4th Class English Holiday Homework

[Onesimo Olafeso]

BonusEpisode! Christian Essman does a solo episode discussing "homework" to do over the holidays for those that are planning to apply to medical school next spring. There are also a few embedded pieces of advice for current applicants with acceptances to med schools (FAFSA & Choose Your Medical School Tool). Finally, Mr. Essman provides you with his tips on writing personal statements along with an excerpted portion of his conversation with Mr. Paul White from Johns Hopkins discussing personal statements (episode #6).

I cringe even just thinking back on it. If you have been around my corner of the internet long, you know that this is NOT in line with my current philosophies whatsoever. In fact, in my most recent years in the classroom, I was even a HUGE proponent of not assigning homework at ALL, let alone over breaks from school.

But oftentimes, especially in my early years, I just did what everyone else was doing because I felt like, if those teachers are doing it, I probably should too. As the years went on though, I got REALLY reflective about my teaching practice and intentional about the motivation behind each choice I made in my classroom, and I want you to consider doing the same as you read this post, or really any post on my blog.

Neither of these scenarios are what I want for my students. Personally, I want my students to care more about their families than they care about their success in school. So why take over some of the limited time they may have to spend with their families?

We ALL need rest and we ALL need the people in our lives to hold us accountable to resting and actually having work/life (or school/life) boundaries. By not assigning homework over breaks (or ever) I was able to get the rest I personally needed AND model for my students how to rest and how to separate work from life.

In the Philippines, legislative attempts to enforce a weekend homework ban have been ongoing since 2016. In 2021, the Chinese government enacted the Double Reduction Policy, which includes a limit on homework and a ban on private tutoring classes.

In China, the mandate has driven the industry underground and led to exorbitant rates, exacerbating educational inequity. The Chinese experience suggests the potential pitfalls of using a simplistic solution like a hard legislative ban to address a complex social issue.

At the same time, however, an Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) survey published in 2017 showed that 66.7 per cent of parents with primary school children agreed or strongly agreed that they were stressed over assisting with homework and ferrying them to and from school, and tuition or enrichment classes.

Additionally, nearly 94 per cent of parents in the study expressed a need for the primary school curriculum to be more manageable, reflecting the struggle many parents face in grasping the modern curriculum while balancing work demands in typical dual-income Singaporean households.

Research consistently emphasises the importance of play in nurturing the holistic development of children. What then motivates parents to enrol their children in tuition classes during school holidays?

The ideal combination of work and play will naturally vary in each family, classroom, and school, based on their diverse values, cultures, and aspirations. Nonetheless, this optimal mix should be viewed as fluid and dynamic, constantly adapting to suit the evolving needs of children.

Student agency is an essential ingredient in this optimal blend. Schools should actively seek student input on their homework experiences and understand their preferences for how it is assigned and evaluated.

Schools could consider moving away from compulsory holiday homework towards recommended assignments. Allow parents to determine and decide the homework load that best suits their child based on their family values and aspirations.

Many teachers are already offering non-mandatory assignments in the Student Learning Space online portal during mid-year and end-of-year school holidays. However, it is crucial to complement these assignments with online explanatory videos that provide solutions.

Given the absence of time constraints in the classroom, these tasks can encourage students to explore core learning concepts with scaffolding prompts, developing learner autonomy, and stimulating greater engagement and creativity.

In an ideal scenario, if schools and families can embrace a unified approach to revamping homework practices and reimagining the objectives of holiday assignments, we may just be able to find that sweet spot between work and play during the June holidays.

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