Friday, September 20, 2013

Should I Stop Assigning Homework? - Jessica Lahey - The Atlantic

Should I Stop Assigning Homework? - Jessica Lahey - The Atlantic:

Should I Stop Assigning Homework?



What if my students think my class is too easy? And how will we ever get through A Tale of Two Cities?


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Easa Shamih/flickr
I have written in the past about my hatred of homework from the perspective of both a teacher and a parent, so when I heard about a teacher who had ditched the practice of assigning homework altogether, I was intrigued and skeptical. Former teacher Mark Barnes wrote in a post called “Homework: It fails our students and undermines American education”:
Students often ask me why I don’t assign homework. “I don’t believe in it,” I quickly respond. “It doesn’t tell me what you’re learning.” They forge ahead with furrowed eyebrows. “Then why do all of our other teachers assign homework?” Although I typically leave that one alone, my experience tells me that the answer isn’t at all elusive. The average educator was taught in her pre-service days that homework is a part of every teacher’s