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Originally Posted by murron
Honestly, that's really not something I've ever given much thought to. If my kids needed help, I helped them. Sometimes that even meant doing an assignment for them (ok, so it was nice to know I can still pull A's, lol).
On one hand I can see where parents doing the assignments for the kids is harmful, but on the other hand...no one excels in all areas and one of the most important things I've tried to teach my kids is that it isn't always a matter of knowing the information so much as knowing your resources to get the information.
One thing in the article jumped out at me though and it was the bit on busy-work versus relevant work. It was nice to see a distinction made between the two forms homework can take. Personally I find busy-work to be a fault on the part of the teacher; amounting to a lack of effort to come up with an assignment that actually relates to the material. Then again, I'm not a teacher so I could be mistaken.
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Wow... that's, um, pretty bad.
I had a student whose mom did his homework. I ended up having to have him come to my class every afternoon homework was assigned to do it there because I couldn't assess his progress accurately or create appropriate lessons to teach him otherwise.
It's even worse that you excuse that behavior by saying "no one excels in all areas." That's generally true, but that doesn't mean that just because the student doesn't excel in the area he or she shouldn't do his or her best to master the concept or skill. If nothing else, it's a good opportunity to teach study skills -- that some subjects you can do well fairly easily while others you have to dedicate more time to in order to succeed.
I'm not so great with math, but in college I studied
hours a night to succeed.
I agree with you that busy-work is a waste of time for everyone involved. I have never assigned it, and don't intend to ever assign it. The homework I assign is meant to accomplish one or both of the following:
1. Independent practice of a skill that has been modeled and practiced (with help from me or other students) in class. What I get tells me whether or not I need to continue teaching that skill or if I can move on.
2. Preparation for the next lesson. For example, it may be to read an article or a passage in a book so we can analyze it the following day in class. When reading is assigned, it should be at the student's independent reading level -- it should be something they can read without instruction.
I tell my students (and state in my syllabus for the parents) that if I cannot defend the purpose behind any assignment I give, then they don't have to do it. I generally tell my students why we are doing what we are doing, though I have forgotten to at times. When that happens, a student will ask, "Why do we have to do this?" and I answer thoroughly. That doesn't mean the students love my homework, but at least they know it's not busy-work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ThenThereWasRED
Do you know WHY many parents start homeschooling? They realize they are doing a lot of teaching helping their kids do their homework. Some experts say no more than 30 minutes of homework a day and I have friends who has spent from time they get home from school, to late going to bed trying to do homework. That's really too much, cause the teachers either don't have a lot of time to teach, cause of doing extra things. There was a survey of teachers in a teacher's magazine said that the average child gets 3-3 1/2 hours of true schooling a day out of an 7 hour day (some days not even that). Most parents don't even realize they are really the ones doing the teaching. 
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Parents
should be a part of a child's education. My parents supplemented my public school education by encouraging reading, discussing what I was learning, fostering curiosity, and teaching me how to find answers to my questions. That didn't make what my teachers taught me any less valuable. It did make me
value what I learned at school much more, though. Students whose parents aren't involved in their children's education tend to as well as students whose parents are involved.
As far as homework loads go, that varies. My honors students get quite a bit. My regular students get a healthy amount and sometimes go without when they're not ready to practice something on their own.
I'm not sure what these "extra things" teachers have to do are that you're referring to. My students are learning from bell to bell (it could be direct teaching, guided practice, independent practice, one-on-one conferences... but it's learning). Very rarely there will be an assembly or something that infringes on that time, but definitely not something that would cut instructional time in half.
Quote:
Originally Posted by youngmom4
I absolutely refuse to do my children's homework for them. I figure if they really, truly can not do it on their own, the teacher must not be doing their job teaching the material.
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When my students really, truly cannot do their work on their own, I ask them to describe (in writing) to me at what point they got stuck, and what strategies they tried to get unstuck (we go over and practice a bunch of these strategies in class). I ask them to put in a good faith effort before giving up.
This serves three purposes:
1. It helps me help them.
2. It doesn't allow them to just say "I don't get it" and give up. Regardless, they have to work. It's either going to be the homework, or it's going to be an analysis of why they can't do the homework.
3. It teaches problem-solving skills and when it's appropriate to ask for help. Many students present what is called "learned helplessness" where they've gotten along for so long saying they can't do something and getting someone else to do it for them, that they simply have no idea how to do work on their own. This is one way to combat that problem.
That was pretty long. I'm pretty passionate about defending the public school system, though.
which was my bane in high school). When it comes to the work place or even on the home front, I think that they need to learn early in life that hard work and determination is required to be successful.
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