Should teaching and learning be boring? Is it is sign of failure? Should engagement rule? Both words get characterised as extremes (social media has a way of doing that), but it is important to face up to our assumptions and preconceptions of boredom and engagement in relation to learning.Ī quote by comedian and columnist, David Mitchell, back in 2009, but recast on my Twitter timeline recently, captures nicely the absurdity of trying to rid the classroom of boredom: I offer two such words: ‘ boring‘ and ‘ engagement‘. (I told you we’d get here…but I’ll save that for another post.) But let’s face it, not all students get that type of homework, nor do they expect it.Some words in education can spark off a shooting match.
I am a believer in meaningful homework: homework that provides purposeful practice, that challenges students and inspires them to work hard. It saddens me to know the uphill battle I undoubtedly will face once my kids do start getting homework. Is this a work ethic problem or an issue that schools need to deal with? or both?
Where does this come from – this bad attitude toward homework? My six-year-old already has it in his head that homework is boring. “No sweetie, you don’t have homework yet.”Īnd there you have it. Right away he took the book and started writing in it with his pencil. It is far above his level, but he loves it. You see, just the other night, for his 6th birthday, he was given a Big Nate Boredom Buster book, an activity book of sorts by Lincoln Peirce. It’s about the societal attitude in this country (and possibly others) towards homework as stated by my now six-year-old son. This is not a post about how we need to make homework more meaningful for our students. (Although, I do have mixed feelings about it.)
This is not going to be a post about how I am against homework.
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