Homework: My thoughts

I do not always have the urge to give my pupils homework. Nevertheless, homework is an integral part of learning, and leaving it is like breaking away from a culture that has been practiced a long time ago. As this article suggests, is homework effective in developing our children? There is a few questions that needs to be considered such as children's dependency, difficulty level and time allocation.

Homework, if done right, may stimulate children's interest in a particular subject. It may also drive children to feel excited to go to school. Just like learning in the classroom, we need to have a clear objective with the homework. We could also use SMART approach to plan the task, too.

Can the children work independently on the homework? Homework is supposed to teach children to become responsible of their learning. So, children should be able to do the homework anytime and anywhere, even without their parents monitoring. However, when it is said that children can do the task independently, it does not mean that parents should not take part in the homework. Homework should bridge the gap between parents and school, and gets them even closer with their children. This would include tasks such as interviewing parents and simple write out about what they do at home.

Is the homework difficult? Homework should reinforce what children have learned previously in school. Thus, they should not be burndened with a task that they cannot do. Furthermore, some of the children may have working parents who may not have the ample time to provide assistance and guidance to their work. Some parents might even just do the homework for their children. This would ultimately defeat the purpose of having homework itself.

What is the time allocated for each homework? In some education system, homeworks are divided into subjects. Thus, it is important to make sure that the homework is not to lenghty and taking too much of the children's time. One subject may have a task that take only 10minutes to complete, but if the children have 4 other subjects to be taken account, they will have to finish all in 50 minutes. A homework can be as quick as a minute reading or solving a quick math problem.

In a nutshell, homework should probably be short and achievable with little or no guidance. However, it would depend greatly on the subjects and the type of task provided. It should also be remembered that children have other homework to do such as chores and helping out in the kitchen and the garden.

What do you think of giving out homework?