A few posts ago, I wrote about the blog of Angela Bunyi, a fourth grade teacher from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Ms. Bunyi then write to me:
Thanks for sharing my article under Scholastic (Homework: Applying Research to Policy) and my note from the homework page on my class site. I wanted to add to your readers ongoing discussion about reading logs. I did away with them this year. I also did away with a specific reading time at home.
Why? First, I don’t want students reading to the clock. The thought of seeing “30 minutes” read for child after child in the daily reading log is really, really sad if you think about it. My goal is for students to get “lost” in their homework.
Second, I did away with reading logs because they were a pain for all involved. When I did use them, I found my best readers didn’t fill them out. Now I just meet with my kids during reading conference time to talk about their reading habits at home. When a student was on page 35 the day before and they are on page 75 the next morning, why push a log? I can do the math! The proof is with the pace of finishing books in your room each week.
Stop Homework 
teachermom writes:
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I did not call anyone a turd, I merely stated that some [teachers] are turds.
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If I had written this, there would be cries of “teacher-bashing!” echoing all around the internet. I guess you can write things like this with impunity because you identify yourself as a teacher. It sure sounds like name-calling to me.
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Obviously, the stupid, pointless, tedious project to us really caught interest to this little guy. True story boys and girls. Humble pie.
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So apparently one kid in the class got something out of this assignment while numerous others wasted their evening on something with no meaning for them. Why is this OK? Let the kid who gains something from the project go ahead and do it, and let the others opt out.
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One time I had a student bust into tears as I began to explain the homework for the evening. I pulled her aside to see what was wrong and through sobs she began to explain that she had a lot of homework tonight and it was her sister’s birthday and her family was going out to dinner, party, etc. She was afraid she would have to miss her sister’s birthday. I calmly explained to her that, no, she would not have to miss her sister’s birthday, because sisters and family come first. Losing a few points on her homework was no big deal compared with missing a very special evening with her family.
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You’re putting this child in a completely impossible position. (How old was she, by the way?) Children want to trust the adults in their lives. When they get grades and points, they take it very seriously, and they constantly get the message from school that they should take it seriously. You are not helping her when you pull her aside and say, “it’s no big deal to lose a few points on your homework”, when the whole system is telling her that her value as a student depends on her points.
The child burst into tears because she already had homework from other teachers, right? Will those other teachers tell her it’s OK to not do the homework because her sister is more important? I doubt it. Will her parents think it’s OK, or will they keep her home to get the homework done? The child doesn’t have control over this situation.
If you think family is so important, why didn’t you give the child an extension on the homework? Conversely, if you know that skipping the homework will make no difference to the child’s learning, why do you assign it? Do you teach actual content, or just “work ethic” (i.e., compliance)?
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@teachermom said “I calmly explained to her that, no, she would not have to miss her sister’s birthday, because sisters and family come first. Losing a few points on her homework was no big deal compared with missing a very special evening with her family.”
Gosh, how gracious of you.
That borders on child abuse because you’ve an already emotionally distressed kid in an impossible situation.
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So much for sleeping on it…..
teachermom, do you not see the emotional bind you are putting the child into? You are punishing her for doing the right thing, all the while giving subtle messages that she’s doing the wrong thing, because grades are a competing force here. The point I would make is that if you are serious about taking “pressure” off kids, then don’t trap them in impossible binds, and don’t punish them for making the correct choice. You could have instantly relieved this poor child by saying: “It’s Ok, you can forgo the homework tonight, without penalty. It’s not that important.”
There should not be a penalty for making the right choice. Not for children.
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teachermom writes:
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Folks, this pressure did not come from school.
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This is such a cop-out. The child is stressed because she has a big pile of homework assigned the same night as her sister’s birthday party. Of course the pressure came from school! If the school had a reasonable homework policy, this conflict wouldn’t have happened in the first place.
For one thing, if the school had a policy that homework would only be assigned if it was necessary for the child’s learning (and I mean learning an actual subject) the amount of homework could be cut way down.
