Homework Debate

 

So here goes...we'd love to hear your opinion on the topic of homework. That's what we've decided to to discuss this week. Let's look at both sides...

All of these points are arguments we've heard, but not necessarily do we agree with them all. 

Giving Homework

-Students need to practice what they've learned at school.

-Meaningful practice will make a stronger student. 

-Spelling/vocabulary practice has to be done at home.

-Unfinished classwork needs to be completed at home. 

-Projects and papers cannot always be completed during class. 

-Middle & High school students will always have homework so they need to learn the habit in elementary school. 

No Homework

-If they can't do it at school what's the point in sending it home.

-Most parents don't help complete homework, don't know how, or won't because they're too busy.

-Teachers shouldn't be given the right to dictate how a family/student spends their evening at home.

-How do you know if the student did the work instead of someone else at home?

-They spend 7-8 hours at school; kids should be able to have play/free/family time at home. 

~Steph

Spelling and Vocabulary Test

It's finally Friday! It felt like it was never going to get here this week! And we had crazy weather all day to top it off! As you head off into your weekend here's you Friend or Foe topic to ponder over...

Depending on what grade you teach, your students are expected to learn sight words, spelling words, vocabulary words, etc. Is this done in class, at home, or a mixture for you? I guess part of that could depend on your take on homework, but that's another topic for discussion on a different day! (Hint, hint come back Tuesday for that!)

When it comes to your spelling or vocabulary practice, do your students use them in classwork and practice them during class? Or are they expected to take the list home and practice them. Do you test at the end of the week? How do the parents respond to your methods?

I remember when I was in school, we were given 10-20 words that we were to memorize for the week. Then we came in on Friday and took the test. This year our son started spelling words, but the grade level team decided not to do lists and spelling tests this year. I'm still not sure how I feel about it though. For the majority of the year we didn't even know what words they were working on for the week and he never practiced them at home. I mean I can't say that I mind not having to get him ready for a test every Friday. Now they send home the list of words with the homework for the week and the students have to complete two given activities with the words. There's still no weekly tests that we know of.

So tell us, how do you do it? In class practice and/or at home? Weekly tests or not? If you don't test weekly, how do you monitor whether a student has mastered the given words for the week? We'd love to hear your experiences!

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend! We're headed to Atlanta tomorrow for a dance convention. Our little man keeps us busy!

~Steph