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So many things that we need students to understand never get to the mastery level because they don’t practice it enough. Homework should be a review of things they have been taught. How did steph curry become such a great shooter?? He didn’t just pick up a basketball on day and say I’m going to be a really good shooter. Instead he practiced and practiced and probably practiced some more. How do student become proficient at math? They practice it on something better known as homework
I’ve asked myself this same question for so many years. I try to give only a handful of problems and then go over them as a quick opener for class. We only have 42 minutes to teach math and there really isn’t enough time to do practice problems with the complex 8th grade math curriculum. Therefore, these few problems let me know who needs more help. I wish I could do away with homework too but I don’t see how it’s possible. It does cause me a lot of time and stress trying to keep up with it all. I’d love to hear from more math teachers and see what they say!
I have an idea. What do you think about having students complete practice exercises in class? You can see what students really know. Homework could be having students watch videos or complete remedial exercises at home. I plan on doing that for this year.
I don’t believe in homework.
I don't have a good answer, but I have pondered this and my conclusions are as follows.
For typical students, it is ineffective. If they don't understand, what good is homework that they can't do? And if they do understand, it becomes busy work. Students who are independent learners seem to do well with homework. They are curious, and willing to try to figure out new looks for the day's skills. Those students make up a smaller percentage of my classes than they used to.
I note OP teaches elementary. Arithmetic problems do make sense to give as homework. They are straightforward calculating problems that force students to practice their math facts. Students do increase many skills practicing these.
Algebra is a different animal. I tend to minimize homework and give LOTS of quizzes. "Here is what we learned today. Do these problems and hand them in for a grade."
I don’t give homework. However, I do provide a practice set of problems that is optional. I provide solutions to those problems the next day and they can self check their work. I really believe that students should spend after school time with their families and extra curricula activity like sports or learning to play an instrument. I provide the practice set to mostly satisfy parents who seem to think it makes me “lazy” if I don’t. Also, some administrations look unfavorably upon the teachers that don’t assign homework. I also do not assign projects or “ packets” over school breaks. There are studies that support no homework. They all conclude that students do not perform any better when assigned homework than those who were not assigned homework.
I do exactly what you do and find my students do very well in the next year’s class. Not that state tests are the be all and end all measure of what student knows, my students results always show grow and are above the state’s.
I find that most homework tends to be fairly rote, but I think an application question related to the concept would be good because then the kids are thinking about the actual concepts and they are not just repeating some memorized procedure.
Mixed review application problems I’ve always felt are the best
Tough question. One of the challenges with math is that it’s primarily skill-based. We don’t ask students to memorize dates and events or compare them with other dates and events. We ask them to acquire specific skills and then apply pattern recognition to use those skills in problem solving. Skill-based abilities require practice. Other skill-based examples would include speaking a foreign language, whittling, crochet, soccer, public speaking, etc.
The question then becomes this: When do you get students to practice?
If it’s simple enough or review problems, I tend to assign it as homework. New concepts or more difficult problems get a mix. I encourage students to tackle story problems and application problems in class. I try to give them enough time (“try” is the operative word here) in class to do all or most. Leftover problems (review or practice) can be done at home or the next day. It’s not a perfect system, but it seems to work for most.
I have a colleague who does a completely flipped classroom. All lectures are online. Class time is for doing all the practice problems. That works until you get the students who don’t have phones/computers/internet, so he is currently reevaluating.
Try TEACHER MADE. It grades the homework for you and you can allow students to reflect and make corrections. Turns a pdf into a digital worksheet. Love it!!! You can allow them to see correct answers too.
I know my students well. I look at their 4th grade end of the year data before they even come to 5th grade. Students who need more instruction time will have less homework to do or it will be scaffolded to meet their needs . Students who are not independent will get the main lesson and 60 minutes of math homework for the week. I collect homework weekly rather than daily and it includes everything else not just math.
I teach high school math. I grade for "completion", which means if you tried all the problems, I'm pretty happy, but there is grace if it wasn't perfect. We check in class and discuss difficult problems.
A little for 4th grade is fine. Give them time in class to start on it. Call them practice problems, which is really what they are.
Kids are already in school 8 hours a day. That's enough. They don't need to take their "work" home with them any more than we do. They need balance too.