Teacher beliefs

Here's an article by an experienced teacher who has reevaluated her perspective on homework. I left a comment to her article that I'm posting here:

I think the operative phrase in this post is "I firmly believed in homework every night." Over time and with additional information, you altered that belief just as many teachers have. But let's think about where that belief came from: your training, your life experiences, what other teachers did, your religion? I add religion because I have religious beliefs that I have figured out over the years. They have changed and evolved from the religion I was taught. Most importantly, they are personal beliefs which do not impinge on other people. But homework beliefs do. In your evolution as a teacher and a thinker, you held the power to make decisions in many people's homes based on your beliefs as they had evolved at that time. And those beliefs could render your students' parents helpless in the face of what you required them to do. The difference between and religion and a profession lies in training, and on that score, you and countless teachers have been placed in a position where you were expected to use a method for which you were never adequately trained. Did you have courses in homework in your school of education? Did you have adequate access to continuing education courses on the topic? Did the school where you worked, in presenting its homework policy, offer in-service training on the research, theory and practice of homework? I'm sure the answers are no, and that is why you, and many other teachers, have been in the position of acting on your "beliefs" without the benefit of professional training upon which they could be formed.

_{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.} 

 

A Teacher's Blog Post

I came across a teacher's blog post in which she calls homework "a necessary evil." She refers to time management as well. I posted a comment regarding what may be the true "evil" in homework and about misconceptions teachers having regarding time. Here's the link to the blog and here's the comment I left.

I think we sometimes overlook the number one "evil" about homework and that is that teachers are not taught the theory, research, and practice of homework-giving when they go to school. For a practice that has such large weight on the student's grade and has such a high potential of turning the child permanently off to education, the field actually gives it very little attention, in its schools of education, in its continuing education programs, and on its professional blogs and websites (although a little more on blogs and websites than elsewhere). If teachers studied homework the way they studied other aspects of teaching, there would be far less controversy.

Regarding the issue of time management, it is a misconception that homework teaches time management. It is like a credit card. If you know how to manage your money, you can use a credit card well. If you don't know how to manage your money, you need to give up the credit card and start working with the cash in your pocket, or in your checking account. Homework can only teach time management if students are instructed to stop working after a specific period of time. We need to distinguish our goal of teaching children good study skills for their future success from the notion that simply assigning homework and setting consequences for its not getting done is achieving that educational goal.


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.