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Quit blaming teachers for the homework, and start looking at who is putting the pressure on the kids.
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Why shouldn’t we blame teachers for the homework? You’re the ones who assign the stuff.
Teachermom, you seem to think that everyone involved needs to make changes except you and the other teachers. I don’t buy that. Schools are not forces of nature that we just have to live with. They are social constructs and they can change in the future, as they have changed in the past.
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To all the above, what penalty? What emotioanl distress? The distress placed on her by her parents for putting such importance on grades in the first place? The penalty of seeing her parents disappointed at her or angry at her teacher? If I had not taken away some “late” points, than I would be doing her a disservice, because she would later expect others to do the same…when circumstances may have changed and then she would blame the teacher rather than take responsibility for her circumstances and take her lumps. Which, by the way, wouldn’t be so lumpy if the PARENTS would teach her that grades ARE ink in the shape of a letter on paper, not an extension of her self-worth. LEARNING is important, not grades. (I won’t even get started on how much I agree with so many of you about YES we need schools, systems, programs, teachers that are willing to implement a NO grade system with an individual learning curriculum in its place and colleges who let students test in rather that “Make the Grade” and then demonstrate their work ethic with valuable community service/volunteer hours, etc.) Until our society works on this, and people/parents like us and teachers like me keep on keeping on with our good fight, instead of blaming and crying and moaning we must OURSELVES comfort, teach and guide our own children about our educational beliefs. Remember Aristotle said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Are you teaching that to your children? You can go through school, take what is useful and meaningful, disregard the rest, apply what you want and need in order to reach the goals you’ve set for yourself. In America we pride ourselves on working for our successes. Why can’t the same hold true for our education? Do the work if you want the privileges, don’t if you don’t. If the work proves too much, why should others not benefit from it just because it is too much for you? Anyway, I may or may not believe what I just wrote, I’ll have to ponder it, but it will be interesting to see other thoughts and ideas branch out it.
Okay, I’m stepping down from my soap box now. Just putting another perspective out there folks, my perspective and I wouldn’t want to live in a country where others didn’t argue back. So thanks for an interesting couple of hours these past afternoons and I will resume my search for “reading logs” which is how I came across this blog. Many blessings to all.
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teachermom says:
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teachers like me keep on keeping on with our good fight,
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What good fight?
Let’s try an analogy here. Suppose your principal said to you, “I’m sending all the teachers to a conference this weekend. Your job assessment will depend partly on your participation at the conference.”
And then you said, “What? I’m not free this weekend! I’ve got a special romantic anniversary trip planned this weekend with my husband!”
And then the principal said, “Don’t worry. Your marriage is really more important than your job. I’ll still have to mark you down, of course, because that’s probably what your next principal would do.”
How would you feel? Would you feel grateful to the principal for recognizing that your marriage is important? Or would you feel that you had been put in a no-win situation for no reason?
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Teacher mom, I’m a regular comment contributor here but have been away from the blog for a almost a week and have a lot of catching up to do. .
My immediate reaction is one of dismay. I too don’t see a “hear hear” quite the way Sara does, although Sara is one of my favorite bloggers. The best I hear coming from you, teachermom, is that at best you won’t necessarily harass my kid for not doing the homework but you’ll still penalize her.
Okay, points off are better than recess missed. They’re better than hostility. But as Alfie Kohn says, to use another analogy in expressing his discomfort over time outs (time outs were a big deal ten years ago, are they still?), he would say, people tell me all the time, but time outs are better than spanking. Well, spanking is better than shooting.
So points off are better than shooting, to be unbearably humorous here. Not to get into a discussion over time outs here, but you get my drift. You won’t harass (as least you say you won’t) but you’ll still take points off. You say that parents are too grade focused. But listen to this case scenario.
My daughter is in a selective magnet public high school. She likes the school (unfortunately it’s laden with stress) but keeps telling me, they are too grade focused, they are too grade focused. She’s been telling me this for years. She wants to learn, she is tired of the incessant emphasis the teachers put on grades, not just here but starting in elementary.
