
And I guess I really feel like homework doesn't accomplish any of this. It just gives students more work, more stress, and frankly, less time engaging in the world around them. If we're going to give them something to do at home, let's make it MEANINGFUL, REAL TO LIFE...something the students might want to do anyway outside of the school day. Let's teach them to practice learning in their everyday lives. Let's challenge them to use technology.
I can't wait for Monday.
Love it!
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