For years, the debate about reading homework -- “daily reading logs” versus “weekly reading responses” versus “reading for pleasure" -- has raged among educators and parents. Each side has its own strong arguments and the truth is there is no right or wrong, so I won't even attempt to join the fight. However, I've recently been thinking about how our discussions about homework in other subjects differ from the reading conversation.
It is not uncommon for schools to assign 20-30 minutes of nightly reading, in addition to the standard "10 minutes of homework per grade." Even schools that don't assign "any" homework often still require some type of reading outside of the classroom. What message does this send to kids and families?
Math homework is easily as debatable as reading homework -- from “assign only review” to “provide immediate practice of the day's objective” -- yet I've never heard "math for pleasure” thrown into the mix. In my experience, most writing homework is given a specific assignment, like writing a book report, biography, or research paper. And I've definitely never seen "nightly science, in addition to..." on any homework sheet. Why is this? What does it say about the purpose of homework?
Essentially we've created a narrative that reading doesn't count as homework, because reading is more important than the other subjects. Students should read for the sake of reading, to improve as readers, and to be more successful in their lives. Teachers, myself included, pass around infographics (like this one) about how far behind a student can fall if they "miss" those 20 minutes per night, but there are no infographics about the importance of getting 20 minutes of math per night. While I'm certainly not arguing that reading isn't important, it also isn't the only thing that's important.
It's possible that the emphasis on reading started because as a society, we have traditionally accepted that some people are "just not math people" and "some people can't write." Of course, as growth mindset work has taught us, there’s no such thing as a "math person" and anyone can learn to write. So I’ve been thinking... how we could apply the same line of thinking to math homework, writing homework, even social studies and science homework, that we're comfortable applying to reading.
Math for pleasure -- whether logic puzzles, critical thinking tasks, or math games -- would be just as valuable for our students as reading for pleasure. Writing, too, could be assigned with the same open-ended direction that we provide for reading. Students could write fiction stories, poetry, editorials in response to topics they care about, or simply journal about what's going in their lives. What if we asked parents to check that their children had successfully "learned for 30 minutes" each night before they sign their agendas?
Obviously any homework debate will eventually come down to accountability, but here I think we can also continue the same logic we've used about reading homework for years. Teachers know some kids won't do the homework at all, some will say they did even if they didn't, and some will get too much parental support, but most of us assign homework anyway. We know that if we let the pendulum swing too far to the “never assign homework” side then we risk sending the message that the academic work is not that important. Likewise, if we swing all the way to the other side, we risk sending a message that school work is only to please a teacher or earn a grade - which isn't right either.
What we really want is students who see that the things they learn in school don't exist only inside the four walls of their classroom, who recognize that learning, even learning for learning's sake, can be enjoyable, and who pursue their interests with passion and determination. Listening to most homework debates, you would assume that homework will always stand in opposition to these goals, but could it be that rethinking homework could actually get us closer? I think it's possible.
