Look out! I’m on the warpath…
I went to my eldest daughter’s curriculum night (she’s in 8th grade) tonight, and I heard a somewhat familiar refrain from each of her teachers: “I don’t give much homework.” Well, why? I don’t think 30 minutes to an hour is too much for an 8th grader, and I want her to have study skills for high school and college. I realize her school is on a block schedule; therefore, her classes probably get a lot done at school. I still think it’s odd that they give so little homework. I realize some people believe homework interferes with family time, but I think students need to learn how to juggle all parts of their life. If they have homework, they need to set aside time to do it when it doesn’t conflict with family time. For instance, I used to do my homework as soon as I came home from school. If I recall, I almost always had about 30 minutes to an hour of homework in middle school.
Also, my daughter’s school has a policy whereby teachers are required to give incompletes if students have missing work. Students must do the assignment and get some credit for it, no matter when it’s done. Frankly, I think this is really unwise. What kind of responsibility is the school teaching its students regarding turning work in on time? My daughter turned in a Spanish assignment well over a week late last year, and her teacher gave her a 100. I talked with her and told her I didn’t think it was fair; plenty of students turned in the assignment on time, but it made no difference. She got extra time and got the same grade!
I don’t give homework every night, but my students do a fair amount of homework in preparation for class — mostly reading homework. And I give quizzes to hold them accountable for it, too. They have 20 vocabulary words every two weeks and have to complete vocabulary cards. Of course, this wasn’t the case when I taught at a rural school — most of my students spent an hour or more on the bus in the afternoon, and they wouldn’t have done the work anyway. We were on a block schedule, so I wound up assigning a lot of classwork to break up the long periods. But my daughter is not in a rural, underperforming school. She needs academic challenge.
What do you do about homework? What factors do you have to think about?
Image credit: squarepants2004j
[tags]homework, education[/tags]
You sure can tell when school is back in session again around this blog, can’t you? We started back on August 20, and I am busily evaluating summer reading, grading, and planning. I am advising National Honor Society again after a hiatus, and I am looking forward to making that a really good, solid organization that is something more than a line on a resumé.
I have five different preps, which is standard for me, but my largest class is currently 17 students. I have some really great, enthusiastic and just generally kind 9th graders, which always makes it fun. My 10th grade Writing class is a great group with hard workers. My 11th grade British Literature class is going to be so much fun. I have wanted to teach British Literature for my entire career. My senior class will be smoother and more interesting, I hope, since I have taught the course once. In other words, I am really excited about my classes and my students.
Meanwhile, my own children have started back to school. My oldest is in 8th grade, and she seems very happy. My middle one started 1st grade. More seat work and less playing. We are reading Ramona the Pest together, and she really loves it. Some insight into her particular problems — if you are familiar with Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby, let’s just say my middle one is a lot like her. My youngest is in special needs pre-K and has a wonderful teacher. He is making real progress. Everyone is riding the bus and getting used to the routine of school.
I am really excited about some of the things we are doing this year at my school. For starters, all of our 9th grade literature is based around the theme of the quest of the hero. I think it’s going to be great. I am taking my 9th graders and 11th graders on a field trip to see Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth respectively at the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern. I have also, as many of you know, been implementing Understanding by Design (UbD) in my planning, and my first UbD units for our summer reading (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Brave New World, and A Lesson Before Dying) are now underway.
[tags]literature, education, ubd, understanding by design, back to school[/tags]
You have probably heard elderly family members or friends refer to having an 8th grade education. Going through grammar school, or 8th grade, without continuing on to high school was fairly common in the past. But what exactly was an 8th grade education? Genealogy blogger Randy Seaver posted an 1895 Salina, KS. 8th grade final exam. Here is an excerpt:
Grammar (Time, one hour)
- Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
- Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
- Define verse, stanza and paragraph
- What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of “lie”, “play”, and “run.”
- Define case; illustrate each case.
- What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
- Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
How would you do?
[tags]grammar, english, education[/tags]
Hipteacher tagged me for this Teaching Meme.
