Happy TGIF to each of you - I hope we all have an amazing 3 day weekend! I know I am looking forward to the extra day off to hang out with Paul and Felix (and maybe do some more TV binge watching - I have to finish the 3rd season of House of Cards). I want to thank you all for making our first ever EdCamp style FEO an overall success. Although a couple of sessions hit some glitches (looking for someone to lead the conversation), overall, the approach seemed to work well and there were a lot of great conversations and exchange of ideas. I think the EdCamp model is an important way to flip professional development opportunities so that we have more choice and voice in our learning... which is also something we try hard to achieve with the children. Thank you again!
Homework... what can I say? I have been thinking long and hard about this topic over the last couple of months and the truth is, I am not a fan. The main reason my opinion of homework has shifted so dramatically over the last few years is because of my experiences as a parent. Here is the deal- helping Paul with his homework is not always necessarily that much fun... actually, it is rarely fun. It is frustrating, slow, time consuming and rarely does it lead him to a deeper understanding or appreciation for something he learned about in school. In fact, for him, homework is just something he has to get done because his teachers tell him to and he never wants to disappoint his teachers. So, if our kids don't want to do the homework and their only motivation is to be compliant and please someone else, does the homework actually have any sustainability or value? From my lens, the answer is no. Maybe I'm missing the mark... maybe there is some value to homework but I have yet to see it.
Don't get me wrong, my opinion about homework has evolved over time but the greatest shift came in the last four years. When I was a classroom teacher I gave homework every single night because I thought that was the sign of a "good" teacher. I gave math worksheets, reading with some sort of log or reflection and some type of word work every single night. I gave homework because that is all I knew as a student. I did try and give less homework because I remember homework being such a struggle for me. My parents are immigrants and although they were able to speak English, they weren't able to help me with my homework. I remember having dozens of math problems each night and reading from textbooks and answering questions and having book reports and projects, with little adult support. I remember homework being something I dreaded and often got me into trouble at school because I invariably made mistakes or didn't complete the assignments. Trust me, that wasn't fun or easy. Even though my experiences with homework weren't necessarily positive, I still couldn't do away with it as a teacher. Homework had always been given and I was convinced that the parents of my students were going to judge me by how much homework I gave and the quality of the assignments.
I guess one could say that I was somewhat indifferent to homework. I didn't love it but felt it was a norm within schools and thus it should be given each night. That thinking stayed with me even into my first few years as a principal. Then Paul got to 3rd grade and all of that changed. Homework suddenly became the bane of my existence... in fact, I think I dreaded homework just as much as Paul did at that point (actually, I might have dreaded it more). Homework became the "black hole" of our time together - it sucked out the fun and took away time from the things we actually wanted to do together (build Lego sets, read books for fun and play video games). Homework became a source of tension and stress in our home... and it was something both of us were feeling and taking out on each other. Homework was more of a battle than it was an extension of the learning in school.
That is when I realized something had to change and I started doing some research about the impact of homework on the academic experience of students. And guess what? I couldn't find any research that showed a direct correlation between the practice of giving homework and academic success within school. I read a lot of Alfie Kohn's work, who did extensive research about homework and actually found that homework could have a negative impact on children and their families (click here to see a summary of his research findings). It wasn't the only research I came across - in fact there were dozens of studies that show homework has no positive impact in elementary school and even middle school. Yet, homework is the norm... not the exception and I don't understand why if there is no research to support the practice.
Research shows us that people learn through social interactions and thus we encourage collaborative inquiry in our classrooms - we are not forcing students to work in silent isolation. Research shows that positive reinforcement is a way to get students to model desired behaviors instead of acting out and thus we implement behavior plans and reward positive behaviors - we are not just relying on consequences and punishments to change behaviors. Research shows us that children learn better in smaller chunks of time because of their short attention span and thus we keep our direct instruction to 20 minutes or less - we are not lecturing for hours on end in the hopes that children will learn. I would argue that we don't use research enough in schools to guide our practice but we do use it in many instances and yet when it comes to homework, we do the opposite? Why? What are the benefits of homework? How is homework impacting our students in a positive way? How is homework supporting or extending the learning from within the classroom? If we don't have the answers to questions like these then the time has come for us to revisit homework; to reconsider homework; to potentially re-brand homework!
I don't know that we are ready to completely throw out homework but I do think the time has come for us to reconsider what it looks like for our students by considering the research. I look forward to continuing this conversation and hearing input from everyone so that we can make an informed decision together that is in the best interest of students... which is the norm at Cantiague!
#EDUWINS for the week included...
- Huge shout out must go to Tali's students who facilitated the AudioBoom session at our EdCamp FEO on Tuesday - their work was nothing short of amazing. Their presentation at the start was short but informative and then their ability to facilitate and lead small learning groups of teachers was impressive - BRAVO! I would never have been able to do that as a 4th grader. Thank you Tali for preparing them for success!
