http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/11/18/calgary-homework-school-students.html
So what do you think? As young adults enrolled in the final year of public education, specifically in mathematics, which side of this 'argument' do you line up on?
Discussion prompts?
Would you like a no-homework agreement?
Would you benefit from a no-homework agreement?
Would you learn enough with no homework?
Do you have enough time in school to both learn and practice?
Is the subject area a consideration when discussing such agreements?
I really don't know the answers, but inspirationally, I know you do. I look forward to reading your responses. Thank you in advance for informing both public education practice generally and specific decisions made in room 204 at the SVRSS.
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My thoughts on the whole no homework situation in Calgary, is somewhat good, but if our school was to say no more homework it wouldn't necessarily be a good thing because for me, i need to do lots of hands on homework. It helps me learn the stuff we're learning because i need to do lots of practice to understand how to do it, because I am a very slow learner.
ReplyDeleteOn the otherhand it can be a good thing because it wouldn't be so stressful knowing that " oh, I have to do this homework for tomorrow but I'll have no time to do it", so it's just very stressful.
My thoughts on this are wicked long, so heres a link.
ReplyDeletehttp://grade12mathz.blogspot.com/2009/11/homework-ban.html
Got my response right here:
ReplyDeletehttp://latticedude.blogspot.com/2009/11/thoughts-on-homework-article.html
I fulfilled my "200 words a day" quota. ;)
For the most part, I don't agree with this homework ban. I think that homework is a good thing; It allows you to reinforce ideas taught in class. If we didn't have homework than most students wouldn't be getting good enough understanding in their studies. I do agree with the homework load sometimes being too heavy. If you get assigned 30 minuites of homework in all five of you classes than that's two and a half hours of homework. To me, that's too much homework. Also, I think that students, to a degree, should be able to chose there homework. What I mean by this is students should be able to do extra homework in areas where they are struggling and disregard homework where they are succeeding. For example: lets say i'm struggling with trig. identities but I'm good with everything else, so I should be able to say, "I'm good with evrything else, just give me work with trig. identities (with some review on other things just to keep sharp). I also think that students should have the option of going to teachers to try to limit the amount homework if they are doing well in the course and if they attend regularly. I would think that a no homework law would be a bad thing for most students. Most students wouldn't be getting enough practic e in their subjects and fail their courses. So, no homework=bad but lots of homework=worse.
ReplyDeleteHomework ban??? hmmm. heres what i think... homework is important...IF YOU DONT UNDERSTAND THE MATERIAL. if you do get whats going on why should you have to spend the majority of your evening doing more schoolwork?...after being at school for 6 hours already. seems a bit ridiculous to me. after 4:00 most people have other priorites, especailly being in grade 12.
ReplyDeletei feel that school work should be done at SCHOOL, and i understand that sometimes the curriculum doesnt allow time for much working time, but maybe that, the curriculum, is what should be changed.
i think that homework should be optional depending on what you need extra practice with, and i feel homework should not be a regular thing for every student. So yes, i do agree with the fact that students are expected to complete too much additional work on their own time.
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ReplyDeleteWhenever I hear "No homework" I am thrilled, but I can see that there would be problems if it were like that all the time. The reason we have homework is because we can't finish our assignments in class because we don't have the time. If we didn't have homework, we wouldn't be getting any work done at all. I think homework is a good, but sometimes we are given way too much and it gets stressful. I know with my math throughout grades 10-12 there were only about 8 nights where I didn't have math homework. Thats nearly 3 years (minus 8 days) of having math homework everyday. I think that is crazy! But as I mentioned yesterday in class, if there were a No Homework policy, we would have to extend the length of our classes (probably over 2 semesters instead of 1) so that we would have enough time to learn the lesson AND do the assignment that goes with it. However, I am not against a homework ban, I just think that our courses would have to be altered to fit everything in (and personally, I wouldn't mind that at all. I hate homework because once I get home I usually forget what I learned in class, and at home I have no one to help me out).
ReplyDeletehere is my response, hope you like it
ReplyDeletehttp://obeasecatsdoingmath.blogspot.com/2009/11/response-to-no-homework-in-alberta.html
There are two ways to look at this…
ReplyDeleteI can see the point of the parents when their children work hard during class time to complete assignments and still manage a lot of homework. From what I understand, the teacher is assigning a bunch of work at the end of class to take home that will be marked the next day. I think Tom Milley, the children’s father says it best “If you're going to mark homework, whose work are you actually marking? Because if you send it home, you don't know who's doing it. It could be their older brothers or sisters or their parents."
The point of grading work done outside of class in my opinion is flawed. Who is to say who is really doing the work? I’ve gotten others to do some of my homework when I was a lot younger so I can assume others will do it too. I also know that there are parents out there who will do whatever it takes to preserve the image of their child and gladly do their work to make it seem their child’s more advanced and competent then they really are, even if it means lying to themselves and their child’s teachers. For those unfortunate kids they just suffer since their children won’t get the help they actually need.
As for the busywork… Well, to me it sounds like a bunch of lawyer bull by a parent who thinks they, or their children are something special to the world and are above everyone else. The fact remains that there just isn’t enough time in school to teach every single kid in the class so they fully understand the topic. Sure it may not be fair for everyone to have the same amount of work since it’s obvious that some kids learn certain topics faster and with less work then others. But how can you really tell which child is going to pickup the topic faster then another? Let’s say child A finds grade 5, 4 digit multiplication easier then child B in class, do you load child B up with homework and nothing for child A? Does that mean that child B will do better when the test comes compared to child A, even tho child B has had a lot more practice and perhaps now understands the concepts even better then child A does.
Let’s step ahead to university. Our gifted child A and average child B have managed to enter the same program at the same school. In this program the entire program is based on lectures with no time to do any practical paperwork including writing labs, essays, and various other assignments. Child B here is used to doing all this at home since he’s been doing this for years and is prepared. Child A on the other hand has never done homework because he’s never needed to, but now classes are tough, he’s lazy and not expecting to do any homework. He doesn’t have the skills needed.
To make a longer story short homework is essential, regardless if you are strong in that field or not, you can only get stronger assuming YOU actually do the work and not pawn it off on others. It’s a great preparation for collage and a job later on in life. I think Tom and Shelli Milley need to stop trying to be a big hero and open their eyes and see that the extra homework can only possibly help their children in the long run.
The link to my opinion on my blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://jdprecal.blogspot.com/2009/11/homework-yes-or-homework-no.html
Link to my opinion. Check it out if you feel compelled to.
ReplyDeletehttp://iamjeffy.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-opinion-on-homework-ban.html
i posted yesterday, and i could proove it, just didn't comment.
ReplyDeletehttp://pretymuchawesome.blogspot.com/2009/11/responce-to-busy-work-article.html