Monday, April 5, 2010

Advice on getting kids to do homework

http://www.parentdish.com/2010/04/05/my-son-thinks-homework-is-optional/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl5|link5|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.com%2F2010%2F04%2F05%2Fmy-son-thinks-homework-is-optional%2F

5 comments:

Old Timer said...

Here's an idea: have an assistant superintendent misunderstand what her role in academics is. Have her decide that even kids who don't do homework should get 50%. Heck, we don't want to crush a child's ego, even if it means throwing out mixed signals. And then wash it all down by proclaiming that our kids are "on the pathway to the Promise."

Impeccable logic.

You see, academics doesn't matter. What matters is public relations. To administration, parents are stupid and don't do their own homework about issues like academic integrity. There's a reason that so many kids are on that pathway but don't score well on PSSA's or SAT's.

Next up--when will someone do a study about Pathway money thrown for nothing: kids who flunked out of college after a year or two.

How do you get kids to do homework: impress upon them the need for academics to succeed in life. Impress that there will be no "give-aways", that success is built upon great effort in and out of the classroom.

Questioner said...

Well Old Timer, since you are a teacher- can teachers be the ones to impress on kids the need for academics to succeed in life, if parents cannot or will not do so? Have you been able to impress this on the kids you have taught and if not, why not? Do strict curriculum schedules leave time for this sort of message that is not part of the curriculum, and if not parents or teachers then who can deliver this message successfully?

Anonymous said...

My influence over homework and classwork was destroyed by the enactment of the 50% rule. My math challenged kid suddenly knew about weights to assignments, how many homeworks he could skip in 9 weeks before it impacted his grade, and what to look for on a progress report to use for marginal improvement. Even though I insist there were modifications to the 50% rule, he insists the original is what we should go by. Has anyone in authority ever stood up and said we really miscalculated on this and are sorry?

Anonymous said...

Some teachers seem to get around the 50% rule by making individual assignments part of a larger grade. What might have been 4 quiz grades is now one quiz with 4 parts on different days so less than 50% can be given on parts as long when the parts are put together the quiz comes out to 50% or more. 0, 80, 80, and 80 would be 60 instead of the 72 that would be the average if the 0 had to be a 50. Lots of different things can be bundled up into one grade.

Questioner said...

Before the 50% rule, did kids better understand the need for academics to suceed in life? Even with greater consequences, huge numbers of kids still didn't do the work!