Author Archives: Sara Bennett

How to Help Your Four-Year-Old With Homework

I didn’t know what to expect when I came across this blog piece, How To Help Your Four-Year-Old With Homework,” but it put a smile on my face when I read it. Have a nice weekend. How To Help Your Four-Year Old With Homework by Who’s the Mummy How to help your four year oldContinue reading “How to Help Your Four-Year-Old With Homework”

Texas Math Teacher Makes Homework Optional and Only 5 of 45 Parents Request It

The other day, I was thrilled to receive an email from Jason, a 4th grade math and science teacher in Houston, Texas, who told me that, after doing a lot of research and thinking, he had decided to make homework optional in his class. This was quite a turnaround for the Jason who posted severalContinue reading “Texas Math Teacher Makes Homework Optional and Only 5 of 45 Parents Request It”

Guest Blogger – A College Teacher’s Response to President Obama’s Idea of Lengthening the School Day

A few days ago, President Obama talked about increasing the length of the school day and school year. Before I even had a chance to fashion a response in my head, I received this piece from K, who has been teaching science at a small independent college for over a decade and has written forContinue reading “Guest Blogger – A College Teacher’s Response to President Obama’s Idea of Lengthening the School Day”

An Eighth Grader Speaks Out

Kira, an thirteen-year-old eighth grader in a public school in Pennsylvania, sent me the following email: I just want to say I support your website completely, and everything on it is true, and relates to my school experience. My family gets really stressed out, to the point of tears, screaming, or yelling, etc. at leastContinue reading “An Eighth Grader Speaks Out”

Spring Branch, Texas, School Board Implements a New, Improved Homework Policy

On this blog last spring, I posted an interview with Mike Falick, a School Board member from Spring Branch, Texas (Houston), who had made homework his priority. Now, at the start of the school year, Spring Branch has implemented a new homework policy which, among other things, has teachers working together to coordinate their workflows,Continue reading “Spring Branch, Texas, School Board Implements a New, Improved Homework Policy”

I’ll Make My Reading Logs Optional Says Virginia Teacher

The post that has generated the most Comments ever is I Hate Reading Logs by FedUp Mom. If you scroll through, you’ll notice that teachers have chimed in, some rethinking their own homework practice, others defending it. I was particularly struck by the openness of a teacher from Virginia, who found the post while lookingContinue reading “I’ll Make My Reading Logs Optional Says Virginia Teacher”

Is School Teaching Our Students Not To Think?

In the upcoming documentary, Race to Nowhere, one of the things I talk about is how some of my more recent law school interns have had more trouble taking initiative and thinking for themselves than my students of 10 years ago. A few weeks ago, I was talking to a former colleague who told meContinue reading “Is School Teaching Our Students Not To Think?”

Moms and Dads on a Mission–Denver, North Carolina

Today’s guest blogger, Deidra Hewitt, lives in Denver, North Carolina, where she has two children in a public elementary school. A stay-at-home mom with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and who took eight Masters classes in Early Childhood Education, she “would prefer that my children’s school stick to educating them. I do not feel thatContinue reading “Moms and Dads on a Mission–Denver, North Carolina”