Well, recently I had a meeting with a teacher over something. In an email, he made the case that the students simply will not learn XYZ without the constant tests. So in meeting with him, I repeated my daughter’s complaint, that she feels the school is too grade focused. He told me she needs to learn to get over it, that’s the real world.
So as a parent, you can’t win. You are accused of being overly grade focused except when you’re not. Then you are criticized for not caring enough about grades.
Bottom line: the school is too grade focused. I don’t care if the Stevens family wants constant tests and grades. I don’t. As long as you don’t keep giving all those tests and grades, it matters not a wit if the Stevens family cares too much about grades. It is so easy to shift the blame on the parents. And trust me, I know where you’re coming from. I’ve brushed up against a horde of hyper-competitive parents in the years my daughter has attended GT programs. But…the school, in my opinion, creates the monster in the first place. And if they don’t, they do a heck of a job of enabling.
Again, bottom line: Whatever the motivation, teachers are unbearably grades, tests, and points obsessed. And as Mathew pointed out, just how long would your child survive in a GT program if the parent did as you suggest, refuse to do the homework?
Oh, we picked our battles and stood our ground when I saw fit. And the teacher took it very personally. Trust me, I would have been happy with the reduced marks alone. It would have been better if she’d not been penalized at all. It was the hostility and missed recess I could have done very nicely without.
But points alone? It’s fifth grade! Who cares? The teachers use the grade as the stick. But who wants a stick when you love to learn? Who wants to be hit over the head all the time?
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FedUpMom- Great counter points. Teachermom- I’m not sure you hear the patronizing, condescending tone you have (“such animosity boys and girls”). Your patronizing tone is common amongst educators today. By the way, at my child’s elementary school, the kids miss reccess if they don’t turn in homework (I would say this is a penalty). Moreover, parents who do not turn in homework are villified and made to feel they are eroding their child’s self esteem. Again, please hear your arrogant tone (oh, boys and girls…we know what’s best, if you would only listen and comply, the world would be a much more peaceful place). Yes, the world would be a much more peaceful place for the teachers and administators if everyone just did as they were told!
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More thoughts upon re-reading teachermom. In addition to your patronizing, condescending tone (“true story, humble pie”?) your logic is muddled. I find it so frustrating that the teachers who reply can’t concede we have logical points.
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Disillusioned hit the nail on the head for me. Teachermom, you must be wondering, why are these parents ganging up on me? What did I say? I tried to help them!
Your patronizing comments virtually drip with sarcasm and condescension. It was hard for me to accept them in the “good faith” you thought you were intending.
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teachermom says:
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To all the above, what penalty? What emotioanl distress?
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OK, here’s the penalty:
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If I had not taken away some “late” points, than I would be doing her a disservice,
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Here’s the emotional distress:
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One time I had a student bust into tears as I began to explain the homework for the evening.
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What I see from teachermom is a real failure to take responsibility for her actions. She causes a child to burst into tears in her class, because she’s assigning so much homework. And then somehow she wants to blame the child’s parents! What the …?
Teachermom, who’s assigning this unnecessary, time-consuming homework? YOU ARE! Take responsibility for what you do. Don’t tell us parents it’s our fault because we neglected to tell our children that they shouldn’t take grades seriously.
Similarly, she says that many teachers are “turds”, and then denies that she is name-calling.
And then she expects us to believe we’re all on the same side!
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people/parents like us and teachers like me keep on keeping on with our good fight
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PsychMom, we need your services here. I don’t get it.
The really disturbing part is the complete lack of sympathy that teachermom has for the child’s point of view.
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FedUpMOm, teachermom has us so befuddled, we need a shrink? PsychMom, get on over here. We need you!
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HWB, I don’t know whether to call in a psychologist, an exorcist, or a bootlegger. Time to shut down the computer …
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Ok, Ok…I slept on it…it was Disillusioned who articulated the urksome feeling I had as I read teachermom’s post…”dripping with sarcasm”, wasn’t it?
