TEACHERS ONLY!! Teachers, why do you give homework? Why do you believe you should give it?

Question

Hi, i am a student. In my class we are doing argument and debate. My debate team is doing the pro side of no homework. We need to do some reasearch to support our case. we started today. we need some factual data. I was wondering if you teachers could tell me why you assign homework and why you think you should. I believe you should but not too much. i didn't choose the topic. Thank you. :)

Answer 1

Homework extends the learning. Everyone needs to practice a skill before it is truly learned. Experts recommend mass practice followed by distributed practice. In math, for example, that means that you learn a process in class, do a lot of problems using the process for several days, then go back and review it at a later time.



Time is another factor in the need to assign homework. Class time is not long enough for most students to attain mastery.



Sometimes homework (like projects, videos, and reports) allows a student to demonstrate creativity and showcase abilities that are not assessed in the classroom.



Homework also shows the teacher the amount of self motivation a student has.

Answer 2

You have been given the blade of the knife to hold on, and your opponents will try to cut you and your mates into threads! Ofcourse you did not choose to be in this situation, but that does not mean your opponents won't take advantage of their favourable position. Life is unfair!



Now, that's said. How will you do well and avoid being cut into threads? How can you run an effective debate if you are put into the disadvantaged place before the debate even starts?



The normal mistake is to fire up with stuff like "loss of innocence", "loss of time to play", "loss of childhood", ... If you keep appealing for sympathy, you can only go that far until your arguments collapse. It's also a loosing game to appeal to statistics as your opponents will have better stats than you can ever get. I bet if you adopt president Bush's strategy (attack first, ask question later) you will fail and look messy like Iraq before your opponents are done with their cutting.



My advise is to be moderate. You should accept that some homework is important. Then you attempt to prove that you are wrong by trying to be sympathetic to the arguments provided by your opponents. Then prove that only a balanced amount of homework set by responsible teachers would be beneficial, otherwise homework becomes boring chores and negative. Then you propse what is the right balance.



In this game you can only hope for a tie with your team being the one that have thorougly done your "home work"! Ironic but true. You need to do your home work well on this one to show that your team is superior.

Answer 3

I am a first year teacher, in Northern Alaska. I assign homework for two reasons. The first is to allow the student a chance to practice using what they have learned, especially in math. For elementary students this is important because it helps them memorize the math facts they need to succeed later in school. In other subjects, I will assign homework to assess what they have learned that day. This will tell me if we need to continue on the subject or if we can move ahead. Oh, I do assign homework for one other reason. Time is a big issue in classrooms. Sometimes there is not enough time to finish project in class. To make it go quicker, I might assign one part of it as homework. When the students come prepared, the project proceeds much quicker without taking up valuable class time. I hope this helps.

Answer 4

As a teacher, I give homework for 3 reasons:



1. To reinforce what the child has learned during the day;



2. To give them a sense of accomplishment;



3. So I can hear 27 reasons why they didn't do the

homework in the first place. (I call that creative thought)

Answer 5

I give homework for three reasons:



1. To revise: Just like athletes need to practise if they expect to become good at sport, students need to practise to excel at school.



2. To extend: Students who understand a concept can go beyond what I can cover in class through more challenging questions in their homework.



3. To inform: In a perfect world, home and school life shouldn't be completely separate. Parents should have an idea of what the children are learning, and homework is an easy way to show that.



As you say, homework should be balanced - I personally think a lot of teachers go overboard with it. I hope your debate goes well.

Answer 6

As a tutor, I recommend doing the homework the teacher assigns because it's practice.

Repetition is so important and honestly, you usually find out that you don't get something while doing your homework... better then than during your test... right?



(But sometimes I think they use their powers for evil instead of good and torture students with way too much.)

Answer 7

HOMEWORK IS VERY IMPORTANT! oddly enuff...... the more you see, hear and do things the better you get! THAT GOES FOR EVERYTHING IN LIFE! if you tried to succed from only what you retain in class, you will not be very successful. people are geniuses because they use their FULL brain.

there is an old saying ..."if you dont use it you loose it".

-think about the things you have done with your life so far and think about what things you have perfected. i know there was some level of PRACTICE to get there.

-not even the 'professional' athletes, singers, musicians, dancers, writers...etc. cna become who they are without practice.

-and to make it even better..... the earlier you start the easier it is. IF NOTHING ELSE - KNOW THIS- 'MEN PERISH FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE'.

put yourself to the test on a difficult subject. one day dont do your homework and when you go to class see how much you retained from the day before. then another day do your homework and .... you get the point!

Answer 8

As a H.S. science teacher, the reason why I give homework is to provide structured studying at home. Most of my students won't study, even when I tell them they need to. Because of this they suffer in learning the material. The homework I give is usually quite simple, sometimes projects...but all designed to force students to study. :)

Answer 9

The best reason to give homework is to teach students to be independent and to problem solve on their own. In the real world you must be able to rely on your own skills and to stick with a job until completion. Homework really doesn't have as much to do with the subject as it does with learning life-skills of resourcefulness, cooperation, and team work.

