Posts Tagged ‘Parents’

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Making Homework More Effective

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

April recently did a post on the types of homework assignments that she, as a parent, doesn’t think are helpful to education. This a complimentary article.

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As was once so famously said, “Help me help you.” A lot of our household’s homework battles over the years could have been avoided (and sometimes were) with a little help from the teacher.

  • Give us the answers. The best thing my 8th grader’s Algebra teacher has done this year is give us an answer sheet along with the homework. The students still have to show their work, of course, but this helps us know if we’re even on the right track. (Math is not my strong suit, and I have been known to “help” my daughter get all the wrong answers before!)
  • If not the answers, how about a practice problem? My 5th grade daughter came home last week with a long-division problem involving decimals, and I couldn’t remember what you were supposed to do with the decimals. Please keep in mind that most of us just whip out the calculator, so a little refresher would be great!
  • Advanced (and multiple) notice. Let’s face it, most kids are notorious for leaving things until the last minute anyway, so please notify us parents in all forms of communication available (this is where a Parentella classroom comes in very handy!) about any big projects more than once. Particularly if they involve a financial investment on our part so that we can work it into our budget as well as our schedule!
  • Check the PTA calendar. Even if you don’t attend the PTA meetings, be aware of their meeting days and any activities they’re planning, just in case some of the parents in your class are involved and will have less time available to help their kids with homework because of PTA obligations.
  • Alternatives. Last week, my oldest daughter had rehearsals until 10:00 pm every night for the play she is involved in. This meant she wasn’t getting to bed until nearly midnight since she had to do her homework after rehearsal. She did an amazing job keeping up with everything, but at the same time, it would have been nice if she could earn some school credit for her extra-curricular activities. For example, she could do a report on what it takes to put a show together, or even a Math problem on how many tickets will have to be sold in order for the production to break even. Using a student’s extra-curriculars to examine how their scholastic learning does relate to real life could be a great tool!
  • Utilize peer pressure. All of the nagging in the world wasn’t making a difference to my younger daughter. The progress reports were too few and far between for her to feel motivated enough at times. This year, her 5th grade teacher has given her the best motivation to get her homework done. She tantalizes them with a walk to the park at lunch time if everyone in the class turns their homework in on time. After the first week, my daughter never again wanted to be the kid holding up the class from this opportunity, and did stay up late to finish her homework on time without any nagging from me!

Sometimes, as a parent, I’ve been known to groan right along with my kids when it comes to homework. Just a few of these adjustments could help the parents, and thereby their students, have a more positive attitude about homework.

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April McCaffery is a single parent to two daughters, in 5th and 8th grade.

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Posted in April McCaffery, Parent Perspectives, School Involvement | 5 Comments »

Essentials of Communicating With Parents

Friday, September 10th, 2010
Tyneham - old telephone

The biggest change I’m making in my planning for the start of the new school year is in how often I will communicate with parents. Communicating with parents requires effort, openness, clarity, and regularity. Let’s examine each of these.

Effort

Communicating with parents is not in the curriculum and not something taught in education classes. Too often, the only times teachers communicate with parents is when something is wrong; a child misbehaves or is injured somehow.  It is important to work at spreading good news, too.

But teachers already have so much to do. Where are we going to find the time to communicate with parents? Build it in to what you already do. Are you on Facebook or Twitter? Start a Facebook list of parents and limit what they can see. One post a week is all it take. Or start a Twitter account and only let parents see those tweets.

And, of course, there is Parentella. Parentella is a private parent-teacher social network. Teachers can create their private online classroom and invite parents to the class. Teachers can post homework, class news, events, and reminders to keep parents engaged in their kids’ educational lives.

Openness

Communication is a two-way street. When information flows in one direction only it is a lecture or an advertisement, but it is not communication. Good communication is about receiving information or other feedback as much as delivering information.

Listening with attention is a skill we ask our students to master and we have to do it also. As we teach our students, listening is more than keeping one’s mouth shut while someone else is talking and it is not planning what you will say. Listening is hearing, processing and considering what someone else has to say. We need to model it in our interactions with others.

Clarity

Like any other area of human endeavor, education has jargon. I wrote a paper as an undergrad in which I speculated that education in a particular field is merely the process of coming to understand what the jargon means. Parents don’t understand education jargon.

Practice clarity. Write and speak in clear, jargon-free English (or other language you share). Don’t sound like an education jargon generator.