There was a character in one of the middle Harry Potter stories, I can’t think of her name, but she smiled as she prescribed what was best for the school, and it that was whatever she said it was. I got the same sense from teachermom and it rattled me.
As for my particular “expertise”, I don’t think I know anything the rest of you don’t already know. I wouldn’t presume to ever think, I, as a parent, would ever have a partnership with this kind of teacher.
I fundamentally disagree with her about grades being the focus of parents not school….parents do need to take a stand but, as I always say, teacher and education experts are supposed to be the EXPERTS. They have the professional responsibility to be on the forefront of best practices in education. The research seems to show that homework is of no benefit to elementary students. The research is now showing us that carrot and stick motivational practices DON’T work. See Dan Pink. But school and universities stick to grades. They “know”.
But teachermom has moved on..I’m sure.
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Did anyone pick up on the “Late” points comment that teachermom made in her last post. She didn’t take points off for missing homework. She took points off for late homework which implies that the child who foolishly thought she should enjoy a family supper out for her sister’s birthday, still had to do the homework, she just was allowed to hand it in later. So the supposed break this woman was extending to this child was no break at all. The child got punished for enjoying herself AND for doing her homework late. Nice.
It’s the same bind some employers put workers in over H1N1 this year. They say, if you have symptoms stay home for 7 days. But, if you are off work for more than 3 days in a row, you switch over to short term disability and are docked pay. Or you may work for an employer that pays for no sick time. So, the message is: You are doing the right thing by protecting your fellow workers from catching the flu, looking after your own health, and following our policy, but we’re punishing you for it by taking away your pay.
Guess how many people report symptoms of the flu?
It just makes no sense to punish the desired behaviour.
Don’t dog handlers say you should never punish a dog who has run away from you, for returning?
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PsychMom, on the docked pay issue, for many workers, it’s not simply the loss of wages that make them afraid of reporting symptoms. That alone might be manageable to some, heinous though it may be. It’s the deeper issue that they may lose their jobs over it. In this tight economy, it sets up a dichotomy and places the worker in a very difficult position. And it reinforces that truth comes at a cost. Hence, the worker keeps his mouth shut and winds up infecting the entire department.
And as Matthew says, teacher mom has merely set up a Hobson’s choice This is even more insidious because children are impressionable, vulnerable and look up to teachers as role models and authority figures. teachermom is putting the distressed child in an untenable position. A Hobson’s choice is a free choice in which only one option is offered, and one may refuse to take that option. The choice is therefore between taking the option or not; “take it or leave it.”
teachermom, the child came to you for some comfort and trust. You had a rare moment there, to connect, to make a difference, to do something kind that might have immortalized you in this child’s eyes. Don’t you want to be the teacher some little kid remembers forty years from now? You blew it. I doubt that little girl will ever reach out to you again.
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Good point about the job loss fact and reporting illness, HomeworkBlues.
Yeah, and I agree too, that when that girl encounters a similar situation again, she will be no further ahead. She won’t know how to solve the dilemma for herself and will have no peace. It was a missed opportunity.
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I’m thinking teachermom’s strategy is more of a Morton’s fork, where there are two options, both bad. The child can do all the homework as assigned, and miss her sister’s birthday party. Or the child can do the homework slightly late, which means an even bigger homework pile-up the next day, plus losing points for lateness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton%27s_Fork
And as usual, the teacher doesn’t even attempt to claim that the homework is necessary for the child’s learning.
We need a Bad Choices Bingo card, on the model of the Logical Fallacy Bingo card.
http://www.shagadelica.net/?p=627
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Learned something new…I’d never heard of Morton’s Fork before. I always thought that’s what a Hobson’s choice was.
Of course, the official policy of our middle school is that you can’t use Wikipedia for anything. Not “here’s how to evaluate sources to assess their accuracy”, just “you can’t use it – period.” Goes with the whole “memorization – your key to life in the 21st century” plan that my school system pushes.
So FedUpMom, I didn’t officially learn anything from you. 🙂
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Wow, I think teachermom’s essential idea, the kernel at the heart of what she wrote (and what Sara cried “Hear, hear!” to), is getting lost.
