Spring '97 Newsletter |
Table
of Contents |
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by Mollie Fry |
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| Can professionals and parents collaborate to
design homework that strengthens the bonds between home and school? How can learning
inside school be connected to learning outside without eroding the brief hours that many
parents, particularly working parents, have with their children? Is homework indeed
appropriate for very young children who are just beginning 13 years of schooling?
Educators assure us that families talking together, having meaningful conversations,
contribute not only to family life but to the development of children’s thinking and
reasoning. Is this a persuasive argument for more verbal kinds of homework and fewer
pencil and paper activities? But what about children learning to make records of their
activities? There is a balance, surely. How can we best achieve that balance? In this issue of our newsletter we present a selection of parents’ and teachers’ experience with homework. Maybe you have more to add. Let us know. Return to Table of Contents |
| by Lisa Britten | |
| Lisa
Britten, a kindergarten teacher at Lakewood Heights in Saint John,
attended a course during the summer of 1996 presented by Alan Newland
and Ruth Merttens, both of the University of North London and co-authors
of Learning in Tandem: Involving Parents in Their Children’s
Education. In the following article Lisa describes her experiences
as she took her new knowledge back into the classroom. The main idea of this course was to stress the significance of the school working directly with the home in a partnership to educate children. I found this idea to be intriguing but at the same time a little challenging. Alan and Ruth introduced us to a program they co-wrote called Impact. The more I listened, observed the tapes that they presented, and looked at examples of work they brought with them from England, the more I thought about implementing the program in my classroom. If implemented correctly, this program would a) increase communication between the home and the school; b) allow the parents to become active partners in their children’s education; c) increase reading, writing and math skills, which in reality was our school’s focus for the 1996-97 school year; d) make learning more meaningful for the children by providing them with hands on experiences (these activities would help the children retain more information because children learn best while they are having fun); and e) allow the parents to observe their child’s growth by providing them with examples of their work that they could refer to each time the Impact books went home. Lisa has created her own homework pages, based on those of the Impact program, and has given us permission to print an example (see below). IMPACT Activity: Labels In My Cupboard Dear Children: 1. Look in your cupboards for food items you can read. 2. Write down the items that you are able to read in your note book. 3. Remove one label from an item that you can read and bring it to class. Thank You To The Helper: Please assist your child with the task of going through your food cupboards. As you take out each item, have your child put what he/she can read in one pile. You may want to help your child print the names of the foods that he/she is able to read in the note book. If possible, could you please send with your child one label that he/she is able to read for our collage. Thank You Dear Parents and Guardians: This activity brings to the children's attention the fact that they can already "read." By being aware of their newly found ability, the children develop the confidence necessary for further reading. This activity also helps children to understand that print has meaning. In class, we will be making a large collage of the food items that the children are able to "read." Thank You Mrs. Britten |
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| by Sandi Langdon | |
| I
am a Grade Two teacher working in Debec Elementary School. One of
the challenges I have met with this year is breaking through the barriers
of traditional thinking with regard to homework. These are changing
times and homework must reflect these changes. How much homework is too much? How often should we assign it? What are the repercussions for not completing assigned work? How can we connect homework assignments to life outside the school? These are just some of the questions that I have been contemplating. Here are some of the ideas I have tried: * Flexible expectations in assigning homework. Parents were asked to keep me informed as to how the homework was going. If they felt it was too much they were asked to complete what they felt was within reason for their child and for them. This practice worked well for parents but made it difficult for me to monitor as not everyone completed the same assignments. * Math games were used. Math games were used as an alternative to more traditional drill and practice of math facts. The success of this assignment depended upon clear instructions for the games, and some understanding on the family’s part as to what benefit games were. * Talk with their families. Assignments were given that required students to talk with their families. These included interviews, observations, research and investigations. The overall response to these assignments was good. Some families found that the dialogue would have been enough. Assignments which went beyond investigation and required