Ending The Homework Debate

Homework isn't a punishment, it's an essential part of learning.

On this episode: 

• How homework supports learning
• To challenge or to coast? A parent's choice
• Children love rigor — mental, and physical 
• What happens without homework 
• How parents' anxieties can become a self-fulfilling prophecy for children
• The importance of conversation to reinforce learning

Decoding Education is the podcast that brings together research, experience, and community voices to answer your burning questions about preschool through grade eight education. Brought to you by Cedar Hill Preparatory School in Somerset, New Jersey.

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Transcript

Tori Marchiony:

Hello and welcome to another episode of Decoding Education from Cedar Hill Preparatory School in Somerset, New Jersey, the podcast that brings together research, experience, and community voices to answer your burning questions about preschool through grade eight education. I'm Tori Marchiony, a content producer who is fascinated by all things education. I came up through a top ranking public school system where I earned an IB diploma before getting a bachelor's at a public university. 

Ahead, you'll hear a conversation between myself and Cedar Hill Prep’s brilliant founder, Nandini Menon, who is nearly finished earning her EDD in education. Specifically, mind, brain, and teaching from Johns Hopkins University. So I bring a lot of curiosity and enthusiasm while she brings the real expertise. 

Miss Nan:

I am shocked at how people, there's a lot of misunderstanding about homework. I am who I am today because homework helped me build my skill sets. And for me, that's all I see homework as. In order to remember what I learned yesterday, and put it in context for what I'm going to learn today and tomorrow, I needed that homework. To just read again, “oh, she's going to build on or she or he is going to build on what I learned yesterday.” So it's all about practice. And then another aspect I'd like to talk about is assessment. 

Assessment is just a check, a check to see did I get it? Did I not get it? If I didn't get it, I need help in that. So as a school, we have used homework, assessment and cumulative assessment. There are enough research articles to say that the human brain has a huge capacity to store material. But the human brain also can only store material if it's constantly revisiting the material. So if you read something today and you don't read it for another five days, you're not going to remember it. But if you read today, and then it's connected with something else tomorrow, and then there are some activities the third day and the fourth day, that human brain becomes the storehouse of so much information that you become that expert. You are already on that way to success.

I want every parent to understand, what if I gave you a questionnaire when your child joined my school, with two questions? What are your end goals for your child? The first question would be: is your end goal that your child should get an A at all times? And the second question would be: is your goal for your child to have deep learning, higher critical thinking skills, and have a sense of wonder? Then I get these responses.

I have one parent who says they want their child to get an A all the time. The other parent will say “oh no, I want my child to enjoy learning, enjoy schooling and be a lifelong learner.” So if I were to game both of you, for the parent who wants their child to get an A, I will lower the bar of education so that I know your child, and I will give your child very easy tests for two reasons. I know that child when they go home, their validation or their approval from you is only because they got an A. I want your child not to feel less in front of a parent’s eye, therefore I will make sure your child gets an A. 

The other parent who said deeper learning, higher critical thinking, that child I will throw all these different problems. Some will require them to think a lot. Some they may totally not get. But I am sure that when that child goes home and talks to that parent, the parent will laugh and add to what I did to the child, and together we will build that child up. And that child will continue with their sense of wonder, all through life. 

So then I asked: who is doing right by the child, and why do you put your child in school? Is it to vicariously validate yourself? Or is it to really increase the skill sets for your child to succeed in this world where life is full of obstacles?

Tori:

I have this image of a basketball court, and of a parent moving everybody else out of the way and then helping their kid tip the basketball into the hoop, versus someone who just lets their kid play and maybe they lose. And maybe there are ups and downs. But it seems like we're much more comfortable in sports with the idea of ups and downs and having to maybe struggle or suffer or earn something.

