So the answer to the Homework quote is 1890.  The email I received from Jen is below.  Thanks for sending this my way Jen and to the few that guessed... Good work.

From Jen:
In the October 2010 Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=50-100-150-oct-2010 they were reflecting on articles written 50, 100, and 150 years ago.  One article mentioned is one that I think that Mike would especially like.  Believe it or not, this is the article from the October 1890 edition!  Here it is:   Against Homework
“A child who has been boxed up six hours in school might spend the next four hours in study, but it is impossible to develop the child’s intellect in this way. The laws of nature are inexorable. By dint of great and painful labor, the child may succeed in repeating a lot of words, like a parrot, but, with the power of its brain all exhausted, it is out of the question for it to really master and comprehend its lessons. The effect of the system is to enfeeble the intellect even more than the body. We never see a little girl staggering home under a load of books, or knitting her brow over them at eight o’clock in the evening, without wondering that our citizens do not arm themselves at once with carving knives, pokers, clubs, paving stones or any weapons at hand, and chase out the managers of our common schools, as they would wild beasts that were devouring their children.”

So 150 years ago in a formal U.S. education system that started about 170 years ago, many were already noticing that the model was not working, yet many of us still to this day do not want to stray from the broken 170 year model.  In my previous business career, I was required to react to ineffective strategies or attempts immediately in order to ensure my company was making as much money as possible, yet the education system still cannot be figured out!

Mike and I have been talking a great deal about homework.  What is the purpose?  Why do we give it? How does it help students learn?  Is it needed?  Does it motivate? How does it encourage thought?  Do we still need it?  Mike has taken Homework off the table at his school, I have greatly reduced the homework given and the type of homework has changed as well.  I will talk more about that in the next post.  Today I want to get us all thinking, before I dig to deep into this idea...so stay tuned.  But for now...

Many articles, journals and publications (do a google scholar search, or check out Time) have been done  about homework and how it impacts learning.  Take a look at this research from A Time Article:
• According to a 2004 national survey of 2,900 American children conducted by the University of Michigan, the amount of time spent on homework is up 51% since 1981.
• Most of that increase reflects bigger loads for little kids. An academic study found that whereas students ages 6 to 8 did an average of 52 min. of homework a week in 1981, they were toiling 128 min. weekly by 1997. And that's before No Child Left Behind kicked in.
• The onslaught comes despite the fact that an exhaustive review by the nation's top homework scholar, Duke University's Harris Cooper, concluded that homework does not measurably improve academic achievement for kids in grade school. That's right: all the sweat and tears do not make Johnny a better reader or mathematician.
• Too much homework brings diminishing returns. Cooper's analysis of dozens of studies found that kids who do some homework in middle and high school score somewhat better on standardized tests, but doing more than 60 to 90 min. a night in middle school and more than 2 hr. in high school is associated with, gulp, lower scores.
• Teachers in many of the nations that outperform the U.S. on student achievement tests--such as Japan, Denmark and the Czech Republic--tend to assign less homework than American teachers, but instructors in low-scoring countries like Greece, Thailand and Iran tend to pile it on.   Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1376208,00.html#ixzz1Dc2IhKIJ

Now, today I got an email from a friend.  She shared with me a quote.  I want you to read this quote and make a comment of when you think this was written.  Over the weekend, I will post the link and year...DON'T GOOGLE IT....That Is Cheating.

“A child who has been boxed up six hours in school might spend the next four hours in study, but it is impossible to develop the child’s intellect in this way. The laws of nature are inexorable. By dint of great and painful labor, the child may succeed in repeating a lot of words, like a parrot, but, with the power of its brain all exhausted, it is out of the question for it to really master and comprehend its lessons. The effect of the system is to enfeeble the intellect even more than the body. We never see a little girl staggering home under a load of books, or knitting her brow over them at eight o’clock in the evening, without wondering that our citizens do not arm themselves at once with carving knives, pokers, clubs, paving stones or any weapons at hand, and chase out the managers of our common schools, as they would wild beasts that were devouring their children.”

My next post, I plan to tie this together with 21st Century learning and Right Brain Thinking. 

This blog has been up-and-running for almost a year, now.  Garth and I have tried very hard to talk about everything from what's going on in our classroom to how we feel about different issues within education.  We have hosted professional development opportunities, break-out sessions at conferences and we will soon add keynote speakers to our credentials.  We have strived to create a positive digital footprint for the sake of our students, no every student, that crosses through the doors of a school.  We want education to change.  We want teachers, administrators, government and parents to recognize that their children/students are not them; and the world is not the same world in which they grew up and went to school.  Everyone needs to contribute to creating a learning experience that encourages 21st Century Skills, encourages innovation and validates students whom strive to be creative problem-solvers.

Today I sat down in my monthly staff meeting expecting the normal conversation.  I expect the staff to only half-listen; teachers tend to make the worst audience.  Instead, I was confronted by my principal showing an unusual amount of energy and spirit!  He started to explain that he had gone to a conference over the weekend for administration across Northeast Ohio.  He talked about the speaker; someone who was internationally known, called one of the most influential people in education and very charismatic about changing education. 

My principal told us that this speaker talked with great passion about creating learning experiences, engaging students, and infusing 21st Century Skills within the curriculum.  My principal said that the speaker began to realize that the crowd of administrators was very quiet.  No questions being asked, no cell phones or laptops being used, just people sitting and listening.  Then the presenter told the audience that he wanted to show them the "best example of technology being used in a classroom that he has seen in America (as quoted by my principal)".

The speaker was Alan November and he showed the audience the classroom blog that Garth and I use to teach our classes.  He talked about how wonderful it was to see two teachers come together in truly implement technology in the right way.  Needless to say, I felt humbled that Alan would speak so highly of our work. 

I'm proud that Alan November shared the work of Garth and myself, but why must an international figure, speaking at a conference in front of administrators from around Ohio be the voice of reason in my methodology.  Why can't happy, engaged and enlightened students speak for my work?  Why can't my teaching philosophy and the work Garth and I do speak for itself.  We need more Alan Novembers in the world, I suppose, to convince the people that make decisions that the work of great teachers is actually great. 

Please leave some comments about how you think we can help change the world of education.

-Mike