🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi Jerry,

Nice of you to jump in.

-> am studying to be a math teacher. Middle school has always been my
-> target area. I must agree that instruction should not be for the
-> first 20 minuites of the class, leaving the rest for doing
-> "homework", however, if I cannot expect my students to do the work...
-> Where do we go from here??

Where are you planning to teach? In Oklahoma? Do you already expect that
your students will not be doing homework, or did you simply see that
someone else had commented that their middle school students don't want
to do it and assume it would be the same with yours?

I certainly don't have the answers. Indeed, if the students WON'T do
homework at home, I guess it is better to do it in class them have them
not practice math at all. These comments from you and others make me
wonder how widespread it is, that students do not do homework. You know,
in all the international comparisons I read about comparing students
from the U.S. with students from other nations, it is often mentioned
that U.S. students do very little homework. It seems to me that we
should not accept this as the status quo, but should do something to
change it. Of course, the question is what should we do?

Is it reasonable to send parents a letter on the first day of class (one
to be read and signed) explaining the importance of homework in math and
why the students must do it, and informing the parents that assignments
will be daily (or twice a week, or whatever...) and asking them to
support you by having their kid complete it? Of course, I realize that
in certain areas of the country this approach probably wouldn't work,
since the parents do not do the job of "parenting" their children that
they should.

Well, I can't think of anything else to say about this right now.
However, I do have some ideas about positive incentives for homework.
Ask me about them later, and I'll say some more on this topic...

Sheila
                                                                                                        

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