Homework #1

What?
First, the gentleman who wrote this article I feel has a deep issue of homework and has been bruised by it ever since he was a little tike and is determined to make sure no one has to feel the pain that he felt so many years ago. Although, in short I partially agree, I feel that it really all depends on what the purpose behind homework really is. Also, I would agree about the tests, it is all about the tester, not really what you know. However, as his article continued, I began to see more and more as to where he was coming from. He would like to see that students are learning what they need to learn or even what they want to learn rather than doing busy work and homework just to say you did homework. That homework needs to be thought through so that it can build the student rather than make them hate their beloved subject or loath the idea of homework all together.
So what?
Well, I think that I’m going to have to consider what he is saying for a moment. Although I think he just has anger problems, I do see his point. I think that he does present a decent argument. He addresses the fact that homework can take up a lot of time and energy for it to just be an activity to keep the student busy. Pointing out that doing homework only raises the score on tests only a little bit shows how homework really isn’t where students are learning from.
Now what?
And if students are not learning much by doing homework, then really, me as a teacher, needs to consider the why behind any assignment that I give. I don’t think that homework is evil. It prepares the students for college and for what they will be doing to gain further education. But, if it isn’t useful then I would agree with the gent who wrote the article, Orson Scott Card, and then it shouldn’t be used. So, my pledge is to make homework useful and not to drive my students to a deep hatred to learning and to a subject that they love so much. We will see how that goes and if it works.