- Parents are provided with clear guidelines as to their role.
- Parents are not expected to act as experts regarding content.
- Parents ask clarifying questions and questions that help students summarize what they have learned.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Homework and Parental Involvement
I'm sure that all of my fellow Falmouth teachers have been diligently reading The Art and Science of Teaching by Robert J. Marzano. It's our assigned summer reading - not exactly a beach book! Anyway, studies on homework are discussed on pp.65-71 and one section concerns parental involvement in that area. It states, "Based on a series of studies designed to identify the conditions under which parental involvement enhances homework, Epstein and her colleagues (Epstein, 1988, 1991,2001; Epstein and Becker, 1982; Van Voorhis, 2003) promote the notion of interactive homework. Following are some general features of interactive homework:
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14 comments:
I think that I could agree with those three guidelines regarding a parent's role in homework. I believe that homework is the child's responsibility and therfore should be appropriately designed so that they can work on it independently with little support. Parents need to support a child's effort with homework by helping to make it possible to get to it done and to help the child find a good space to work. Especially with older children, I have found that they just like to have a sounding board, maybe some help reviewing for tests and proofreading their writing! I'm not sure I think that early elementary students should have homework.
I have not formally involved the parents in my students' homework so far, but I want to! I need to settle on a well defined system.
Yes, I believe parents are responsible to provide a safe, quiet place to do math homework for up to 1/2 hr each night, at an hour that is reasonable. Yes, I know all parents won't do this. Sometimes the student has to be responsible enough to find the time and place. I will teach 6th grade in the fall. The students can stay after school, in a non-punitive environment, and do their homework. I understand different strategies may be needed at younger grades, but I am not willing to surrender all homework.
I have mixed feelings about hw. The interactive type seems to make sense but then it does require an adult to be interested and available so gives an advantage to those kids with interested and available parents! and a disadvantage to those without.
Furthermore, hw can create a fair amount of stress in households. Simple, straight forward, and homework of a repetitive nature work best so that students can get into routines/patterns of knowing what to do when.
I agree with susieg that students should be responsible for their homework and should be able to do it independently-for the most part. I teach second grade. Children at this level do need a little direction from parents. I would appreicate if parents would check their child's homework when it is finished. I am amazed by the poor quailty of the homework that is passed in by some students.
Karen made a comment about interactive homework and the need to have an interested and available parent in order for it to be successful. I am always available to help my children with homework, however, I don't want to do their homework. I want homework sent home that the student is capable of doing on their own. While my son was in middle school, I felt like I was back in middle school. A lot of the "projects" were beyond his capability on his own. A lot of them cost a lot of money because of materials that were necessary to complete them. We spent more time wandering through craft stores looking for just the right things to complete the project. I am definately a hands-on parent, but sometimes I don't want to be in regards to homework. Homework is done at the end of the day when I also have things I need to get completed, plus I'm tired. I start to shut down at the end of the day and don't need just one more thing to do. My children's education is a priority to me, but the majority of homework should be able to be completed by themselves with occaisional assistance from a parent.
I agree with the homework guidelines. I teach 2nd grade and provide small amounts of homework so the children have practice bringing it home and following through with their homework responsibilities. I never mark them down if their homework is not complete. However they can earn rewards on random days for completing it. Children that don't have the support at home can complete it in the am with a tutor or older student volunteer. I don't think it is a fair practice for those children that have no parent support at home to be penalized. My homework attempts to encourages family interactions when it is in the form of a familar game that the children share with their families, independent reading time and a math game or practice of already learned concepts.
I plan on sending home guidelines for parental involvement with their child's homework next fall. The three "bullets" you shared in your posting will definitely be a strong part of those guidelines. Thanks for sharing a part of your exciting summer reading.
I give homework M-Th. It is the child's responsibility to complete and it is totally independent of parental guidance. The homework content is what students are able to handle on their own. Many of my parents are unable to assist with homework for a variety of reasons; language barriers, shift work that may involve evening hours, inadequate space or quiet space for homework and a host of other reasons. Most of my students attend Safe and Smart, an after school program, which gives the students time to complete their assignment. I can not control what happens out of school, but I do think a small amount of homework instills responsibility and accountability. That is a worthwhile quality for children to have.
While I think some of the guidelines discussed are appropriate for some students they are not for all- Being an ELL teacher I find that many of my parents aren't available to assist nor do they have the English profiency to assist. I agree with Claire that students that don't have support at home shouldn't be penalized for this. So HW should be given with these variables in mind. Give Homework responsibly
I agree that parents are responsible for providing an environment in which students can do their homework, and structuring time (no more than 30-45 minutes for intermediate grades) so that homework becomes a regular and expected event. Reading each night ia also an expectation, and parents need to sign off on their child's assignment notebook.
I think the kind of homework that is truly the most valuable is the kind that involves parent/child interaction in the form of discussion and sharing. However, not all parents have the time, motivation, language or cultural background that allows for this to take place.
Speaking of homework, my brain cells are dead, but I am curious about this Marzano book and would like to have a copy of the pages mentioned about homework, if I may, please. I would also like to see the book, so please could you bring that in this week? I have read many of Marzano books and found that they were highly challenging! You are right, it is no beach reaidng:):):) However, Marzano often made me ponder...and I hate it when he is right!!!