One more thing, proofread! My wife is a copy editor and she catches every error in the notes and notices that come from our son’s school; there are far too many and some of the most aggravating ones would have been caught had the writer just read the item out loud. Trust your ears, if it sounds wrong, it probably is wrong.

Regularity

I have a colleague who teaches some children with very challenging emotional and behavioral issues. She is one of the few teachers I know who talks to parents with regularity; she calls the parents of all nine of her students every day. It needn’t be that often, but it is important to contact parents on a regular basis.

When my wife or I would pick up our son at the end of the school day and ask him what happened he’d respond, “stuff.” He’s going to be a junior in high school this year and all that’s ever happened at school is ‘stuff.’  Parents want to know what’s going on in class, what the class is studying, what’s coming up next, and more.

In the past I’ve given the parents of my students my email address and my cell-phone number, and I’ve left it up to them to contact me. This year I’m going to be more proactive. I’m going to email or call all parents at least once a week with general information about school and class events, also with information about all the great work their child is doing. Parents need to hear good news even more than they need to hear all the trouble their son or daughter causes.

Students are Crossing - Buckman Elementary-3.jpg

When I was student teaching in a 2nd grade class, the teacher guided the students in the collaborative writing of a weekly newsletter. Every Friday after lunch, the boys and girls would draw illustrations for the missive. I wonder if that would work in 7th and 8th grade. Hmmmm.

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Posted in Back to School, Deven Black, Teacher Perspectives | 7 Comments »

Taking the Extra out of Extra-Curriculars

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

As our education budgets continue to take hit after hit, many schools have lost extra-curriculars altogether. When my oldest was in 6th grade, she had a 7th period that changed quarterly and allowed her to take drumming lessons, cooking lessons, a drama class, and an art class. By 7th grade, 7th period was gone. I feel that extra-curricular activities are an important part of children’s development, and being a paycheck-to-paycheck single parent, many privately offered activities that are out of reach.

I’ve never wanted my girls’ childhoods to suffer because of these limitations. Thankfully, our local Boys and Girls Club has filled many of these holes for our family. My daughters have been taking dance, acting, art and sports for the last few years at the Club. Already paid for with their regular membership fees, they have participated in comedy workshops, recorded a song, had their art displayed at the airport, and performed at special events. I know I am very lucky because I don’t have to drive them to a bunch of different places, and the girls have a place to go every day after school that keeps them not only safe, but engaged and enriched.

Recently, because of the economic difficulties facing everyone these days, the Club had to raise its rates. It was never a consideration for me to discontinue my daughters’ involvement because what it gives in return cannot be measured in mere dollar amounts. My daughters love to show me what they’ve made in the Art Room, they have best friends they only see at the Club, they have mentors in the Staff members that talk to them about their friendships, homework, and their future goals. The Club is particularly adept at capitalizing upon whatever may interest a child, and using positive encouragement to booster self-confidence, thereby challenging students to try even harder and do even more.

Because of the Club, my oldest daughter now has a dream and a goal. She’s gotten serious about dance, and has recently started taking additional classes through our local Parks and Recs program, which is at a reasonable cost to me. She also is performing in theatre through a local community theatre. Incredibly, there no financial cost to me, just a serious commitment for nightly rehearsals for six weeks. When she was in elementary school, it cost me nearly $200 for her to perform in the after-school play.

My youngest daughter is involved in gardening, acting, and Project Learn, academic-based games designed to enhance her scholastic skills. She also likes to participate in volunteer activities that enrich the community.

Most large cities and their surrounding counties offer at least some of these opportunities. If there’s not a local Boys and Girls Club, there might be a local YMCA to offer some of these programs. For many years, I ignored the catalog we’d receive from our community parks and recs, but now I anticipate its arrival for us to schedule next semester’s dance classes for my daughter.

Extra-curriculars have been deceptively named, I’m afraid. These activities will not only make up some of my children’s fondest memories, but will most likely provide the foundation of who they are when they grow up.

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April McCaffery is the single mother of two daughters, in 5th and 8th grade.

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Posted in April McCaffery, Parent Perspectives, extracurricular activities | 3 Comments »

My Perspective as a Passionate Parent

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

I talk to parents nearly every day who feel frustrated. I talk to parents  who don’t understand the homework assignment given, or feel like their child is misunderstood, or make the decision to let their child fail or succeed on their own, or make the decision to help their kids too much. I talk to parents who are all revved up about saving a certain teacher’s job, only to find they can’t because it violates union rules. Parents who are excited to find a new arts curriculum on the market that the kids would love, only to find the teachers/administrators have no interest in using it. Parents who are excited to volunteer in their child’s classroom, only to be relegated to making copies in the office all day. Parents who have signed themselves up for Room Parent duty, only to be ignored all year long. Parents who are struggling to find their way out of the box, only to be pushed back in.

