The student consensus about homework was a 50/50 split. Some students felt that homework is a beneficial tool that allows them to practice the ideas they have learned in class, but others felt that homework only adds unnecessary stress. We have heard from the students, but now it is time to hear the teacher’s standpoint on whether or not homework is a set and valuable learning tool at Oliver Ames.
¨Generally, this is a big question that teachers have wrestled with for a long time¨ Mr. Auger of the History department states. He expresses ¨good homework can be a tremendously powerful and valuable tool for both skill building and for internalizing content from the curriculum, and it is prioritized so it is not something that students are staying up all night to complete.¨ He adds ¨homework is done with a purpose and that purpose is to practice skills and reinforce content standards to help students succeed as they work to master the curriculum.¨
A handful of teachers stand by this statement and feel that homework is supposed to prepare students for future course lessons and class discussions.
Mrs. Frydman, a Science teacher states “I definitely believe that homework is beneficial. In chemistry, the overarching ideas build off of one another throughout the school year which is why it is so important for students to increase their understanding of the topics on their own as well as in class.”
The goal of homework is not to burden students, rather, it is assigned to help students practice the skills that they have learned in order to internalize and master the material. Although some teachers agree that there is a set flow when it comes to homework, other teachers do not agree with that statement.
Mr. Schussler, an English teacher at OA states ¨I think we are very inconsistent at OA with homework philosophies, and I think we could do a far better job as a school to define homework and draw up some expectations and guidelines for assigning it.¨ He includes ¨some students receive 60-90 minutes or more of homework a night, and as a parent, that would frustrate me, especially if I viewed some of it as busy work.¨
There is definitely some disagreement on whether or not there is or should be a set philosophy that every teacher should follow because every subject and class is different.
Ms. Cleary, a History teacher emphasizes “I think you create a slippery slope if you make a definitive homework philosophy at Oliver Ames because all of our students have different needs and abilities and thus a “one size fits all model” would not work.” She adds “for example, if the school stated we could only give students homework once a week, I would drastically fall behind in the curriculum for AP Psychology, and this would lead many of the students to perform poorly on the AP Exam in May.”
As expressed, harder courses require a different amount of homework, and it all just depends on the teacher and their teaching style. Other teachers agreed with this breakdown.
Mrs. Frydman replies “I believe that each teacher should assign homework at their own pace because different subjects require different types of work and by allowing each teacher to focus on the ultimate skills they want students to gain from a homework assignment, students will benefit more from the assignment itself.” She includes “ I like to assign homework that does not just repeat the ideas taught in class, but builds off of those ideas and lets the student think about that concept in a different way, so I hope that students complete a homework assignment with more knowledge on a given topic than what they began the assignment with.”
The majority of teachers assign homework with a purpose of expanding student’s knowledge on certain topics and ideas, but not every teacher finds daily homework meaningful.
“Overall I do not give very much homework, about an hour a week on average because I never like to give homework just to give homework,” Mr. Mulcahy said. “Sometimes, I feel teachers give homework because the paradigm is that schools give homework, so we should just give homework. I think there are some things that just need to be practiced and make homework more necessary, but overall a lot of the homework may cause more stress than designed, and therefore is not necessary for mastery.”
It is clear that some teachers have opposing views on homework while others have been able to agree on certain aspects, but that is expected considering the varying subjects and course levels offered at Oliver Ames. Hopefully students will be able to better understand why some teachers give out more homework than others, but also notice that the homework assigned by teachers is not meant to be detrimental.