I'm just in a mood -- well, to procrastinate really. But, whatever.
There aren't that many things that irritate me too much. At least, not enough to write home about. But there is one that drives me crazy as a teacher, and it's pretty simple: Parents Who Do Their Kids' Homework.
OK, so I was lucky. My own kids went to Montessori schools, which don't really believe in homework, at least not beyond math facts and spelling words, until middle school. And the schedule and the rooms in Montessori schools are set up so that kids can do their work -- and they do a ton of it -- during the day. Several times during the week, a child has a short lesson with a teacher, either in a small group or on her own, gets an assignment and a deadline, and then it's up to her to handle it. The kids spend the vast majority of their time working on their projects with whom and as they see fit. The rooms are packed with books and other materials, the teachers are almost always available for consultation, and the parents can't possibly help -- they aren't there.
When it works, a child arrives in Montessori middle school prepared to manage her workload and do her assignments without parental prodding or assistance or -- gasp -- interference. I could probably count on the fingers on one hand the times each of my children has involved me in a homework situation -- and the youngest is now 17.
As a teacher, I try to assign homework that my students can do. On their own. And that they can organize. On their own. If research is involved, I give them lots of suggestions for where to find relevant material. If writing is required (and it usually is), I review, again and again, what constitutes an acceptable sentence, paragraph, and essay. I desperately want them to become independent learners. I want them to approach questions and problems with the confidence that comes from knowing that they do, in fact, know where to look for material and how to organize it and what constitutes an effective written and oral level of communication. And guess what all that means? It means: forget the homework hotlines, the online parent homework calendars, the adult-generated compositions. It means: They have to do it themselves.
Today I saw both ends of the spectrum. I received an email from a parent advising me as to the address to which I could send his child's homework assignments. This child is a high school student. Is the parent planning to send the same missive to his college professors? I also graded a stack of 8th grade papers, written during class time. And you know what, folks?
Those kids are capable. Very capable. Yeah, it was their first set of papers for me, and some of them are missing theses, and some are packed with generalizations rather than illustrations, and some avoid capitalization entirely. But they represent a great start -- and the parents of the authors had nothing to do with them. Two of the papers are positively brilliant. Another sparkles with ideas that are completely original. A few indicate that we have a long year ahead of us. But every one of those kids worked really hard for two consecutive class periods and produced a piece of written work entirely his or her own.
Stand back and let them go to it!
6 comments:
Well this is one area where I feel like a great parent then, lol. I let my kids take the responsibilty of their homework all on their own. Even my 8 year old does his without my involvement. I don't even have to ask him if he has it done. WOW that sounded really arrogant didnt' it? I just meant, I agree with you, lol. Pamela
We have no homework...their homework IS their school work. I do have to make my gifted child do her own work. She is bright but rather lazy. ROFL
Great entry. They can never learn if we don't let them fly.
My 12 year old struggles with her homework a lot. She tries really hard but it takes her hours and hours. Sometimes I help her with it just so she can get to bed before 10 p.m. I wish the teachers assigned a lot less homework, actually. Just my perspective.
What do you think is reasonable for seventh grade? At that age my own kids had 2-3 hours a night, and several hours on the week-end. In retrospect I would say that was too much. Because they attended a tiny private school, they didn't have access to all the music and other activities that they would have had in our public school, where they couldn't possibly have managed that much homework. About all they did was soccer and school.
My guess is that the homework I assign to eighth graders would usually take about 1/2 hour a night -- which I realize is substantial when you add English, math, science, and their Judaics courses. On the other hand, most of my homework is assigned weeks in advance and, as in English, much of it is reading, so they aren't tied to "the night before."
I have been disturbed, reading some of these journals, by the mothers who "organize" their kids' homework. The extent of my parents' interference in our homework was to sit us down at the dining room table and say, "Do it!" How do kids learn anything except to depend totally on their parents to meet THEIR (the kids')responsibilities, if the parents do 90% of the work for them? Lisa :-]
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