Regarding Homework...

Why do teachers give homework?

I was a middle school classroom teacher for the first eleven years of my teaching practice. The longer I taught, the less homework I assigned. That's not to say I didn't give students assignments--but they rarely had to do them at home. I'm curious about how teachers use homework, and what role it really plays in students' learning.

It seems to me that teachers generally assign homework because they feel some pressure to do so. They may put that pressure on themselves; they believe that assigning homework for their students will afford the practice they need to master certain content or skills. Others feel pressure from colleagues: "The other 6th grade teachers are assigning homework...so I guess I should too!" Others may feel pressure from parents who don't want their kids left behind somehow. Still others may feel pressure from their school or district; there may be school- or district-wide policies in place requiring a certain amount of homework at different grade levels.

The argument often goes that homework will improve achievement--that students will learn more if they have homework.

PBS LearningMedia

Great online curriculum resource to share with you here: PBS LearningMedia.

A selection, just for examples: (with suggested grade levels)

• An interactive introduction to chemistry (6-12)
• An interactive means of helping students understand topographical maps (6-12)
• A video interview with Brian Selznick, author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret (4-7)
• A video of ideas for building structures from recycled materials (PreK-5)
• A "President for a Day" game to help students understand the many parts of the President's job (3-8)

And this is just the tip of the iceberg! There are thousands of video clips, interactives, games, and lesson plan ideas. You can search by keyword, or browse by grade level, subjects, standards, or collections to find just the right tool to support your students' learning.

You can check out a few items to see if it's the sort of thing you'd use, and then you are asked to create a free account if you want to use more. Totally worth it! (Plus, it's free!)

No matter what grade level or subject you teach, you're likely to find something here that you and your students will find interesting!

Thinking about Thinking

The Thinker by Rodin

Those of you who read my blog regularly may have noticed by now that I often include statements like, "I've been thinking a lot lately about <insert topic here>..."

I didn't realize this at first--how often I use this phrase. But I occasionally go back and reread posts and I slowly came to realize that I must think a lot! (At least, my writing here seems to indicate it.)

And as I reflect on this, I really do. Think a lot, that is.

The Problem with Averaging Grades

It is common practice for teachers to calculate grades for their students by "averaging." That is, teachers add up the points students have been assigned for their work, and divide by the number of points possible. Mathematically, that's what "averaging" is--computing the mean for a data set.

For example, imagine that a student received the following marks on assignments throughout the term:

92, 84, 87, 60, 88, 89

Calculating the mean (average) would entail adding up these numbers:

92 + 84 + 87 + 60 + 88 + 89 = 500

The Bucket-O-Points Approach to Grading

This year marks my 15th as an educator. Some things about my teaching practice have changed dramatically over that time; I'm the sort who continues to tinker and experiment with my classroom practice, because I'm sure I can get better. My thinking about the meaning and purpose of assessment has definitely shifted over these years. I've been thinking a lot about assessment lately, and I've been having conversations with colleagues about assessment for several years now. It boils down to the fact that I'm concerned with how letter grades are used.

When I started teaching, I was a junior high math and high school computer applications teacher. Being a "math guy," I was all about intricate calculations and statistical analysis of my students' grades. I had programmed a spreadsheet to do my calculations, weighting different categories, and even color coding so I would know at a glance what grades students were getting. ("A" = Green, "B" = Yellow, "C" = Orange, "D" or "F" = Red)

Looking back now, I call my approach then the "Bucket-O-Points" approach to grading.

Oh, Letter Grades...What Shall We Do With You?

The idea of assigning a letter as a means of measuring a student's learning is really kind of crazy if you think about it.

The trouble is, we don't usually think about it. We accept this as a "normal" part of school...because it's such a common practice, it feels normal, right?

But think for a moment about what that letter really represents. Think about report card grades: condensing a whole term's worth of learning into one symbol. Doesn't that strike you as a pretty outrageous reduction?

Rock Star Teachers

U2 Image by Wikipedia Brown CC BY 2.5

Okay, short rant here:

I really, really dislike the term "Rock Star Teachers." If you follow anything education-related on Twitter, you're sure to see this term pop up--and probably on a daily basis. And it rubs me the wrong way, every time. I can't even articulate exactly why it ruffles me so much...probably just because it sets some teachers up as the "big show" with all the lights and noise and paparazzi...with others waiting in the wings, the warm-up show, the ones not good enough to get top billing. Or not good enough to even get onstage.

All right, rant over. But I'm still thinking about this.

Maybe I don't like the term because I (selfishly) want people to describe me that way, and I worry that they won't. I want the adoring fans. I want to be Bono or the Edge...but I think I'm probably more like John and John from They Might be Giants...or more likely, the backup rhythm guitarist of a 4-chord cover band.