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Alfie Kohn provides an intriguing perspective on the benefits (and lack thereof) of homework. He reveals that there is no strong correlation between excessive amounts of homework and good grades and questions the need for homework at all. Educators tend to not question the premise of homework, but Kohn provides his opinions- backed with evidence- on why they should. It's definitely something to think about.

An article relevant to our Syria discussion on Friday. The questions I have after reading this are, with regard to Syria, what outcome do we want to achieve, and will military intervention achieve that end?

A brief (11-page) summation of a new way of teaching called Learning in Depth, created by Kieran Egan. The general idea is that in first grade a child will be given a simple, broad topic such as spiders or rocks. Then, that child will study and do projects on that subject for the next 12 years of their school career. It's quite radical, but I think it has a chance of revolutionizing the way we learn. Some of the benefits that they mention are its capacity to build a community of scholars and experts, its emphasis on individual responsibility through independent research, and the fact that it gives the students something to be proud of (their expansive knowledge). I'm especially interested in this idea because I have begun to question the depth of the learning we receive in school and this seems to be at least a STEP in the right direction.