I tag Robert, Clay, Clix, Reflective Teacher, Nancy, and Ms. George.
By the way, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach tagged me for the 8 Things Meme, but I did that one already.
[tags]education, teaching, meme[/tags]
Here in Georgia, we start school early in August for some reason I am unable to fathom. It is cooler in Georgia in June than in August, so it stands to reason that we would be better served in terms of cooling/electricity costs if we started in September and went through later in June. However, no one asked me. I don’t think it would overlap with college semesters, which was the ostensible reason given for starting in August.
At any rate, my own three children started back last Monday, and my students will start on this coming Monday. My eldest is in 8th grade, my middle one is in 1st grade, and my baby started pre-K. The eldest is happy to be the big cheese in middle school. I asked her language arts teacher which books they might read (because I’m nosy), but she hasn’t definitely decided yet. My middle one’s teacher is on maternity leave, which is tough for transition, but there’s not much to be done, I suppose. My youngest is in a great special needs pre-K class — five students — with an amazing teacher who already has my undying gratitude and loyalty.
Which leads me to a question I wanted to ask you all. What does it for you with your own kids’ teacher(s)? What I mean is, as teachers yourselves, what do you look for or notice that makes the difference for you between a good teacher or a great one? Given what you know about teaching, what does your own child’s teacher have to do to make you sit up and take notice?
I realize my son’s teacher (as a special ed teacher) simply has to go the extra mile because the nature of working with special needs students requires it. She has shared photos with us on Snapfish (I cannot link to her photos, nor would I if I could due to privacy concerns), created journals so we can share information back and forth, and responded promptly to e-mails, but more than that, she did little things to make me feel comfortable leaving my son in her hands. She gave him a picture of herself before school started so he could get used to her face. She gave me an exact copy of their schedule so I can see what he’s doing during the day. She is arranging parent night around all our schedules because we have kids in other schools (his school is not our “home” school because our home school cannot accommodate a special needs pre-K class). You just can’t imagine how scary it is to send a child like my son to school for the first time unless you’ve had to do it, and it’s been an amazing experience.
So what about you? What can a teacher do for your children that wows you? And what do you plan to do to wow the parents of your own students?
[tags]education, teaching[/tags]
Inspired by Stephen Covey, Mr. McNamar created a list of Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teachers.
I know it no longer fits the nice number 7, but I have to add one:
Learn: You will be more excited about your subject matter and teaching if you seek opportunities to learn more about your subject matter, how to be better teacher, and how to design learning experiences that will inspire your students to learn.
The list is a great one, but if you could add anything, what would you add?
[tags]stephen covey, 7 habits of highly effective, teaching, education[/tags]
Scott McLeod challenged education bloggers to post today about effective school technology leadership.
In many schools in our nation, computers are not available for students. I have worked in four K-12 schools. The first had no computer lab and no access to computers even for faculty. Of course, that was 1997-1998, so I hope things have changed. The second and third had labs which were difficult to get into, often requiring sign-ups or a month or more in advance in order to secure time for my students to use the lab; therefore, I never took my own students because I couldn’t get in. My current school has an excellent computer lab which is staffed by two educational technologists. Space for two classes at a time generally exists, and the lab isn’t hard to get into. I can sign up the same day in some cases, and I have never had difficulty if I sign up a week in advance. Guess which environment has been most conducive to my students’ learning of technology as well as that of my own? The first thing administrators need to do at the school, district, and state level is to support initiatives to bring computers to the classroom. Ideally, I’d like to have a lab in my own classroom, but barring that, my current situation of an accessible lab is critical. One-to-one laptop initiatives are interesting, but bottom-line, it’s more important to me to have access to a lab when I need it. Administrators who do not do what they can to bring computers to school are basically saying that educating our children for the 21st century is not important.
A second thing teachers need from administrators is support for their efforts at technological education. I think one reason administrators sometimes do not support these efforts is fear and misunderstanding. It is imperative that administrators receive professional development in technology. As Scott McLeod noted,
Administrators’ lack of knowledge is not entirely their fault. Most of them didn’t grow up with these technologies. Many are not using digital tools on a regular basis. Few have received training from their employers or their university preparation programs on how to use, think about, or be a leader regarding digital technologies.
