Teaching Teachers about Homework

On Saturday, I presented my model, The Homework Trap, at the Voorhees Public Library. I thought it was my most well-received speech so far. It certainly came across better than my last one, where I had a teacher in the audience who was dead-set on emphasizing the fact that her second graders should be doing their homework, and if they don’t, they would have to stay in for recess and lunch. Apparently, one student who had forgotten to do his work one time stayed in for recess one time and from then on, got his work done. She held onto this model despite the fact that she, predictably, has another student for whom her approach simply meant ostracizing the child over and over again.

As I typically do, I looked at my presentation and changed it slightly. Early in the speech, I asked the audience to ponder five statements of Homework: Fact of Fiction.  They were:

1.       Homework is a teaching tool that is well supported by research and tradition.

2.      Homework has intangible value.

3.      Teachers are well trained in the practice of giving homework

4.      Homework is accepted throughout the world

5.      Homework is harmless.

I tried to answer these questions as honestly, and unbiasedly as possible, referring to the positions of homework advocates as well as homework critics. As those who have followed my writings know, my main point is that homework is harmful, at least to homework-trapped children and their families, so my last question segued well into what I typically say.

I’m sharing this because I strongly believe that “being right,” is not as important as being effective, and that a primary frustration for parents who oppose homework is that they feel powerless over the system. I recall a friend who told me about his efforts to get his son homework relief (a boy who, by the way, excelled in college despite the fact that he had difficulties with homework as a youth). He came to school with mounds of information documenting the problems with homework. He ran into an unmovable wall. Being right did not help his son.

I think teachers, like most people, get their backs up when parents and other non-teachers (like me) tell them they are wrong, and that a major piece in effecting change is to highlight the sense that we are on the same side. You don’t get there by categorically challenging an individual’s deeply ingrained beliefs, particularly when they relate to the person’s professional field.

I don’t know that I’ve offered the perfect “facts or fictions” that parents can use to turn people around, and it may be that the long term solution lies in convincing others to devote teacher development days to training in the theory, research and practice of giving homework. It can be a tough sell to get teachers to think of homework as an area for continuing study. Several months ago, I mentioned the fact that I had read a question posed the Scholastic Teacher Facebook page asking teachers what they would consider their ideal teacher development day program. My comment was close to the 200^th given and I noted that, although I’m not a teacher, I was struck by the fact that among nearly 200 comments, not one teacher suggested homework as a topic for further development.

Considering all the conversations I’ve had with teachers over the years, it seems to me that the most convincing point I ever make is when I point out to teachers that they were never taught to give homework. Before I make this point, a typical reaction I hear from teachers is that I am wrong. Once they realize that they are being mandated to do something they were never taught to do, it creates cognitive dissonance and a shift in the way they think about the topic.

As a parent, you’re in an odd position trying to teach teachers about their field. Yet, teachers are in an odd position being required to do something they actually know very little about. I think progress in the homework debate will come from honoring the fact that teachers want to be good teachers, that they believe in education, and that they have been unfairly deprived of training in giving homework.

_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

 

Homework policy

I came across this homework policy for a middle school in Nebraska. It seems quite similar to the policies that affected my kids when they were in school. The policy was a non-issue for two of my kids, and was a disaster for my other child. Just as happened with our school, the policy proved highly punitive, as if strong armed tactics and coercion could produce a positive result.

The principal who posts this blog prefaces his policy by saying, "There are a myriad of reasons for this (increased social life, athletics, extracurricular commitments and simply more homework)" [note: this refers to homework completion problems], while overlooking the most important reason why middle school children do not do their work. In general, it is an under-the-radar learning problem that causes the problem. The supposed ten minute assignment takes the homework noncompliant student twenty, twenty -- forty, and so forth. By middle school, the student gets homework from five different teachers which he manages at the start by doing all of his work for some of his teachers, none for the others. Eventually, as pressure to do the work increases and consequences as described here kick in, the student turns off and does nothing at all.

Once we realize the nature of these underlying learning problems (usually in working memory and processing speed), we realize that we have to forego the concept of "homework completion," and replace it with time-bound homework that is accepted whether finished or not it is done.