Boiled way way down, I took teachermom’s post, at its heart, to say that we have to teach our children that school grades should be considered in a larger context, rather than blindly sought at any cost.
If we teach children to consider grades in their proper perspective, then they grow up knowing how to work for grades when there’s a good reason (college, sports requirement), and how to let bad grades roll off their backs when the price is too high.
Grades should be a means to an end, but not an end in themselves. That’s a lesson that can be taught.
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I’d love to take it a step further, anonymous, and throw the grades out entirely. Given that that suggestion might unleash a barrage of, BUT THEY WON’T LEARN OTHERWISE!, do know that there are kids for whom grades are a turn off to learning and as Alfie Kohn says, it forces kids to focus on performance rather than process.
I doubt my daughter is the only one. Research shows that interest in learning begins to take a dive in second grade, precisely when grades are formally introduced. Public school, in its infinite wisdom, has in the last few years decided to introduce them even earlier, in kindergarten. Hey, it’s never to early to crush love of learning, is it?
My daughter learns in spite of grades, surely not because of them. Simply put, I am sick of them, I’m sick of the incessant pressure. I’m, sick of talking about them, I’m sick of asking about them, and I’m especially sick of that conversation, “we have to bring up her grades.” How about, we have to use our time wisely in school so that she learns? Please. Don’t send me interims. Four annual report cards are quite enough, thank you very much.
Find me a creative school that takes learning uber-seriously, combining the best practices of traditional and progressive education, and I’ll be there 9:30 Monday. Not earlier, though, I’m afraid. Teen sleep phase delay, you see.
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anonymous says:
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If we teach children to consider grades in their proper perspective, then they grow up knowing how to work for grades when there’s a good reason (college, sports requirement), and how to let bad grades roll off their backs when the price is too high.
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But why is the price so unbelievably high? Kids should not be asked to give up their sleep, their social lives, and their mental health in order to avoid bad grades.
The problem cannot be solved without real change in the schools. It’s not enough to tell parents to tell their kids not to worry about grades. That doesn’t fix a broken system.
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FedUpMom writes: “The problem cannot be solved without real change in the schools. It’s not enough to tell parents to tell their kids not to worry about grades. That doesn’t fix a broken system.”
This is very seminal. It is key. The system is broken. A prominent journalist, a friend, whose children attend schools in our wealthy district, recently characterized our schools as “sick.” She was specifically referring to the early high school start times but our conversation progressed to homework overload, producing children who are tired, disengaged from their learning, and unhealthy. She is right.
At its core, the schools have lost our trust. Yes, there are many parents who have drunk the Cool-Aide are sop up all the frothy PR the schools disseminate.. As Disillusioned wrote, these parents are deliberately deluding themselves because admitting the “nominally high performing school districts” are offering mediocre education, outsourced to parents, would decrease their property values and bragging about the “excellent” school down the street, “committed to excellence and rigor” means the value of your house rises.
Until that trust is restored, until parents are treated as real partners and not as lowly servants, forced to obediently bow to the bidding of schools without input, we cannot proceed. An intelligent discussion requires scrutiny. You simply cannot have one without the other.
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Correction: I wrote “are sop up.” Meant to say, AND sop up. Of course!
Sara, if you get this fast, can you correct and repost? I’d love that!
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HWB- You are correct about a loss of trust. Conversely, the public school system doesn’t trust the parents (or children) either. The ironically named Principal at FedUp Mom’s public school lacks principal. As so many have noted, parent triangulation is a form of manipulation. Again, the irony of trying to build character and responsiblity in our children when the public school system breeds distrust and fear.
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Disillusioned, again, you hit the nail on the head. Very astute.
The irony in all of this is, when you stop and ponder it all, we have a monolith, a huge system that, and forgive the blunt candor, doesn’t trust us or our children but doesn’t give us much reason to trust it with either. It’s a huge entity, gulping down vast resources and dollars, and despite the slick PR of “world class education, committed to excellence and rigor,” is essentially a test prep factory where everyone is on guard.
