For the last few months, my son has been drowning in homework! He’s in second-grade. As you may know, he has dyslexia and ADHD. But, his “disabilities” are not the problem. As a matter of fact, our targeted interventions and his hard work have put him very close to “grade-level.” He hates writing (the process of forming letters, not composition). Otherwise, he’s progressing nicely.
Nonetheless, he’s drowning in homework.
There is nothing like the holidays to take a break and evaluate your life. Any time we step away from our routines, we begin to see things more objectively. With this perspective, it is natural to desire change. No wonder we make resolutions!
But, Do Resolutions Actually Work?
I was recently asked a million-dollar question, “How can I make homework more interesting for my child?”
The premise of this question is a bit faulty. It is like asking, “How do I make ‘paying bills’ more interesting?” You can play loud music and eat a lot of ice cream while paying bills, but at the end of the day, you are still dishing out your money to others. No matter how you “dress it up,” paying bills is a chore.
I’ve been watching a curious pattern during this project. There has not been a lot of activity on the blog and I get email responses from less than 0. 5% of the subscribers on this list. However, the number of people subscribing to this list has been steadily growing, so it appears people are reading, presumably enjoying the content, and passing the messages along to friends and colleagues. Still, the lack of feedback has been slightly concerning.
All along, I’ve been saying to Chrystal (SOAR’s Office Manager and my life-saver during this project) that I would like to find the topic that really ignites people’s interests and pulls the trigger on some core, visceral issues that people are dealing with.
Today, I want to share a video from the Today Show that aired in August 2009. I thought it was fairly succinct and provided good points (with two minor exceptions). The video is here:
One of the top three questions I hear from parents is, “How much homework is a reasonable amount?” Many parents are exasperated over homework battles and find that their entire family’s well-being is held captive by the volumes of homework assigned to one child.
I am just entering into this Battle Zone as a parent, but I’ve been here before as a student. I used to have hours of homework every night! I don’t ever remember feeling or experiencing any “happy” memories from my elementary or middle school years. I certainly don’t recall ever *enjoying* learning in any way. All I remember is feeling “stupid” and arguing with my mom about homework all of the time. (Once again… “Sorry, Mom!”) (more…)
As students begin a new semester, this is the perfect time to establish some new routines to improve the process of doing homework.
The first question to ask yourself is, “If there is one thing I could improve about homework, what would it be?” The first answer that probably came to mind was, “Get rid of it!” Honestly, that would be my first response, too. However, homework is a fact-of-life and serves a very good purpose (whether we like it or not), so let’s try that again… (more…)
At a recent presentation for parents, I mentioned the importance of providing positive consequences to motivate students with homework. Afterwards, one mother approached and explained that her daughter has been having problems all school year. “Her teacher has been insisting that I provide a lot of punishment at home,” she explained. “I think that might be the problem…that my daughter is turned off by her negative attitude.” Wouldn’t we all?
Don’t get me wrong…punishment has its place and can be an important element of molding and managing behavior. However, we often overlook the power of being positive. As human beings, we naturally focus on the negative and are conditioned to dole out negative consequences first. However, providing positive rewards for good behavior is usually much more effective.
At a recent education conference I attended, there was a lot of buzz about the “multi-tasking” learner. Essentially, educators are recognizing that today’s students are plugged into their iPods®, surfing the internet, and text-messaging their friends all at the same time. So, there is a new push to educate students in that same “multi-tasking” mode.
While I would love to see mainstream education embrace more forms of media, teaching students several things, with many different forms of media -all at the same time- sets off an alarm for me! Our brains are not physiologically programmed to ACTIVELY learn more than one thing at a time. (more…)
As Mother’s Day approaches and “spring fever” is settling in, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on the significant roles that mothers (and fathers) play in homework.
As a young student, I had my share of homework arguments with my mom. As an adult, I have become more and more appreciative of the tenacity my mother had to put up with me and my frustration towards homework. I have also discovered a few things I wish she could have understood when I was crying over long division… (more…)
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We have found the SOAR system to be working. ... Vicki W. |
Tobi Flair
Public Middle School
New Orleans, LA
Tobi Flair is the principal at Harry Hurst Middle School in Destrehan, Louisiana. Her building has built a 20-minute session of “SOAR time” into their daily schedule.
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