Rebellious Compliance
Alfie Kohn, the author of The Homework Myth, sent me the homework of the nine-year-old son of a friend, who was required to put the weekly list of spelling words into sentences:
1. I am sooooo aggravated about my homework situation that I can’t think of anymore sentences.
2. I want to decline this homework so badly.
3. I despise my homework situation.
4. My homework situation is disturbing me.
5. My second encounter with homework is sickening.
6. I wasn’t to establish an anti-paper club, A.P. for short.
7. I want to forbid homework after 8:00 p.m.
I love it! What a great use of a tedious, worthless assignment.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:02 am
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I wonder…if homework given to an 8 year old, is clearly done by a parent, what does the teacher do if it’s wrong? If it actually gets looked at at all, what does the teacher do with a child who hands in homework done by a parent. Would he/she actually engage in a conversation with the child about the homework?
They can’t punish a child for doing something incorrectly, if the child didn’t do it in the first place.
I’d like to hear from a teacher on what they would do in this circumstance.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:15 am
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I love the rebellion but I also worry about the teacher that assigns these particular words in a single week. :)
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:00 am
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The latest vocab assignment my 4th grader is given every Thurs. is to put all of the vocabulary words in one paragraph. Last week, five of her words were days of the week (which she knew how to spell back in 1st grade, I think). Maybe we should’ve used, “On Monday, I hated homework. On Tuesday, I hated homework even more!!”
February 18th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
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