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Wow! It just amazes me to listen to some of the views and positions that are being expressed by the parents on this page.
As I read each blog it puts such a bad taste in my mouth about some of the things that are being said. You have one side saying that homework shouldn’t be given- (of course this is coming out of the mouths of individuals who evidently don’t teach) and then the other side that say that homework needs to be given- (apparently from individuals who are in the classroom everyday, staying hours after the school day has ended, as well as assessing their students’ work performance continuously pondering effective ways to meet every need of every child in their class) hmmmm?
Like I tell my team, my battle isn’t my students- that is only half the battle. The real battle is the parents- maily those who don’t work with their children at home to ASSIST the teacher in the SUCESS of their childs learning. Parents have lowered their expectations for their children which makes teachers job twice as hard in the class. If you do not require you child to excel in life then don’t expect them to excel in the classroom. Apparently teachers are sending home work to reinforce what is being taught to HELP your child. So if you are the parent that feels that homework is a waste of time. Do your teacher a favor and tell him or her not to give your child any homework since you feel it is a waste of time. Then you make sure to refrain from all request for conferences on your child’s progress, ( because that would be a waste of time) definately don’t make any (rude) phone calls when your child brings home those wonderful C’s, D’s and F’s you and I both know they don’t deserve and definately don’t expect them to advance to the next grade level with confidence and skills needed to do well and keep up.
Do me a favor and make my job easier- this way I can focus on the students who parents are active in their childs learning. We would greatly appreciate it.
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Gosh, Anonymous, do you always write so poorly or is it just today? Frankly, I’d rather trust our children to the parents of this blog all afternoon, evenings and weekends than to your homework.I can only imagine the drek you send home. Could it be you assign so much homework because you are so ineffective in the classroom?
I fully support homework. For you! Go back to school and brush up on your grammar, spelling and syntax. Perhaps you teach persuasive essay writing in your classroom but please don’t lead by example! And while you’re at it, read a book in your spare time. It’ll do your and your students far more good than all the paperwork and assessments crowding your desk and your time.
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Correction: “It’ll do YOU and your students,” not YOUR and your students. Typo.
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Anonymous writes: “Like I tell my team, my battle isn’t my students–”
I’m confused. You’re clearly a teacher. Dear god, please don’t tell me you are a principal too.
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Anonymous- Your comments leave a terrible taste in my mouth! As HWB has already pointed out, your writing is atrocious. Moreover, I find your use of war metaphors unsettling. I’m sure the majority (if not all) of your students’ parents do not consider themselves at war with you or your school. However, I know this rather foul and offensive idealogy is prevalent amongst educators. To paraphrase, “You’re either for us or againts us!”
Just because a parent (an adult by the way) dares to question homework policies should not mean he or she should not hold the public school system accountable for his or her child’s progress while they are in school six to eight hours a day! Your astonishing claim that you would prefer to focus on students whose “parents are active in their child’s learning” is asinine and lacks logic in the extreme!
First off, how dare you assume that anyone who questions your homework policies does not care about their child’s education? Secondly, if you are spending hours after class assessing your students work performance; shouldn’t you know who needs some extra help mastering the curriculum? Thirdly, why would you not deign to help a child whose parents you consider “not active in their child’s education?”
If you consider parents who do not fall in line with your expectations regarding homework “making your job twice as hard” too damm bad! Instead of becoming a teacher/martyr; why don’t you leave academia and see what the rather ruthless, complicated, nuanced, competitive real world is like for awhile. Maybe you won’t be so quick to judge all of those slacker parents who make their way everyday worrying about their jobs and how to advance in a world where people skills matter!
Good lord, if I had a job where I could spout off the inanities I have heard from you and your ilk, I guess I could have a confrontational, condescending, arrogant attitude and not have to worry about getting fired!
