Mr. Commonsense has passed away

[MrCrowley]

my fault is that I expect students to acctually do their homework and behave properly

A recent study done showed that homework has little effect on a student's grades:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... 89&ref=rss

[Hotwired]

To quote bush: "teachers are the only people who educate our children".

Anyone who changes or expands anothers knowledge or thinking is by definition a teacher.

By leaving your words on a forum you can inadvertently be a teacher too.

I'd agree with the sentiment but I don't think that's a very enlightening quote.

[POLAND_SPUD]

MrCrowley

A recent study done showed that homework has little effect on a student's grades

first of all, it doesn't exactly say that it has little effect

(...)the type and decile rating of the school attended; whether or how much homework was done; and students' dietary or exercise habits - did not emerge as being of major importance(...)

secondly, you don't have, as a teacher, much influence on number of students in the class... so does it mean that I shouldn't do something that might help them just becasue there are other factors which facilitate learning more ?

Finally, newspaper articles are written in a way that would increase readers interest... do you think you would have ever read it if it was aobut a reaserach which proved that homework facilitates learning most??

Besides it is widely known that you can ask several experts to conduct a research on exactly the same thing and each of them would give you a different result.... of course I am not saying that the guy in the article is 100% wrong but if you disagree with what I say then it's up to you to convince me that I am wrong - not the other way round... unless it is something obvious but that's not the case here... and it's exactly the same about spudgunning...

[MrCrowley]

Finally, newspaper articles are written in a way that would increase readers interest... do you think you would have ever read it if it was aobut a reaserach which proved that homework facilitates learning most??

Well the article wasn't called 'Homework is no longer required!' or anything like that, I just happened to read the entire article and discover that.

It's also the most thorough study ever done on students, even without it I believe homework has little to do with one's grades.

Study is important, homework, not so much. How well you do in the end of year exams depend on how much you can learn about a topic in the two weeks you have for study.

first of all, it doesn't exactly say that it has little effect

Yes, but it still says it's not as important as other things like student-teacher feedback. So why waste time on something less important? Sure, give you students homework so they have something to do if required, but don't force them to do it.

Aside from assignments, I probably haven't done homework for 3 years. I still pass my maths and physics just fine, pay attention in class, write down the notes. When it comes to the exam, study the notes and whatnot, then do the test.

By the time I have to do exams at the end of the year, i've forgotten 90% of what i've learnt that year. Homework from the start of the year wont help anymore then the notes I would've wrote in class.
I think that's something teachers fail to realise, a student never remembers the subjects they did at the start of their school year, so doing homework for the subject is pointless as long as the student has the notes.

BTW, don't confuse homework and study. Study is important, homework just reinforces what you've already learnt that day that you're only going to forget in a few months anyway.

/rant.

[potatoflinger]

Actually, most people learn in different ways, so homework may have a greater benefit for some people over others. Personally, homework helps me because it is extra practice, but I never study for tests and still manage to get decent grades. It's just a matter of how you learn.

[frankrede]

That's pretty cool. I do wish you would send a few of those In n Out Burger stores that populate SoCal back East this way. Everytime I'm out there, the first thing I do is find one close by and visit it as many times as I can while I'm there. IMO, hands-down the best fast food type burgers in the land.

In n' Out burger is at the top when it comes to quality in the fast food business.
Even here in vegas the meat is never frozen and shipped daily from In n' Out burgers meat plant in California

And I have been to the In n Out store behind the Luxor in Vegas...4 days in a row for lunch one time.... I've gone through countless In n Out tee shirts over the last 20 years...my last one is getting a little ragged now...oops, time for another trip out West I guess.... 8) ( yeah I know you can get them online...)

Do you order off the secret menu.

[POLAND_SPUD]

I see what you are trying to say but you can't say that homework isn't needed

for example - students won't be able to write a good essay in english if they don't know how to and when to add -s ending in present simple.... they won't be able to communicate effectively if they won't understand the word order, how to use reported speech or condtitionals... etc.

lessons here last 45 minutes and learning a language is not only about knowing grammar but about being able to use it to communicate both fluently and accuratelly at the same time

if pupils won't have a chance to speak during the lesson they are less likely to be good at that skill... if they speak during the lesson they can't do as much exercises on grammar as they could... so that's why you give them homework

even if I had only 5 students in the class (which isn't realistic in public schools) I would still give them homework becasue that gives them a chance to learn that X% more




ok a metaphor for you to help you understand it better... ( sorry my metaphores are stupid... you have been warned )

normally when you build a gun you do whatever you can to get the highest performance.... if you can't increase the pressure becasue you have a shitty shop compressor does it mean that you shouldn't cut pilot volume just becasue it won't help as much as uping the pressure ?

homework might not be the most enjoyable thing (especially if you are acctually still a student) but it helps

[starman]

Do you order off the secret menu.

Hmmmm, secret menu..?..there's a secret menu? :scratch: Might I inquire of its contents?

[Hydra]

This is going off-topic haha.
Secret menus, fast food stores and homework =/

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

This is going off-topic haha.
Secret menus, fast food stores and homework =/

Which ironically shows a distinct lack of common sense

[starman]

This is going off-topic haha.
Secret menus, fast food stores and homework =/

Which ironically shows a distinct lack of common sense

Good save jack. Way to tie it all back together.... 8)

[MrCrowley]

Is it just me or are these feeble attempts at topic-correcting ironically failing in a giant domino's effect?

[starman]

Well it really isn't much of a topic that can be corrected...

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Is it just me or are these feeble attempts at topic-correcting ironically failing in a giant domino's effect?

The most abject irony is that this post points out how ironically yours was one of the dominoes and therefore itself finds itself postulated in the latter category.

Yes, I am stuck at home with a badly sprained ankle.