Learning Versus Doing
Pacing as a better metric for assigning homework
Across the country, elementary students and their parents spend evenings huddled around kitchen tables working on homework in the form of worksheets. High school students leave school and head off to a club, a sport or a job. They come home, maybe have a quick dinner, and then head to their rooms to tackle their homework.
Homework is still very much a defining feature of school, and the quantity assigned is often synonymous with rigor. Given the two very real and prevalent scenarios above, though, I would like to offer a question that often goes unasked: What value is being added for the learner by assigning these tasks outside of the academic day?
I am not anti-homework, however, I am against the idea of doing something only for the sake of a grade or giving students a task that has no real purpose for the process of learning.
As a high school teacher, I can remember having the expectation that students in particular programs would be assigned a certain amount of homework. I would assign homework, then the next day I would walk around with my grade book and check to see if they had completed the task. Sometimes the concepts covered in the homework would be foundational for the day’s learning — and sometimes they weren’t.
I am not entirely proud of this practice as I realize now that this perpetuated inequities among my students and compounded problems for some. The student who had not completed the homework (for whatever reason) would get hit with a zero homework grade, then sit in class with a gap in their learning, which in turn would impact the learning for that lesson, which, in turn, would be evidenced in a future quiz or test.
The design was creating failures, not ensuring access to learning. The message was learn (do your homework) or you will pay a price!
My perspective changed after watching my own children’s educational experiences in high school and seeing the impact of variable family circumstances on young students’ learning outside the classroom as an elementary principal. I came to understand how homework can actually work against student engagement and lifelong learning — the very things we were trying to promote.
First of all, I watched my kids who were hardworking and very involved in school activities. They usually had something to do after school (clubs and sports). If there was a game or performance, these were later nights than usual. They would come home and eat something then do their homework. It was not uncommon for them to be up working until after 11 p.m. only to have to get up at 6 a.m. to head back to school for a 7:15 a.m. start.
It was a grind, and (as a former high school teacher), I could see that there wasn’t always a direct connection between the work they were being given and the course goals. But it required no special insight to see that having to do the rather pointless extra work was impacting their view of school and learning in a negative way.
But they both slugged it out, did very well in school, and had a lot of wonderful experiences engaging in activities that represented our community. We were proud of them as they had these opportunities to be a part of a team or club. They had to learn the skills of time management and responsibility. But I have to say, these lessons came at a cost!
What can we do?
As parents and members of the community, read the student handbook and district homework policies and become a voice of learning and equity. Ask questions such as:
What is the role of homework in a child’s learning?
When is it appropriate to assign work outside the school day?
Is it in the students’ best interest to grade tasks that occur outside the school day?
How can homework be designed to promote lifelong learning?
I offer this alternative picture of learning for both parents and teachers:
What if we design learning so students understand where they are in their learning in terms of pace? Meaning, if the student is engaged in class and demonstrates they have mastered the particular learning goal for the day or week, then they are “on pace” and therefore do not need (but could opt for) additional practice.
Furthermore, the teacher has created clear expectations so students can determine for themselves if they are on pace or not. (In our work, these are multi-layered learning progressions that live in student binders.) The teacher lets students know what level and learning target the class is working on. Students know what they need to do and are given opportunities to demonstrate that learning.
I would suggest that this is a very valuable lesson in itself for all students, requiring self-reflection and self-direction and engaging students in their academic decisions.
If the student falls “off pace,” they have differentiated tasks they can perform inside and outside the classroom to gain more practice and feedback. These tasks are completed for the benefit of the learner, not for a grade.
I believe homework should be viewed as practice. The importance of practice is to gain experience and feedback. In soccer, when you score a goal in practice, that doesn’t count for your upcoming game. However, you bring that experience into the game in hopes of finding success.
Homework is an opportunity to practice and the value is based on formative feedback— not a grade — from the teacher as a result.
When I am coaching in a personalized learning classroom, I often circulate among the students and ask them to show me a learning goal they’ve met that they are most proud of. After they’ve chosen one, I ask them to explain why. Almost always they say, “Because that’s the one I had to work for the hardest.”
Rather than getting caught up in doing stuff not connected to learning, we need to provide students with opportunities to grow, to discover their own talents, and to feel a sense of accomplishment so they can grow some more.