Journal #6: “Ten Reasons to Get Rid of Homework (And Five
Alternatives)
Spencer, J. (2011, September 19). Ten reasons to get rid of homework
(and five alternatives). Retrieved from http://www.educationrethink.com/2011/09/ten-reasons-to-get-rid-of-homework-and.html.
In this article, John Spencer addresses the idea that
homework is not essential for students to learn material. Spencer is an
educator who has not given homework for the last four years of his teaching
career; he states that homework can be more harmful than it can be beneficial. He
gives the readers ten reasons as to why children should not have homework. He emphasizes
that children are busy individuals and do not need to be occupied with school
work when they leave school; they need to be active and interact with one
another, whether it be through play or extracurricular activities. He also says
that homework can demotivate students from school work because it is seen as
just a chore rather than learning material. Some parents might also be too busy
to help their child with homework, and it becomes a sense of managing the child
rather than helping the child learn. Near the end of the article, Spencer gives
us five alternatives to homework that he has come up with. This article was
very interesting and refreshing to read; it provides a new stance on a topic
that has brought many questions over the last few years.
Alternatives to Homework
1. Have
your students engage in a cultural experience within their neighborhood/town and
write down how they felt and what they experienced.
2. Give
your students projects where they are passionate about and truly interested in
the topic; let them chose a topic that they wish to explore on the Internet and
bring the results to class to share.
3. Have
your students volunteer at a place of interest to them (animal shelter, nursing
home, food bank, etc.) Let them explore topics and fields of interest.
4. Encourage
your students to have journals in class, where they have free range of things
they can write about.
5. Have
students help their parent(s) make a meal for the family.
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