It’s clear to many people across the country that this year is not a “normal” school year for anyone. Staff, teachers, students, and families are all looking for ways to cope in the new age of education during a global pandemic. With many schools operating on remote or hybrid schedules, it’s hard to keep track of everything and all of the schoolwork, too.
Some teachers are trying to figure out ways to help their students in the most efficient way possible.
Some teachers are going for the “asynchronous” instruction, which means students work at their own pace and they do things on their own time. Other teachers are trying to work out live instructions.
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One teacher online has been making waves online for sharing that she doesn’t give homework to her students.
Courtney White is a teacher from Texas who has over 500,000 followers on her social media pages. She frequently shares photos and stories of experience as a teacher and even gives advice and tips to other educators.
The Alvarado High School teacher recently shared that she does not assign her students homework.
Many social media users criticized White for not giving her students homework, stating that, “homework is supposed to show proof the kids are learning.” However, White disagreed.
In a TikTok video on her account, the teacher explained just why she thinks homework doesn’t actually work for some kids.
“There’s no proof that homework is going to make them better students in my class. I respect their time outside of class, they work hard for me all day, they don’t need to go home and do more homework.
Most of my students are high schoolers. They have jobs, they have FFA, they have sports, they’re in practice, they’re in band, they have other responsibilities outside of school,” she said.
White doesn’t agree with the notion that homework makes them a “better student” in her class.
“Some of them are going home and taking care of their younger siblings because their parents are at work. Some of them just need to go home and sleep. Some of them have to go home and worry about how they’re going to eat because there’s no food at their house,” she said.
She also said that kids deserve a break sometimes.
“So, if I also give them hours of homework, when do they have time to be kids? When do they have time to relax? Because when you get off of work, you want to go home and relax,” she added.
Some people online agreed with the teacher’s approach to education.
Some people agreed that giving homework is extra and superfluous. Some people believe that kids should be learning in school and not at home, on their own time.
Other teachers even agreed with White, saying that it doesn’t matter what they do at home if they don’t understand the work in school.
White’s post went viral enough that other educators and teachers began to weigh in on whether or not it was good for kids to get homework. One teacher even said that if a child doesn’t understand concepts in school, they won’t magically understand at home.
However, some people disagreed with White and said that homework teaches accountability and responsibility.
Some people commented on White’s methods saying that depriving students of homework means they don’t get a chance to learn accountability and responsibility. Also, they added that homework forces students to independently and critically think.
What do you think, is homework a good or bad thing?
h/t: Bored Panda