the children to record their findings in writing were (or proved) less enjoyable and less productive (more stressful/problematic/difficult) for the child and family. To maintain a positive and productive tone some alternatives to written recording might include: taping as a means of recording experience, using diagrams or pictures to record findings, parents helping with the written portions of the work. Parents of the children in Sandi’s class were encouraged to respond. Here is what one parent, Greer Stackhouse, wrote. More often than not homework is done with parental prompting (prodding, cajoling and nagging) which means some commitment on the parent’s part which can only really come with some understanding of what it’s all about. If homework is so important there ought to be repercussions for incomplete homework that impact parent and child. However, often the child bears the brunt of these repercussions without any real guidance to overcome problems, leading to a negative attitude from the start. Parents are so removed from the experiences the child is having at school that homework becomes an isolated event having little to do with anything and most young children can shed little light on what’s expected or how it relates to what they’ve done that day. Often there is a strong feeling that homework is the only connection the parent has to what their child is learning and how they are doing. Personally, homework is often just something that has to be done (by me and my child). I work at it because I want my child to take her teacher seriously and if the teacher requests something within limits then my child should try her best to get it done. I liked the format my child’s teacher, Sandi Langdon, used of spreading the work out over the week. This has really promoted the idea of planning and organizing time and the repercussions of leaving it all to the last moment. This has also given my daughter Emma a sense of control which is good. Often how well the homework was done had more to do with my interest than my child’s. Reading every night was a joy - I look forward to sharing a book and Em enjoys writing about the stories as long as they are simply expressions of her thoughts - not something to be corrected and critiqued. She likes to know her teacher has read what she has written and really enjoys any comments. Part of the success of this is perhaps the consistency with which it has been done - since junior kindergarten in Ontario - we both know what is expected. The moon journal was interesting. We both enjoyed being reminded to look at the moon and spent many chilly evenings outside on the lawn. I learned much about constellations from Em and she like sharing her knowledge. It was the recording part that didn’t go over well. Being asked to provide soil, seeds, plant cuttings, etc. was great. That promoted lots of discussion and I even remembered to ask what was done with them at school - how it was followed through. Finding shapes around the house. A little hard to get started but again, we roamed the house, comparing things and there was lots of discussion and questions. The math games were pretty good - some more than others. The ones that were more like recognizable popular card games for example went over better with the whole family. I guess the pattern here to what we found most successful was that the activity was open-ended not so much right or wrong and it lent itself to shared discovery. Emma certainly found our willing interest more encouraging and perhaps even got the idea that doing these things was valuable. Maybe we as parents need more in the way of information and ideas, and perhaps we’re not too unlike our children in that we need to feel what we’re doing is useful and has purpose. Not “homework” so much as sharing information and experiences. Return to Table of Contents |
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| by Anne Hunt | |
| Parise
Cote LaFrance, a kindergarten teacher at Ecole Elementaire Sacre Couer
in Grand Falls, and her early years colleagues, teachers of kindergarten,
grade one and grade two, surveyed the parents of the children in their
classes on the question of homework. Of 112 possible responses 100
questionnaires were returned. The parents responded that they were
pleased to be participating in their children’s school activities,
and when asked how long homework should take, suggested 15 minutes
for the 5 year olds, beginning after Christmas, and 30 minutes for
the first and second years. The majority of parents did not find the
homework an imposition. Return to Table of Contents |
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Here
are some summer reading ideas for you on the topic of home/school
connections. Home Working - Everyday
Activities in Math, Language Arts and Science. The Metropolitan
Toronto School Board. 1996. This series of books contain many open-ended
activities that identify hundreds of everyday opportunities for
learning. There is an excellent introduction on the importance of
homework and a helpful section on evaluation which includes questionnaires
for students, parents and teachers. |
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Newsletter Information |
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Early Childhood Centre News is published by the: Early Childhood Centre, We welcome your submissions. Please sign your letters and include your mailing address and telephone number. Editors: Anne Hunt, Pam Nason and Pam Whitty |
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