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Bravo, Disillusioned. I was fit to be tied when I read that letter from Anonymous. I don’t just find Anonymous’ poor writing a joke, I find it a tragedy that we hire, maintain and pay such “educators” to teach our children. My daughter wrote better prose in second grade.And when I homeschooled, you can be damned assured I would never have let such sloppy writing go past my eyes.
I wasn’t expecting Abe Lincoln or T.S. Eliot but it blows my mind how concerned you are about our children’s SUCCESS when you can’t even spell the word.
And to second Disillusioned, how dare you assume we don’t care about our children’s education because we question bad homework policies? We care because we want our children engaged in meaningful learning when they arrive home from school, and not just blindly following your orders. We care more than you are willing to acknowledge. That is why we have gathered here on this blog.
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Anonymous says:
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The real battle is the parents– maily those who don’t work with their children at home to ASSIST the teacher
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Well, at least you’re honest enough not to call the parents “partners”. But guess what — we’re not your assistants either. We have our own agenda, and our own ideas about how we run our families in our own time.
This crazy idea of the parents-as-assistants seems to be a natural outgrowth of starting homework too early in the school cycle. If you delayed homework until it was developmentally appropriate (probably high school), you wouldn’t have to depend on parents to organize and nag and be responsible for getting the homework done.
I would like to see a no-homework policy for elementary schools. Then parents could stop fighting with their kids and the teachers could stop fighting with the parents. Then we could see what the teachers were actually doing with their prime 30 hours a week when the kids are at their freshest.
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From Bad Teachers, by Guy Strickland:
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[The teacher] feels that she has turned her back on income and social standing in order to help the world as a teacher, and she wants parents to appreciate her self-sacrifice. Even the bad teachers, those who have not devoted effort or dedication to their teaching, expect parents to be grateful for the *time* they have sacrificed.
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In other words, the teacher as martyr.
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FedUpMom, excellent. Disillusioned referenced that too, the martyr, who sacrifices and expects the parents to be subservient and grateful to this supreme sacrifice. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if teaching was about teaching and not all this emotional (somebody please love me!) baggage?
I’m still stuck on the appalling writing. Later, when I have more time, I’ll extract another Guy Strickland piece about teachers who cannot write and therefore don’t bother teaching it. He says, when your child comes home with an essay and it’s not marked up, all you see is a grade on top and the occasional CLEVER, don’t fall for the “I didn’t have time to do more” line. More likely, the teacher cannot write and doesn’t want to highlight that deficiency.
I know there are some good teachers out there. If only we could get rid of the bad ones…
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From “Bad Teachers”, by Guy Strickland:
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Here are a few things to look for:
…….
2.) Notes from the teacher that contain misspelled words and grammatical errors; this isn’t just a clue, this is plain evidence that the teacher lacks fundamental skills.
3.) The absence of graded papers, especially compositions.
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FedUp, our Anonymous teacher here writes that we should be willing to ASSIST her. I see where she’s coming from. With that kind of writing, she needs all the help she can get.
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I just finished reading “Making the Grades”, by Todd Farley. I highly recommend it.
I wanted to highlight a quote from the book:
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I always hoped my teams would consist of people who were smart enough to understand the rules but not so smart they’d be disinclined to agree with them.
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This reminds me so much of our local public schools. They want kids who are smart enough to make the school look good, but not so smart that they question the busywork they’re made to do every day. Don’t look behind the curtain!
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FedUpMom- Exactly. They also want parents who do the same (and most do).
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As John Taylor Gatto says, very smart children who think outside the box cause trouble for schools because they do indeed peer behind that curtain. Those are the ones most vulnerable to disillusionment because no one bothers to answer their questions. Notice how the most vocal parents on this blog are highly intelligent and can write a decent sentence?
I’m not bragging here but I’m incensed that if you dare to question policy, you are branded a slacker. When in fact, the opposite is true. It’s when you really care, when you start to question what your children are bringing home, when you wonder what they do in school all day;when you decide that as a taxpayer you really do have inalienable rights, that is the epitome of a caring, nurturing INVOLVED parent who is in fact very concerned about the education her children are getting from the public school system.