Answer 10

as others mentioned repetition is a great way to learn and understand concepts



but homework also helps build focus and study skills.



when children exit into the real world they will need to have the focus and ability to apply themselves in their work environment without being side tracked



it helps build logic skills and critical thinking skills to puzzle over problems a few minutes and builds confidence when they are able to find the correct answer themselves



p.s

it also helps to identify the best students so that you can spend more time with those who are welling to apply themselves and take their education seriously instead of mucking about with the common folk

Answer 11

I give my students home work so that they can learn to study independently without me being there all the time to guide them.

I hope this teaches them responsibility so they can grow to enjoy the freedom of gaining knowledge by themselves.

Many educational institutions spend much time building only the frame work for the students. Many students and teachers are satisfied with just the frame work because it is easy and fun.

Doing the research by yourself ,finding out facts , opening books that you will not open in school helps to know they have a right to knowledge and its their duty to grasp the knowledge by themselves for themselves.I will be you guide and you will be the hunter of knowledge outside of school.Hoping that when I meet you years later you still have the curiosity to know.

Answer 12

I feel kind of the same way. I'm not saying that giving out homework isn't a good policy. However, isn't it better than not giving out anything, which is the worst thing for students' education? At least you lose no knowledge while doing homework, dontcha?

Answer 13

The purpose of homework is to help you learn what was taught in class or to gain information by reading and answering questions. One type is reinforcing what was taught in class, another type is studying beyond what was explained in class, and the third type is primarily meant to keep the students busy. In any case, it is necessary to do your homework--and do it well--to get a good grade in the class.

Answer 14

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Answer 15

Mandated by the government. Have to give so many minutes of homework (depending on grade).

Answer 16

Research of the Pros of Homework, Part 1



Research indicates that homework in general is extremely beneficial for students. The supporting research is somewhat dichotomous indicating (1) objective benefits ascertained from standardized test scores, and (2) subjective benefits ascertained from parents, teachers, and the students themselves.



"…[H]omework's effect on achievement can be described most accurately as above average," claims Harris Cooper in "Homework Research and Policy: A Review of Literature." (March 2000) Cooper indicates that, of twenty studies completed since 1962, fourteen are pro-homework. Of fifty studies correlating the time on homework with student achievement, Cooper states that forty-three of the studies showed students who did homework had better achievement. A typical homework-completing high school student, according to Cooper's research, will outperform students who do not do homework by 69% on standardized tests.



Debbie Reese in "Homework: What Does Research Say?", reinforces the data presented by Cooper. She also adds more data that runs consistent in much of the available data on homework: on standardized tests, homework-completing junior high students outperform homework non-completers by 35%. There seems to be no difference in scores in the elementary grades. (Reese, 1997)



By simply evaluating the effectiveness of homework using behaviorist evaluation techniques such as standardized testing, one can ascertain that the short-term stimulus of assigning homework reaps the long-term response of improved student achievement.



Research of the Pros of Homework, Part 2



In the article "How Important Is Homework," a summary of the U.S. Department of Education's stance on the issue provided by Kid Source Online nicely summarizes the subjective benefits of homework:



It serves as an intellectual discipline, establishes study habits, eases time constraints on the amount of curricular material that can be covered in class, and supplements and reinforces work done in school. In addition, it fosters student initiative, independence, and responsibility, and brings home and school closer together.



Harris Cooper (1994) presents immediate and long-term effects of homework:



Immediate: Students retain information and understand material better. Critical thinking and concept formation are increased. Information processing is improved, and the curriculum in enriched.

Long-term academic: Learning is encouraged during leisure time. Attitude toward school is improved. Study habits and skills are better.

Long-term non-academic: Students have greater self-direction and self-discipline. Time management is easier for students. Students are more inquisitive and participate in more independent problem solving.



Even though the objective statistics claim homework in the elementary level has little effect on testing, Diana Brown suggests that a reasonable amount of homework for younger students has benefits. Self-responsibility is cultivated when a student completes and hands in an assignment, no matter how small. In addition, the simple assignment of reading at home has shown to have a positive effect on student achievement.



Nancy Paulu (2000) indicates that parents can reap benefits from homework, also. The assignment of homework can help them learn about and become involved in their child's education. They can also communicate more with their children and their schools. Perhaps most importantly, parents who promote homework can assist teachers in creating a lifelong love of learning.



http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/plato1/constructhome/page6.html

This site also has cons but I can't copy them.

Answer 17

i'm not a teacher but i'll answer. They give homework because if they didn't kids, would never by themselves do anythig to practice concepts. My nephew would just play games all the time

Answer 18

It helps reinforce concepts learned in the classroom