The Homework Debate: One Teacher's Perspective

I normally only post nerdy ideas regarding chemistry teaching, tech hacks, and a myriad of other random things related to STEM education. However, after reading the recent debates regarding the efficacy and appropriattness of homework online this past week, I feel a need to comment. Before I begin, I'm just going to out myself directly and say I DO assign homework. I assign homework after every class period. I enjoy incorporating homework into my practice and find it meaningful, for my practice. With that said, this post is meant to be a response to the superlative and polarizing conversation I am observing regarding homework. More importantly, the oversimplification of a very nuanced pedagogical strategy. Below are my thoughts regarding the major arguments against homework I have read. 

Argument 1: Equity at home.

• Teachers work extremely hard. Teachers love what they do, and care deeply about their students. I will always work from this hypothesis when thinking about, or interacting with, other teachers. I don't care if this is not true for ALL teachers. I choose this lens, as I'm in community with my fellow teachers. Those who have arrived and those who continue to grow. I put myself in the later category btw. Keeping this reference frame in mind, the art of teaching also involves relationships. Getting to know your students. Respecting them and their situations. A teacher who assigns homework without consideration to the type of assignment, or the potential reaction at home is still growing in his or her relationships with his or her students. The deeper and more interesting lesson, I feel, is one around critical thinking, time management, and resource utilization. If a teacher, in employing his or her art, feels work outside of the classroom is necessary, helping students figure out how to leverage resources in his or her community, with his or her peers, or with the myriad of other adults in the school community, is a deeper and more contextual response in my opinion. Simply saying "No homework. Never", I feel, disrespects the intention of the teacher, and the content, unique context, that each classroom sits in and each student embodies.

Argument 2: Use of classroom time.

• In a recent debate on twitter, a teacher said the following to me: "If it's so important, make time for it in class." While easy to say, I am confident that my fellow teachers can agree that this statement also is a deep oversimplification of the art of teaching. I also feel this statement is dangerously hypocritical. I am confident that the same teacher who would condemn homework, believes, as do I, that class time should be used for activities of that require collaboration, argument, iteration, etc. Activities that could be categorized as "Higher Order" or "Higher Bloom's". That being said, as a teacher of a discipline that does require much skill assimilation, automation, etc., there is not always time in class to provide time for "reps" (as my friend and colleague Jon Corripo would say). My students need to balance equations, lots of them. Do mole conversations, lots of them. Draw Lewis Structures, lots of them. They need these things, as much as they need to feel empowered about chemistry, ask good questions and make interesting things. It's part of the whole picture, and the art of teaching. In my classroom, there is just not enough time in class for all of this. So, I treat my lesson plan book as my canvas, and create a work of art, that does, at time, off-load activities, "work", out of the regularly scheduled classroom. How I assess those things, or don't, is a completely different story, and again, points to the extreme difficulty, albeit, danger, in polarizing this debate.

Argument 3: Students stress.

• This argument is one that really hits home for me. I have four children. The oldest just beginning to bring home homework (in first grade), and she is SO excited about it. I also teach 160 high school students, who, often times feel dominated and destroyed by the level of homework in all of their classes. Students come in all different sizes, ages, etc. I feel even silly writing that, as it sounds so preachy. But it's true. Homework can be overused and I am by no means trying to say it's good, or bad, or that all teacher's should embrace it, or throw it away. What I do know, is that from an educators perspective, at the high school level, with my specific group of students, in inner-city San Francisco, on the corner of Gough and Ellis street, in room 201, on the 2nd floor of the Lasalle campus, homework, even in the context of their stress, has contributed to a deeper and more conceptual, holistic and empowering understanding of chemistry. I also know that some of my colleagues on the third floor, fourth, fifth and sixth, and even those down on the first could says the same thing. I know those teachers, so I can say it. I know those students too, I have strong relationships with them. They are super stressed. Stressed about many things. College, life, alcohol, drugs, relationships, school, homework, etc. To create a direct cause and effect relationships between homework and stress again oversimplifies the situation at hand.

Argument 4: Student passion. Student play.

• By far the most predominant argument agains homework I read online is one that stresses the need for outside of school time to be used freely by a student. To explore. Play. Build. Hike. Fish. Sports. Be normal. Not think about school. Etc. I AGREE COMPLETELY with these arguments. Again, this is not a pro-homework blog post. However, I also know, that just last week, I got a bunch of emails from students, at crazy hours of the night asking me question about Autodesk Fusion360, a 3D modeling software we used in class to build molecular shapes in the hopes of 3D printing those shapes in the coming weeks. The students were so pumped up about the activity, at least 60% (and that's not exaggerating) when HOME and continued to explore the software. Many of them said: "Mr. M, nothing is assigned for tonight, is it ok that I'm emailing you with questions.". I could go on and on about times this happens in my discipline. Chemistry is exciting and we do lots of cool stuff. They get pumped up about that cool stuff and want to do it at home. They also will say things like: "Our quiz is tomorrow and I need some more practice. Can you send me some problems." All of these things, to me, are indicators of good teaching. The same good teaching my colleagues at my school, and around the country, employ. Those emails make me proud, not upset because they are doing work at home. They developing learning, to quote Dr. Carol Dweck, a "Growth Mindset." Or to quote Dr. Angela Duckworth, learning to negative the space where passion and "Grit" overlap.

Conclusions For me, homework is a complex and controversial aspect of our vocation because of the reasons (and many more) stated above. With that said, I also firmly believe, that well intentioned, growing, and passionate teachers, understand their discipline, environmental context and most importantly, students, well enough to see the homework debate as a spectrum, one that has some good points to make, and one that does not. For me, I am not a fan of anything that uses superlative statement in a career that is so nuanced. Students aren't electrons or plants. Neither are teachers. That's what makes the social sciences so great! We can plan, and research, and grow, but in the end, our relationships with our students will guide the decisions we make. Teaching is an art. I alluded to assessment above, and I think that is one feature of teaching that should be incorporated into all conversations about homework.  Keeping that in mind, and the knowledge that I AM JUST ONE TEACHER among millions, I want to share my homework strategy, because this is my blog, where I share ideas :).

As a chemistry teacher, I assign a problem set from our book for homework over the course of one learning cycle (usually about two weeks).. Usually about 30 problems. We use our time in class for negotiating lab phenomena, asking and answering conceptual questions. We also use our class time for negotiating and working together on VERY difficult problems. When a two week "learning cycle" is over, students take a quiz. The quiz looks very similar to the problems from the practice set and the phenomena discussed in class. I DO NOT GRADE HOMEWORK. However, the students work through it because it helps them prepare for the assessment. I give traditional assessment because I believe in the skills it builds in students, and for that reason, all of our  questions are short answer, and ask students to think critically through situations. This is true for my AP AND non-AP sections.

When that is all said and done, students write a blog post where they reflect on the homework problems, those they understand and didn't, the labs in class, and the quiz. Click here to see my students's blogs. In addition to the quiz, this blog is the only other thing I grade. I care about their reflection, not checking off their "reps". This process, I feel, models what we want from our students. We want them to develop a Growth Mindset. We want them to reflect. We want them to publish their work and be strong digital citizens. All of these things can't be reserved forthe 50 minutes that I have them in class. Homework is a simple term, for a complex phenomena, and is just one facet of the vocation. I challenge all of my colleagues to respect the art of teaching, as deep attention to that, will create a culture of meaningful work, some which will naturally seep outside of the regularly scheduled classroom time. That's just MY opinion. Thanks for reading :).