My views on homework have changed and evolved over my 20+ years of teaching. I’ve arrived at the conclusion that traditional homework has done nothing to improve my students’ academic performance or their ability to think and learn. In fact, I believe it’s  had somewhat of the opposite effect. When homework piled up, stress increased and students came back to school tired, overwhelmed and burnt out. I also found that students who had little support from parents or guardians with their homework (whether it be assisting them or encouraging them to get it done) tended to come back with it incomplete. This created a large gap in learning for my students who weren’t able to complete their homework.

Today, homework has evolved to home ‘share’. My students are now tasked a couple times a week to share a piece of writing with a parent, solve or explain their solution to a single “real math” problem  or create one of their own. Parents are encouraged to write comments on their child’s work and initial it after their child has shared it with them.  The result? Home ‘work’ is getting done much more consistently by all students within my classroom. Parents say they feel more involved in their child’s learning and the stress level within households has diminished. I’ve also found that creating a section in my blog for parents (Parent’s Page) with links to their child’s learning has done much to improve communication and engagement.

Today, after viewing ‘Homework in America vs Homework in Finland’ I created the above Home ‘work’ assignment and a form where my students can track their progress and reflect on their home ‘work’ after each week. I’m wondering what the implications may be.

Thanks @markbarnes19 for articulating so wonderfully your take on the idea in your podcast “Your Homework Assignment Is to Meditate, Volunteer, or Create” for your#Hack Learning Series! Thanks, also to all of you on Twitter who weighed in on the idea!

The PDF version of the above two visuals can be downloaded! Click on: Home”work”