This past Wednesday, Peter Cameron invited Connie Hamilton and Starr Sackstein to co-moderate our January 18th #ONedchat on the topic of their new book Hacking Homework. Here is the archive in case you missed it. It was a rich discussion that I can’t get out of my mind. I had been looking forward to the chat, but I didn’t realize the kind of thinking it would generate in me.
When I was previewing the questions for the Hacking Homework chat, I became nostalgic. The question that began the discussion was, “As a student, how did you think about and approach homework.” I flashed back to casual homework hangouts, long phone calls to share answers and a lot of filling in the blanks. I recalled book Reports and novel studies for which I often rushed through a lot of the content or searched for the Coles notes version (that surely just dated me). At first, I was smiling at the memories. Then, the tone of my recall changed when I thought about the fighting with my parents and the endless struggle to separate homework from my feelings of self-worth. I bobbed between functional moments with homework and that sinking feeling. It was Math that almost drowned me.
Words problems were my Achilles heal, though I had no problem with words anywhere else in life. I had good number sense but very little mathematical reasoning and a lot of trouble eliminating the extraneous details in the questions. No amount of rigour could help me improve my word problem skills. At every grade level, I faced the fear of my inadequacy in Math that evolved into a full math phobia by Grade 11. How many word problems can it take to kill a child’s confidence?
On Monday, I introduced Master Storyteller 2 to my Grade 4 class. The rest of the week, they spent time on their own and in discussion with their parents, friends and siblings considering the visual they would be creating (as component of this iteration of the tri-BOB) without being deterred by the commitment. Of all the grades from 3-8 where I have used BOBs, few students even consider the time investment. As I explore how to bridge my beliefs and actions in terms of homework, I take comfort in my Building Outside the Blocks projects as the mechanism for self-directed learning that they are. While the bulk of preparation for these projects transpires at home, it feels like something chosen by the student for the student, with a lot less dread and fear on average. When a project ignites something in you, the work you do at home feels less onerous and more like the time needed to work towards something that you value.
Homework should be purposeful and promote learning. The conversation we had on Wednesday left me really unsure about whether or not all the homework I assign my students are congruent with my core values. I will have to think a lot more about this by questioning the tasks I assign in view of my true pedagogical beliefs. Homework has a lot of value if the teacher and the student value the work done at home. If not, then maybe it is for naught and is worth rethinking.
Homework is one of those polarizing issues in education. For so many teachers and other stakeholders, homework is perceived as a necessary and invaluable part of learning. For others, it is a reflection of using old-school approaches, which have no proven value, because we have always done it that way. As Carol Varsalona shared during the chat, it’s the dreaded Ttwwadi (That's the way we've always done it).
Can work outside of school be more than something to keep student learning and esteem afloat? There is an invaluable residual effect when students extend learning engagement to their home lives and see work at home as something that deepens learning and improves skills. Students would remember the joys of learning, because they wouldn't even realize they were doing it, instead of the dread of the kind of homework that causes friction and stress. How can teachers help ensure that their home work isn't leading students to the dark side? I am on a never ending journey to consider new perspectives and explore my own. For now, I will keep BOBbing through homework while I reevaluate the merit of the rest of it.