When I was teaching 4-5th grade ESL at Riverton, during the 05-07 school years, I usually assigned my students homework twice a week, which consisted of reading to any adult at home, recording on a template what they read, and writing and/or illustrating their own response. For those who were not even English speakers yet, just the fact that they wrote down the title, author, & illustrator on a piece of paper, was quite an achievement. Added illustration about the book showed that they spent time to complete their homework!! Some of them have not received any formal education due to the turmoil in their countries and education was the farthest thing on their minds!! Surviving was on top of the list and in the refugee camp/s things happened that we could never even imagine, and I am not making excuses for them. These are the kids who were motivated......of course there were kids who were lazy....., which usually comprised of 20% or less.
As for Math, word problems are extremely difficult due to the language issue. So games that they can work on by themselves were handy and highly differentiated. I intergrated Math and Literacy in the form of relating letters to numbers where they decided the value of the letters in alphabetical order. Then they had to find words, which should make sense, find out each of the value, and compare them, by using math vocab., such as greater than or less than, in written form! When they wrote numbers, they were required to also have the written form and because it is Math, spelling does not count!!
This past year, as I implemented the computerize intervention program, iSucceed Math, I have used many of the games on number sense to help struggling mainstream students to understand the difficult mathematical concepts and vocabulary, yes, vocab., because it is not part of their daily usage at home. The English language learners have a more difficult time understanding, needless to say. And that is why I took the opportunity to be part of this program, as I can only teach what I know, which goes without saying!!
This summer, when I taught 3rd-5th grade ESL kids at Presumpscot school through the READ 180 program, homework consisted of three colored sheets of paper and a sheet of directions to practice their origami. Some of them came back the following day able to teach me and the other students, where they orally used geometrical math vocabulary.
It was awesome to see that the art of folding paper/origami became a manipulative! Students (12 of them) were "stuffing" themselves with mangoes. For the rest of the summer they took home a pile of copies of easy readers' booklets to read and color, and a variety of colored papers for more origami.
My extra homework tonight was to make sure that I remember to put the mango, which I bought Monday for the person (sorry I don't remember your name), who has not eaten a mango before, in my bag. I forgot it this morning!!! Where are my parents???? Was I suppose to be responsible for this homework????
Speaking of homework, my brain cells are dead, but I am curious about this Marzano book and would like to have a copy of the pages mentioned about homework, if I may, please. I would also like to see the book, so please could you bring that in this week? I have read many of Marzano books and found that they were highly challenging! You are right, it is no beach reaidng:):):) However, Marzano often made me ponder...and I hate it when he is right!!!
When I was teaching 4-5th grade ESL at Riverton, during the 05-07 school years, I usually assigned my students homework twice a week, which consisted of reading to any adult at home, recording on a template what they read, and writing and/or illustrating their own response. For those who were not even English speakers yet, just the fact that they wrote down the title, author, & illustrator on a piece of paper, was quite an achievement. Added illustration about the book showed that they spent time to complete their homework!! Some of them have not received any formal education due to the turmoil in their countries and education was the farthest thing on their minds!! Surviving was on top of the list and in the refugee camp/s things happened that we could never even imagine, and I am not making excuses for them. These are the kids who were motivated......of course there were kids who were lazy....., which usually comprised of 20% or less.
As for Math, word problems are extremely difficult due to the language issue. So games that they can work on by themselves were handy and highly differentiated. I intergrated Math and Literacy in the form of relating letters to numbers where they decided the value of the letters in alphabetical order. Then they had to find words, which should make sense, find out each of the value, and compare them, by using math vocab., such as greater than or less than, in written form! When they wrote numbers, they were required to also have the written form and because it is Math, spelling does not count!!
This past year, as I implemented the computerize intervention program, iSucceed Math, I have used many of the games on number sense to help struggling mainstream students to understand the difficult mathematical concepts and vocabulary, yes, vocab., because it is not part of their daily usage at home. The English language learners have a more difficult time understanding, needless to say. And that is why I took the opportunity to be part of this program, as I can only teach what I know, which goes without saying!!
This summer, when I taught 3rd-5th grade ESL kids at Presumpscot school through the READ 180 program, homework consisted of three colored sheets of paper and a sheet of directions to practice their origami. Some of them came back the following day able to teach me and the other students, where they orally used geometrical math vocabulary.
It was awesome to see that the art of folding paper/origami became a manipulative! Students (12 of them) were "stuffing" themselves with mangoes. For the rest of the summer they took home a pile of copies of easy readers' booklets to read and color, and a variety of colored papers for more origami.
My extra homework tonight was to make sure that I remember to put the mango, which I bought Monday for the person (sorry I don't remember your name), who has not eaten a mango before, in my bag. I forgot it this morning!!! Where are my parents???? Was I suppose to be responsible for this homework????
As a support teacher, I often review my ELL students homework with them after they have turned it in to their classroom teacher, and are missing key strategies. I use this opportunity as a springboard or jumping point to help evaluate their needs. It also is a great tool for both the classroom teacher and I to have conversations about the "language of Math" and how it can be broken down to simpler terms to assist the student where he/she are at.
Lisa
I have enjoyed reading the different comments made by everyone pertaining to homework. There are definitely a variety of factors which will influence the type of homework we assign our students such as home environment, parental involvement and student abilities. It is important that we consider these various factors when assigning student work to be completed at home. The needs of students will vary from town to town and even within a single classroom.
I also think it is important that students be included in homework discussions. Why do teachers assign homework? What is its purpose? If parents complete their homework for them, how will this impact them as learners? I start the homework discussion early in the year with my fourth graders and it continues throughout the year. We discuss how much we can learn from our errors and we cheer for students that bring questions to class the following day. These ongoing homework discussions do not solve everything, but I do see my students becoming more comfortable at sharing their homework questions and confusion with others as the year progresses.
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