Not that you’re intransigent or anything. :)

And I must admit that I want to believe that homework is both misassigned and largely useless. I’m going to read your earlier posting and try to make some sense of the larger argument.

One counter to the “those who need it will do it, those who won’t, won’t” (paraphrasing badly, I know) is that homework completion (or lack thereof) still provides a record to indignant parents. At least this way a teacher can say “I assigned it, they didn’t come for help, or otherwise help themselves.” That makes it their problem, as a parent.

As for classroom management, I’m afraid I’ve been misunderstood. My fault, I didn’t express myself clearly. I’d say (and others have said) that I have a great classroom situation. Lot’s of on task behaviour, lots of noise and confusion, when that’s appropriate.

The “more homework for you” was really a bit of a throw away line, as you point out. (I save extra problem sets to the kidlets who point out my mistakes).

And I entirely agree with your assessment that we should be able to outwit them. Most of the time.

Thanks for reading and holding me to the standard!

Alexi

Anyway, for whatever a math teacher’s opinion is worth, I’m on board with Lit classes sending reading home. I’m not exactly sure why it seems definitively different than a math problem set, except that it seems an essential use of time as well as low-impact enough that I wouldn’t stress about kids maximizing the experience or botching the process.

“One more word,” you hear yourself say, “and you’ll write an essay on this for homework. For a test grade.”

And then you realize that you just said it in your head, that your internal monologue has remained just that, and you sigh, chalk up the day to spring fever or whatever, and maintain your sanity.

That being said, I do my best to 1) ensure all reading and writing is worth the students’ time (i.e., nothing even resembling “busy work”) and 2) keep things balanced by considering other obligations and interests that occupy their after-school time. And never in punishment.

What’s worse about “homework-as-punishment” is the negative associations it builds between the student and the work. When teachers assign an essay or some other kind of writing as “punishment,” it infuriates me. In one stroke of the pen, they wipe out months of effort I’ve been pouring into helping the student see writing as a source of pleasure and a chance for self-discovery and genuine communication.

Sometimes, too, I’ll ask that anyone who didn’t say anything in class write a quick blog entry about what’s on their mind after the discussion wrapped up, where they’d like it to go tomorrow, etc.

I don’t, though, assign vocab sentences, fill-in-the-map exercise, or anything like that. Not even as punishment. I’ve found that the longer I’ve taught and the more confident I’ve become in my methods, the less I’ve had to even worry about punishment. In a high school like this one, where something like 140%* of students go to four-year colleges, the failing grades are punishment enough, especially for second-semester juniors and first-semester seniors.

* This might be an approximation.

When I assign homework, it’s mostly because we can’t read and discuss everything in class. Since the discussion must take place in class, it’s often the reading they take home. That’s a huge battle I’m fighting and trying to sort out this year: how do we read and discuss in class? If we read in class, we spend the whole time reading. Then when do we discuss? Reading in class means at least 1 extra day for every short story we read, add several weeks to every novel.

Still, much like where we left the NCLB discussion, the reasons you have for homework (or not) need to be sound. Assigning it as a punishment for behavior in class is irresponsible and completely without pedagogical foundation. If homework is to be assigned, it should somehow support classroom instruction. If it does anything else, rethink it. There’s a strong case to be made against homework. Maybe kids would like school more if there was no homework. Maybe teachers would be more focused without it, too.