To HW or not to HW? That is a loaded question!

​As I refresh my Twitter feed on the daily, I read more and more about the "Ditch That HW" movement. Now to be fair, and as a mathematician, I have to look at the data behind that. I follow people on Twitter who I feel have an interesting outlook, or similar background, or love EdTech like I do. So these are the people I see on my feed. I see so many of them posting about not giving HW and their reasons for it. But I don't believe I follow anyone on Twitter so is hell-bent on keeping traditional HW, so I do not see the counterargument. With that said here is what I am thinking...my concerns...and my questions.

The first thing that always comes to mind when I consider ditching HW in my Algebra 2 class this upcoming school year is "well how are they going to practice?". Then the devil on the shoulder (in this case a good devil because she is telling me to break "the rules of school") says think about all of the time you will get back in the beginning of the period when you don't have to go over HW!

Then I think to myself, some of them are copying the HW anyway. And now in the age of technology, they can just take a picture of their HW and message it to all of their friends and when I check it, they all have the same (sometimes bad) answer. So are they really practicing? Then I grade their tests and the questions are almost the same as what was on the HW or the review packet and I get frustrated when they don't get the questions correct. But the frustration is because of myself and the choices I am making.

I struggle with giving up HW all together. I wonder if these teacher who have ditched HW have honestly ditched HW meaning that the student do not do any work outside of the classroom or if they have come up with new more exciting ways for student to demonstrate their knowledge that is not assigned on a daily basis. Are you giving the students projects or creative opportunities?

The rule follower in me says, "If you don't give HW, and a student doesn't do well on the Regents Exam, what are the administrators going to say?" "If you stop giving HW, what are the other teachers on your team going to say?" "Are you ready to defend your decision to the naysayers?" "Are you ready for them to talk behind your back?" "Are you ready to go at this alone?" (in the physical building...not overall)

Then I think about the argument of equality. Is assigning HW fair? (not that fair and equal are the necessarily the same thing) What about the student who doesn't have parental support at home (for whatever reason)? What about the student who has a job to help support their family? What about the student who can afford a tutor? What about the student who can verbally explain the process but can't write it out?

So if you are reading this and you have "Ditched That HW" please reach out, and convince me. I don't need much convincing... I think I just need a friendly push. And if you are a math teacher who has ditched that HW... PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE reach out! Leave a comment below or reply to the post of Twitter or follow me on Twitter @MsManzoLV and let's connect there.