Unfortunately, all too often, the message parents receive is: shhh! Just do what we tell you. We want your support, but you are never to question. We want you to be available on our timetable, and if you’re not, then you don’t care about your child’s education. We want you to care, but you’re not allowed to have an opinion on the subject. You are what matters most when it comes to your child’s education, but what you have to say doesn’t matter at all.

I don’t think my overall goals or desires for my children’s education is all that different from any valuable teacher’s. I want my children to think critically, to have a basic understanding of our country’s history in order to value it more, to not be taught to the test, but instead, to know how to deduce the best course of action. I want my children to read with an open mind and heart and be excited to write. I want my children to understand how scholastic lessons play out in the real world. I want my children to have an opportunity to explore the world and for them to want to reach for the stars.

And yes, I want my children to express their opinions. I want them to even feel free enough to fail every now and then. I want them to be passionate and compassionate, and laugh at themselves rather than at others. I want them to know that people are more than just a single label. I want them to love their careers, and question authority in a respectful manner, and offer new ideas. I want them to love and give with their whole hearts, and still put their own needs first.

In other words, I will not stop speaking out. I will continue to err on the side of caring too much. Because the alternative? Is apathy. And I will not teach my children that. I remain a passionate parent.

April McCaffery is a single mother to two daughters, in 5th and 8th grade.

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Posted in April McCaffery, Parent Perspectives | 2 Comments »

A Parent’s Perspective on Homework

Friday, August 20th, 2010

I’ll come right out and admit my bias against homework. Here are the problems and my wish list solutions for homework:

Spelling: Since first grade, my girls have had word lists and nightly tasks to complete each week. Some of them have been a complete waste of time (write the word 5 times, using different colors for each letter). I know that there have been words that my soon-to-be 5th grader got right on a spelling test that she can’t spell two weeks later. Last year, my then 7th grader used to have to make spelling staircases for her vocabulary words. Here’s an example

Insipid

i

in

ins

insi

insip

insipi

insipid

With 20 words, and 5 extra credit words, it would take her two hours to complete – and far too much paper. While I agree that practice is key to fluency, the spelling will only come with reading and writing the words in context.

Math: I am terrible at Math. Last year, when I tried to help my then 7th grader,  every problem I’d helped her, with she I got wrong. Is it any wonder neither of us thinks it’s a good idea for me to help her? Sometimes, the formula used in the textbook is not the same as the teacher has used, and we have nowhere to turn for support. Do not count on my child’s notes to make sense to her (or me) if it has not been taught as anything more than a formula. This is one of the reasons I suck at Math. I never understood why x=mc2. Also, it shouldn’t take 25 problems for a teacher to know if the student understood the formula or not. 5 should be enough.

Reading. Let the kids read what they want to read or have everyone read the same book.  Stop counting pages or minutes, and stop with the reading logs that have to be initialed by a parent. My child got benched at recess because I ended up in the emergency room that night, and in the mayhem, her reading log didn’t get signed. If you want to ensure that they’re reading every night, then have them either write a short paragraph about the book they’re reading, or talk about the book the next day in class. (And if everyone’s reading the same book, then make sure there are enough copies in the library or otherwise ensure that all student have access to the material.)

Projects. If my children never have to complete another diorama or book-in-a-bag book report project ever again, I will be a very happy mommy. One of my daughter’s teachers said at Back to School Night that they do projects instead of book reports because “book reports are boring.” The teacher put a negative spin on writing book reports. The projects are hard to complete (and put parents with larger incomes and more time at an advantage), and they do nothing to teach our children the value of book reports. Book reports offer the backbone that will enable students to write critical analysis of literature and non-fiction writing later in their scholastic career, and then be able to write and analyze reports in the workplace. There is no subsequent value to dioramas or book-in-a-bag projects.

If homework actually enhanced their learning, I’d be okay with it. If it was taking the material to the next level and allowing them to express their thoughts on the subject, that would be ideal. If I saw that teachers were putting thought into the homework and not, as teachers have told me, just using what their predecessor used, then I would completely support it.

Homework should add value, not just clutter up our to-do list.

Photo: Stock Xchng/MeHere

April McCaffery is the single parent to two daughters, in 5th and 8th grade.

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Posted in April McCaffery, Education Policy, Parent Perspectives | 6 Comments »

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