Miss Nan:

You're so right. And I, you know, I have spoken to so many adults out here because I find this, this dichotomy, this whole aspect that for parents who are into sports, and building student athletes and athletes, they totally get practice is perfect. But, and I, you know, those parents don't believe the same paradigm for academics. Then I have the academic parents, who truly believe practice, practice, practice for academics, but they don't realize that sports may be good for their child because physical exertion is good for mental stimulation. I would like this paradigm where we give children a healthy dose of both. And the music, and the art. 

So I need to ask parents, are we going to see what magic our children can create? Or are our adult fears of security going to dictate what our child becomes? Do you want your child to have a safe job? In fact, I tell a lot of young adults: security, there is no sense of security. Any company can lay you off. If you're not constantly improving your skills, you may be under the umbrella of a big company, but that rug can be pulled right under you. So in the end, you are your own advocate. Life is one big learning experience. 

So that's why when you said that about basketball, I always say we cannot escape practice. We cannot escape hard work. If we don't know something further up, we don't know it, and go to someone who can teach us that. If your intent is towards mastery, then you don't become a master by just sleeping all day and then suddenly, voila, somebody planted all the seeds in your head. If only education happened through the airwaves, you know. You just breathe in the oxygen and in came all the content with the oxygen. It ain't happening. 

There is this wonderful neuroscience research that shows that whole memory paradigm that just even looking at what was done that day makes that child remember 90% f what they learned. But three days after they forget 70% of what they learned. And when the family doesn't believe homework is important, or reviewing what they learned is important, are we really setting up our child for success? Who's at fault if this child is not at grade level expectations? 

But you know, Tori, there's another question, are we transferring our adult anxiety on our children? What I see often is a lot of anxiety. Because if the parent is nervous about math, and the parent never did well in math, there is that predisposition of promoting failure in the child. So the parents never wondered, “Why did I struggle with math? What did I not do?” Instead? It's always, “They must not be teaching it to you right. Why are they making you do 10 practice problems?” 

What if, doing those 10 problems, your child understood it so much better? Because understanding concepts is very interesting. For some children, they can get the logic very quickly so they can look at the sequence of steps and follow through. There are some other children who may need to just repeat that math problem with different numbers etc. Do it 10 times, and then they will notice the pattern. 

Now let's look at language. A multilingual learner- I'm going to quote some of our teachers because these are our rich cohort discussions. The word reflex. In math, it pertains to geometry, reflex angle. The meaning is still similar. In science, we use it about your personal reflexes. They're all spontaneous reactions. But the way you use the word reflex in math, the sentence structure is different from the way you would use it in science. A teacher is able to explain that.

Now at home, when we are all working parents, do we ever spend time figuring out how our child makes those logical connections? How do they make meaning? Where do we have the time? We come back home, “did you finish your homework?” Do we have time to check? No, because we are tired. We need to cook dinner and then we need to get them ready for bed. All I'm saying is, all of that is a valid excuse. But then, let's figure out- there are so many ways to do things. 

It could be a dinner discussion. “Hey, what did we understand? What did we not understand?” And communicate with the teacher, you know, “is there any way you can explain it? Because in our dinner discussion, this came up.” But if we live in these mental silos, where our thinking is not governed by more information or due diligence, we're just building a lot of anxiety in everyone within our family. And we really think adversarial relationships with schools are going to serve us better. No, we like being loved. All of us love positive emotions. None of us is here to do ill to anybody else. But we need to break that communication barrier and just say, “Listen, I need help for a child to become successful in life.” It's all about the partnership between the families, the schools, and the administration.

Tori:

Thank you so much, Ms. Nan, and thank you audience for listening. Be sure to tune in next time. If you're considering private education for your child, your next step is finding the school that's the best fit for their specific needs. And the best way to do that is to get on campus for a tour. Cedar Hill Prep is currently enrolling for the 23-24 academic school year, so be sure to check out the link in our description to sign up for an open house or call 732-356-5400 to book a private campus tour with CHP’s admissions director Donna. We can't wait to meet you. Until next time, this has been Decoding Education from Cedar Hill Prep School. Thanks for listening.