I would like to briefly reflect upon my teaching experience during my inquiry session on “homework.” I was quite happy with the engaging conversation that emerged through the conversation I had with the class. Teacher candidates were very ready to share personal experiences with homework. It was clear that many TCs find the workload in this program fairly arduous. My main objective in the lesson was to relate to the class that elementary and secondary students feel these same sorts of tensions with homework. One factor which can make the relationship with students and their homework more complicated for youth is the fact that they are developing skills. As adults, for the most part, we have reached the peak of our technical abilities. Going home to practice skills like writing or arithmetic would not have the same benefit to us as it may for young people.
The more I study and think about homework the more I am realizing that there is a place for it. What I learned from our discussion in class was that if we are choosing to assign homework we had better make sure that is of value for our students.
I have included my slides and lesson plan if there is any interest.