We Need More Teachers Like Mrs. Bunyi

I recently stumbled upon the blog of a fourth grade teacher, Angela Bunyi, who keeps homework to a minimum. She writes to the parents, “I keep homework very light so that you can honestly keep reading and writing as part of your steady diet at home. This will help me more than any worksheet I may send home to you at night. Thank you for your support! If you want more resources for at home help, please email me!”

Mrs. Bunyi also has a blog on scholastic.com, where she posted an interesting piece on homework. She quotes from reading research that shows that students in the 90th percentile read, on average, 2,357,000 words per year. Students in the 10th percentile read, on average, 51,000 words a year.

From my Mailbox: A Single Father Speaks Out

I recently received a letter from a single dad in Montana who would like to meet other parents nearby who are also fed up with homework. So if you live in Montana, drop me a line, and I’ll try to put you in touch with each other.

Dear Sara,

I’m a single father of a 5th grade boy and boy o boy are we ever overloaded. It’s insane and I thought I was the only one who thought it was insane. Plus my son has ADHD and by the end of the day his concentration level is shot… homework is a nightmare and ruins everything.

I wish your website had a community forum where people could get together from the same state or city. He’s soon to be out of elementary school and off to middle school where there will be a whole new set of standards to deal with. I could fight my current school, but it won’t do my son much good (or us) by next year. Having a resource of a community forum that parents could find each other and team up to approach the school system would be great. I feel like I’m on an island. I don’t know anybody at my sons school. I work all day and hardly get the chance to interact with any other parents.

Exam Stress Leads to Too Many Suicides in India

According to an article in the Times of India, there were more than 16 suicides a day during a peak exam period in the 2006-2007 school year. “The sense of failure comes from the perception that success in exams is the key to success in life,” says a counselor and family therapist. “The burden of expectations — their own and their parents — makes them feel that only coming first is good enough.” The therapist continues, “One should always strive for excellence but failure isn’t a catastrophe.”

Indeed, as the article notes, failure

can even spur success. Thomas Edison famously told a reporter who asked him how it felt to have failed 700 times to invent the electric light. “I have not failed 700 times…I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work.”

Some New Zealand Schools Cut Back on Homework

Seven New Zealand primary schools have just decided to cut back on homework because research shows no correlation between homework and academic achievement and there’s no evidence that homework teaches time management skills. (Nothing new there! Readers of this blog already knew that.)

According to stuff.co.nz, a recent study by Auckland University education professor John Hattie, which analysed the effectiveness of 113 different teaching tactics, ranked homework at 88th. Further, Hattie found no evidence that homework helps improve time management or study skills. Read the article here.

Let This Teacher Know What You Think of Kindergarten Homework

I recently came across a blog by a kindergarten teacher who was wondering whether she should assign more homework in kindergarten to prepare her students for first grade. I was so horrified by her musings (and the amount of homework she already assigns) that I posted a comment. You might want to do the same.

Here is what she wrote:

This week our kindergarten team met with our first grade teachers. We had a discussion about homework. I always viewed homework in kindergarten as practice and a way for the students and parents to get in the routine of sitting down each night and doing homework. I was surprised to hear the amount of homework some of the first grade teachers send home and I became scared I was not preparing my students enough for first grade.

I started thinking about what I have my students do each night. I do not believe in sending home hours of work to do each night. The homework I send home is max 25-30 minutes and that is if the students are truly taking their time. I send a homework calendar home at the beginning of each month. I also send a book at the student’s reading level home on Mondays and the students return the books on Fridays. Every once in awhile I send home a project for an activity we do in class. I do not have the students doing homework over the weekends.

I do not feel that I need to send anymore homework than I do. I thought since I have the opportunity to reach out to other Early Childhood educators I could ask for your opinions on homework. I would love to hear what other teachers do and share ideas. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks!

First Monday

Today, March 2, is the first Monday of the month. As I suggest every month in this blog, I hope you’ll send a note expressing your thoughts about homework to your children’s teachers or, perhaps, to a school administrator or School Board member. Even better, join with a few friends and send a collective note. Ask for a public discussion of the problem. Ask the school to be responsive. If you need help in formulating a note, look in The Case Against Homework for some examples, or see the kinds of notes parents have been writing by browsing Moms (and Dads) on a Mission on this blog. If you do send a note, please post a comment and send me a copy of your letter. And if you get a response from the teacher or school, please let us know that as well.

Bring Alfie Kohn into your Living Room

Alfie Kohn, the author of The Homework Myth, has just released a DVD, No Grades + No Homework = Better Learning, featuring two of his lectures–one on the problem with grades and the other on the problem with homework. Each lecture, geared towards parents and teachers, is about 45 minutes in length and both are riveting.

If you’ve never had the opportunity to attend one of Kohn’s lectures, here’s your chance. He’s a very engaging speaker, and he really challenges his audience to think about the status quo. After listening to him speak, you’ll probably think up a few new ways to approach these topics at your school.

To learn more, to watch some snippets from the video, and to order, visit:

Homework Optional at School in St. Paul, Minnesota

A school in St. Paul, Minnesota is trying something new. Instead of grading students based on homework, tests, extra-credit and participation, it will assess them solely on how well they understand the material, either through tests or projects.

According to The Star Tribune, the director of teaching and learning for the district. “I’d love to get away from the idea of a report card. I’d love to think about a continuous process in which parents, students and teachers have a great sense of how the student is progressing.”

Now if the school would move away from tests and state standards, too….

Broward County, Florida, Sets Limits on Homework

Last week, the Broward County School Board in Florida approved new homework guidelines that suggest that teachers not assign too much homework and that the homework that is assigned be meaningful. According to The Sun Sentinel, the policy requires teachers to “provide ‘timely and appropriate feedback’ on assignments, be sensitive about the costs of materials for projects, and collaborate with other teachers so projects are not assigned at the same time.”