- In Adam's room I had a chance to watch the children revise their letters about reading. This is a new unit of study in writer's workshop that second grade is trying where the children are reflecting on specific aspects of a text in letter form. The children were so excited to share their letters with me and I was so impressed by the content and product - WOW!
- Risa's students were hard at work revising their writing pieces during writer's workshop. The children had generated different lists as part of their list and labels unit and after selecting their favorite one, they were revising it in preparation for publication. It was so impressive to watch how thoughtful they were being about their work and revisions - AWESOME!
Tech Tip of the Week...
Check out this article about how to use Periscope (free app that links to Twitter) in the classroom... Periscope: Connecting Classrooms to the World
Blogs Worth Reading...
10 Surefire Ideas To Remove Writing Roadblocks by Regie Routman
Let's Debate HW by Kristi Mraz
4 Stories That HW Tells Children about School, Learning & Life by Shawna Coppola
Staff Reflection/Blog...
Our latest post comes from Allison, who shares her perspectives on HW and why she doesn't feel compelled to give a lot to her students. A MUST read!
I spend countless hours each week sitting on the sidelines of Tyler’s basketball games with other parents of elementary and middle school aged children. The one “hot topic” that consistently comes up is…HOMEWORK. Inevitably, someone is complaining about the fact that their child is spending too many precious hours completing meaningless and ridiculous homework. First graders expected to read 20 minutes a night and struggling to fill in reading logs, Third graders writing monotonous spelling sentences each week, second graders writing responses to literature on a daily basis, and 7th graders doing pages and pages from the math text book every night. Knowing that I teach in the #1 school in New York (yup, that's right), they always turn to me and say, “Allison, what do you think about all of this homework? In Jericho, your kids must be spending HOURS on their work at home.”
Everyone is shocked to hear my response when I explain that my principal has shared several research based articles which show that homework in elementary school has no impact on academic success. I share that my fifth grade colleagues and I have made a conscious decision to do away with reading logs, and really limit the amount of homework we give each night. My friends are shocked to hear that we have done away with our vocabulary workbook and instead we have looked for authentic ways to have our kids engage in meaningful word study work. Friends are surprised to learn that on most nights our kids are given a maximum of five math problems to practice at home, and that our students are never told what to read or write about at home - we try and give our kids freedom and flexibility.
Instead of excessive amounts of homework, we encourage our kids to explore their interests and passions in their free time. We want them to read for pleasure and write for real reasons. We expect them to play outside and enjoy time with their families whenever possible. We respect the fact that our kids have very busy extracurricular lives - whether they go to an after school religious school or a sport, they are growing in other ways and pursuing other interests. We recognize that during the school day we challenge our children and expect a lot of our ten-year old "babies" - they are still children. Everybody deserves a little “down time”.
Does everyone agree with our practices? Not necessarily. Do we get questions? Yes. In fact, the parents in our class used to question whether or not our students would be prepared for middle school, given our homework philosophy (or lack thereof). Our answer is that our kids are prepared for middle school because we foster a positive attitude towards learning, make connections with our kids (and their families), build self - esteem, address social emotional skills, and create a learning environment that fosters independence and empowers our kids. In my opinion, these skills are way more important than any book report, spelling assignment, or workbook page that so many teachers and kids are wasting precious time on each and every night.
Monday, January 18
"A" Week
SCHOOL CLOSED for MLK Jr.
Tuesday, January 19
Gr. 1 Literacy Check-In Meeting at 10:15am
Gr. 5 Literacy Check-In Meeting at 11am
FEO Cancelled
Gr. 5 Literacy Check-In Meeting at 11am
FEO Cancelled
Wednesday, January 20
Gr. 3 Literacy Check-In Meeting at 2:15pm
Thursday, January 21
CST @ 1:20pm
Ice Cream Sale - Indoor lunch schedule
Cultural Arts!
Friday, January 22
Ice Cream Sale - Indoor lunch schedule
Cultural Arts!
Friday, January 22
Happy TGIF!
Kindergarten Literacy Check-In Meeting at 1:30pm
Kindergarten Literacy Check-In Meeting at 1:30pm
Reminders...
- Don't forget to implement lessons from our Digital Citizenship Curriculum... access it here!
- There FEO on Tuesday, Jan. 26 are district-wide grade level meetings!
- Don't forget incoming kindergarten registration is happening during the week of Jan. 25th
I've been reading all the hw debates on presented over the pst few months (mostly on facebook). The most important part I have been getting out of it all, is that hw needs to be appropriate, if given at all. I know the studies says hw might not be beneficial, but I can not see how short, appropriate review of the days lesson can't be helpful in math. Appropriate, in my mind, means nothing new is presented, and nothing harder than what was done in class. It also means short.. No child needs to practice 20 long division problems, which causes frustration or boredom. Two or three problems is plenty, then I always feel like a few review problems of old material is appropriate and helpful. Lastly, the hw needs to be reviewed in an "appropriate" manner, which needs more discussion. Having struggled through helping my children do hw for years, I understand the parental frustration, but a great deal of that hw was not appropriate in my opinion. I look forward to discussing this more with the staff.
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