Presumably homework is designed to reinforce classroom learning. Some aspects of school such as arithmetic and spelling are rote and require lots practice to become automatic. When you see grocery employees unable to make change unless the amount due is recorded on the register, you are seeing individuals who had insufficient practice in learning rote (aka busy work) arithmetic skills. When middle school students use their fingers to calculate basic math, you are seeing too little busy work .Freaking out! Ask secondary school kids to compute math without calculators. Certainly not all students, but far too many lack basic skills. It is frustrating to ask adolescents to calculate basic math and get wild guessing or using fingers or number charts as the go to means of calculating or punching on a calculator.
If the assignment is busy work, then it should be completed very quickly and accurately even in front of the tv. If it isn’t, then more practice is needed to secure rote math skills. Rote skills in math also includes memorizing formulas, but active learning is required to apply them correctly. The reality of math/arithmetic is we don’t progress very far without direct instruction. Who among us just happened on how to compute square roots.
Spelling skills improve grammar and writing. For example, an essay may be too simplified when word choices are limited by poor spelling or grammar skills. What you often see is choppy, minimal sentence with little structure and diversity which sounds like See Spot run. Spot runs fast.
Spelling too takes rote practice but is often regularized. If a term paper is full of grammatical or spelling errors, the content and flow are compromised and word substitutions may change meaning. Have you noticed how often comments to on-line articles contains spelling and grammatical errors. Further, proper nouns and theoretical terms should be spelled correctly. Spelling is difficult to learn, but dictionaries are readily available. Incorrect spelling calls into question educational level and expertise of the writer. Unfortunately auto-spell often doesn’t understand what you want to say and comes up with some odd choices.
I do see some things of dubious value. For example, completing work sheets where students look for answers to fill-in-the-blank seem too rote. I would prefer if these worksheets led to something useful such as developing a personal study guide where questions/information are integrated and expanded upon. If you can skim. you seem to complete these sheets in little time and with modest learning. I think writing the answers to questions at the end of chapters might be more useful and then let the kids discuss them in class. Anything that causes the mind to get into gear is great and what is learned expands the homework demands.
After watching and teaching scads of students I find that many do not distinguish rote memory from thinking and learning. Some students get so bound up in factoids and minor details that they simply can’t see the big picture and integrate information. Consider how many kids on CC report memorizing information and passages to pass tests and are crazed about how to prepare for the SAT/ACT. Memorizing dates for the American Revolution makes sense. Memorizing information such as its causes or compared to different circumstances. Homework is useless if it depends on memorization of things other than facts. I suspect that some students who complain they learned information, but can’t remember it for the test confused learning with memorization.
Reading is like riding a bicycle or any other skill. The more you read, the more proficient you become. Vocabulary expands. Information from multiple sources integrates. You learn how to read for different purposes such as skimming for a bit of information versus comprehension of text. It’s nice to see words in print because that can reinforce spelling. Reading can transform from a chore to a pleasure. Even Silas Marner is better with good reading skills. If you are falling asleep when reading stand up and even read orally. Finally, carrying a book everywhere reduce