How about in this new year, school brass resolves to put the PUBLIC back in PUBLIC school and has the dog wagging the tail, for a change. When pigs fly?
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what is the point!! we were just at school!!! homework is dumb!!
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I am a second grade teacher. I give homework because it is required by our school board. I’ve tried to minimize and I’ve gotten complaints from several parents. On another note, I’ve been teaching for almost 20 years and I have a five year old. I’m planning on homeschooling him. I know several teachers who are fed up with “the system” and are homeschooling their own children.
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Our principal told us at a meeting recently that if all of our kids were not proficient in the near future, we would be losing our jobs. But, no stress right? I believe all kids can learn, but it’s developmental. Wouldn’t it be nice if kids could learn at their own pace? Or what THEY wanted and not this list from the government?
**Climbing off the soapbax**Thanks for listening.
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Oh LM…I wish teachers like you felt more empowered because you’re the type of person who has a right to call herself a professional teacher. You are 100% correct about development being at the crux of young children’s learning. Insisting on young children meeting milestones at a prescribed is just nonsense and you have the sense to see that. And it’s refreshing to hear that a public school teacher would homeschool…from the sounds of some teachers who write in here sometimes, homeschooling is a choice for parents who are antisocial at best, and mollycoddlers at the very least.
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I don’t mind minimized amounts of school homework. However, I do a lot of additional “homework” with my children. For example, my four year old, knows how to count by 2s, 5s, 10s, and 100s. He also knows a great deal of sight words too.
My now just turned 7 year old, who is in first grade, is doing multiplication and reading “Captain Underpants” books. As a former teacher, in a private school, … it is not about good ” stock” or great “genes.” That is an opinion; and more often, this IS not the case. Most kids are average!! However, you can teach your children to have great study habits if you start early, rather than later. If you wait until an issue arises with your child’s performance in a specific area, it is usually very difficult to “catch up” and remedy the given situation.
If you are a parent, you have to decide what is important … (kind of like buying a house … location, or bigger home, etc). If you sacrifice one area, you better be willing to pick up the slack!! And, a final note, living in a great local with a great school and a non active parent still means average results at best with the child.
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homework sucks!
bob loves goats man
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I homeschool all 4 of my kids in less time than I would spend helping them with homework if they were in public school. All parents homeschool whether you admit it or not. I say you may as well do it completely and it will be so much better and your family life will change in amazing ways. However, thank God for teachers who try their best with what they have to deal with. My hats are off to you. I wanted to be a teacher before I got married and had kids. Today, whether I had kids or not, there is no amount of money you could pay me to be a teacher today. No amount.
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cfuchslao writes:
“My now just turned 7 year old, who is in first grade, is doing mul iplication and reading “Captain Underpants” books.” (snip)
“However, you can teach your children to have great study habits if you start early, rather than later. If you wait until an issue arises with your child’s performance in a specific area, it is usually very difficult to “catch up” and remedy the given situation.”
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I’ve instilled lasting values in my child too, starting early. But it wasn’t geared around “performance” as much as it was a love of learning, imagination, creativity, curiosity and a love affair with books.
I agree about instilling a work ethic, a sense of accomplishment, learning to meet deadlines, putting your all into a project (how about the self directed kind where your child is in a state of flow and doesn’t come up for air for hours?)..But this notion that homework fulfills those needs is rubbish. And the guilt placed on parents that if they don’t start early and often, it’ll almost be too late.
You seem to like Captain Underpants. Take a look at the kind of student the creator was:
http://www.pilkey.com/pilkey_speech1.php?video=speech_512.mov&w=500&h=375
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I just found this on freerangekids.com. Thank you all for explaining for my why I homeschool my children. 2 – 3 hours a day, they’re done, and then they can go read, explore, and play. AND they’re ahead of grade level.
I don’t miss the days of fretting over homework at all.
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Donna, welcome! And kudos to you for voting with your feet and saying goodbye to all that useless sleep robbing homework. We did the same here for one year.
That’s a great blog too, free range kids. It’s nice to see traffic drifting over from there.
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you are crazy
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