The other key piece involves recognition of parents as the heads of their homes. There is an arrogancy in this policy in that it presumes to tell parents what they are required to do rather than suggest options that might be helpful. In the end, homework takes place in the home, not in the class, and this is borrowed time and space. While most parents will agree to homework and support the schools, when problems arise, it is critically important that the parent be the one who has the final say.

A final word that is separate from this article is that teachers have an obligation, if they are to assign it, to study homework. To the best of my knowledge, no school of education has a class called "homework." There is a dearth of continuing education programs for teachers on homework. It is imperative that teachers teach themselves the theory, research, and practice of homework giving. It is the minimum that we require of all professionals. I'm a psychologist who does therapy and psychological testing. You can be assured that when I went to graduate school, I took several courses in therapy and testing, and that I have access to numerous courses in my field for continuing education. Why don't we find this in teacher education?

*****

Dr. Kenneth Goldberg, is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Teachers, and Students, published by Wyndmoor Press.

 I recommend giving copies of the book to the teachers at your child's school. Discount purchases are available through Wyndmoor Press. Single copies can be purchased at Amazon.

Are teachers trained or born?

In today’s Washington Post Answer Sheet, there is an article “Are teachers born (not made)?” which question the emphasis being placed on teacher education. The article suggests that there is something inherent in an individual, something that person possesses from a very young age that destines them to be a good teacher. I get that in a way. I think I was born to be a mathematician. I excelled in math throughout school, majored in math at Tulane University and won the Glendy Burke award for being the top math student in my college class. I went on to obtain admission to Columbia University as a National Science and Woodrow Wilson Fellow for graduate studies in mathematics. There is no doubt that much of what I understand and could do was a gift, not something I was taught in school. Of course, I could never have succeeded at Columbia without having had courses in mathematics, and the fact is, today, over thirty five years later, I don’t recall a lot of what I learned. I doubt that I could solve theorems like I did before. I chose to become a psychologist and it is clear to me that there is an underpinning of the natural mathematician in me in my work as a psychologist. I see things from a different angle than some of my colleagues and I can root that in my prior experience as a mathematician. That said, I could not function as a psychologist without the training I had in graduate school and I could not have functioned as a mathematician, if that is what I had chosen to do, without courses in mathematics. And the reality is, there are lots of people in math or math related fields who may not have been as natural at it as me, but still work in those fields and contribute with what they do. After all, we don’t just need great teachers, we need a lot of good teachers, too. We need trained teachers, and along the way, we’ll get a few great ones.

But let’s get back to teacher training and the specifics of what teachers do, and on that score, I am shocked and dismayed by the dearth of preparation teachers get in the theory, research, and practice of homework. Perhaps, your child’s great teacher was just born with a gift for relating to kids in a very special way. God knows it’s not me. I may be bright, but if I taught school, I think I would need to work at it hard. 20+ kids in a room every day, I’m booking the other way. That doesn’t mean I could not have learned and adapted to the setting with time. But it’s not what I chose nor what I think would have been natural for me.

But let’s take that “great” teacher, the natural-born one. How does that teacher know what to do about homework? I’m sure there are many excellent teachers who have learned over the years that homework has less value than it was touted to have and that it has some truly negative effects on children.  But what does that teacher do on the first day of class of the first year he or she is teaching? The fact that she may be destined for an excellent career which will evolve over time does not mean she is excellent that first day. She needs to know what to do and she needs to know what to do about our general societal expectation that she give out homework assignments. And as she proceeds down the path of a sterling career, she is vested with huge amounts of power to make decisions about what will go on in her students’ homes.

As those who follow my writing know, I’m a psychologist, not an educator, and I focus on homework since that is the primary issue related to school that comes to my attention. People don’t bring their children to me because they had trouble with a subject in school. People come to me when they are pulling out their hair, sandwiched between their child’s insurgency and unrelenting demands that are coming from the school. So there may be many issues that are critical for the budding, albeit natural-born teacher, to learn in school to get her up to speed. Please, let’s start adding homework to the curriculum and let’s wise up teachers to the fact that no matter how important you think tonight’s assignment may be, you are still operating on someone else’s turf.

*****

Dr. Kenneth Goldberg, is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Teachers, and Students, published by Wyndmoor Press.

 I recommend giving copies of the book to the teachers at your child's school. Discount purchases are available through Wyndmoor Press. Single copies can be purchased at Amazon.