This page includes my philosophy on homework, grades, & assessment.
Homework Policies
I do not believe in giving traditional homework. I firmly believe that learning must be extended beyond the classroom, but to me, it should not look like a homework packet with worksheets each night. Instead, it should be things like reading for fun, noticing what they're learning in the world around them, and providing them with resources to learn more about topics that excite them. The NEA notes that over the last two decades, homework has increased in lower grades, but we have seen mostly neutral, and sometimes negative, impacts on student learning. According to Edutopia, nightly reading, especially with families, is more beneficial than any homework I can assign. Furthermore, reading for the sake of reading will cultivate that love for learning and value for reading that we strive so hard to create.
Beyond the research, I believe from experience and anecdotes from colleagues that homework is not effective in the primary grades. Some students do not have support at home to do homework, so they end up not completing it or doing it incorrectly. On the other hand, some students receive too much help from their families and are not actually practicing effectively. This furthers inequity in the classroom. Homework can also lead to unhealthy stress levels, even with our youngest learners. A colleague of mine told me about her daughter's reading logs. Although the assignment was to read 20 minutes every night, the reading log asked how many pages she read; this caused her to be extremely anxious about whether or not she read enough pages, even though she did attend to her reading for 20 minutes. Conversely, assigning a certain number of pages each night might take our slower readers far longer than is reasonable. Either way, this is counterproductive to our goal of helping kids fall in love with reading.
The video below from Edutopia summarizes current thoughts on how much homework is appropriate.
Beyond the research, I believe from experience and anecdotes from colleagues that homework is not effective in the primary grades. Some students do not have support at home to do homework, so they end up not completing it or doing it incorrectly. On the other hand, some students receive too much help from their families and are not actually practicing effectively. This furthers inequity in the classroom. Homework can also lead to unhealthy stress levels, even with our youngest learners. A colleague of mine told me about her daughter's reading logs. Although the assignment was to read 20 minutes every night, the reading log asked how many pages she read; this caused her to be extremely anxious about whether or not she read enough pages, even though she did attend to her reading for 20 minutes. Conversely, assigning a certain number of pages each night might take our slower readers far longer than is reasonable. Either way, this is counterproductive to our goal of helping kids fall in love with reading.
The video below from Edutopia summarizes current thoughts on how much homework is appropriate.
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For me, the term homework implies required response with a product to turn in. I would extend my students' learning beyond the classroom in other ways. I will have a rich classroom library and encourage students to borrow books that seem interesting to them; we will also have a class reading log with a goal for how many books we've read with a reading-related goal. For example, earning a reading celebration where we dress up as book characters, have extra reading time with special twists, etc. This would help get them excited about reading, which is more likely to continue outside of school. One reading log I heard about from a colleague is framed as a challenge; all the student is required to do is record the title and author, total number of pages, and the date they finish...no nightly submissions are required.
In terms of other subjects, I will encourage my students to practice as much as they need. I'll provide extension activities and resources, but I will not take them for grading; these are purely for students' enrichment. I'll also provide a list of games or kid-friendly sites for students to interact with material. To bridge the home-school connection, I might ask students to look for certain concepts out in the world and tell us about their findings; for example, asking them to take pictures of fractions they find, or finding some real examples of chemical and physical changes.
Grading & Progress Monitoring
I do not believe in giving elementary students percentage grades or letter grades. Alfie Kohn points out that grading, especially when emphasized in the classroom, tends to reduce student engagement in the actual learning, interest in being challenged, and quality of thinking. I come from a very grade-heavy background; I have seen firsthand how stressful grades become and how it affects students' well-being and mental health, which is a key feature of my teaching philosophy. One of the first and last things I say when tutoring secondary students for high-stakes exams such as the SAT and AP tests is, "Your score is just a number. It does not define you. It is important, yes, and you should care about it, but it is not a measure of your intelligence or talent or value as a human. Do not let this number define your self worth," mainly because I remember needing to hear that myself.
I have also seen how grades can devalue learning in students' minds. I was alarmed to hear 4th graders in my PDS placement asking, "Is this graded? Does this count?" The task, if not graded, should still hold meaning, but when grades are so ingrained in the culture as the ultimate determination of worth, their focus shifts. All that being said, I understand that as teachers we are data-driven and must assess to show growth, so I firmly support standards-based report cards. Although Kohn goes on to say standards-based grading is no better, I disagree. I do think data is important to track student growth, but I do not think assigning one final grade to math is representative of a student's achievement, nor is it fair to assume that if a student earns a 95% in math that they mastered 95% of the content. Therefore, I offer standards-based assessment as a more in depth way of tracking progress. |