My administration, and especially the Board of Trustees (specifically our board president) have been incredibly supportive of my efforts at using technology in my classroom. Without their support, I would not have been able to successfully use wikis or blogs in my classroom. Since I have plans to utilize Web 2.0 technology to an even greater extent next year, their continued support will be critical for enhancing the learning activities of our students. If I try to visualize doing some of the work I’ve done over the last two years in the setting of one of my former schools, I have to admit I don’t think I would have been able to even try using blogs or wikis.
As administrators begin to feel more comfortable with technology, I’d like to see more administrators blogging. I know this is fraught with problems as well, as this involves giving people more access to those administrators, which could result in blogging administrators becoming whipping boys for all the problems with education in their schools and districts. I think, however, there is more to be gained than lost by being more transparent in education. “The ‘net rewards the transparent,” and over time, as more blogs like this one pop up, it will punish those who do not reach out themselves.
I would also like to see efforts at creating Web 2.0 learning experiences made easier for teachers. Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay said at EduBloggerCon that in order to have their Flat Classroom Project approved by each of their schools, they had to use different rubrics. As their students were doing the same tasks, it would have been easier to evaluate their work using the same rubric.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that it is critical that administrators support best practices in using technology. I think many administrators don’t see the need for certain uses of technology not only because they haven’t used them and don’t use them now, but because they felt they got on all right, thank you very much, without them, so why should others need them? I’m sure the same has been said in the past of running water, electricity, a dependable mail service, automobiles, and any number of services and technologies we rely on today. I don’t know yet if we will necessarily rely on Web 2.0 technology, but the 21st century is already dependent on certain technologies, and not teaching our students how to use them is to cripple them as they move on to college and the work force.
[tags]administration, education, web 2.o, technology, schooltechleadership[/tags]
What teaching style do you favor? How do you present material in your class? When I was student teaching (many years ago now), I recall that we were required to observe another teacher in our supervising teacher’s department. I observed the man who happened to be chosen Teacher of the Year for his school by his colleagues. Actually, it was probably my supervising teacher who recommended I observe him. Matter of fact, I also observed the department head, who was an intimidating woman, both to her colleagues and students (she required English department members to hand in lesson plans, and I recall after one particularly didactic department meeting, the other English teachers clustered in the parking lot to “discuss” the meeting). The Teacher of the Year’s class was taking a notebook check the day I observed. He apologized for not being “up in front of the room,” but also added that he wasn’t up in front of room a lot because he “really didn’t believe in that.” What he was trying to say is that he viewed his role as a teacher as that of a facilitator or coach. In other words, he favored a constructivist approach to teaching. The department head was definitely more of a direct instructor. When I observed her class, she was standing in front of it, speaking. She called on students to provide answers.
One thing I like about Wiggins and McTighe is that they see value in various approaches to teaching; however, what they emphasize is that a good teacher needs to figure out when each approach is best. This can be difficult, however, because of our biases as teachers:
Teachers who love to lecture do too much of it; teachers who resist it do too little. Teachers who love ambiguity make discussions needlessly confusing. Teachers who are linear and task-oriented often intervene too much in a seminar and cut off fruitful inquiry. Teachers who love to coach sometimes do too many drills and overlook transfer. Teachers who love the big picture often do a poor job of developing core skills and competence. (242)
The most important quotation of the chapter, at least in my view, is that “[w]hen choosing instructional approaches, think about what is needed for learning, not just what is comfortable for teaching” (242). Teachers tend to use one instructional approach at the expense of all others, and to be honest, I have seen some hostility among teachers regarding this issue. Teachers who prefer direct instruction tend to see teachers who favor constructivism as irresponsible, unknowledgeable, lazy, and at worst, dangerous. It is not unheard of to hear that constructivists are the downfall of education as we know it, and don’t you know, education was so much better before these hippie yahoos came along and changed it all. On the other hand, I see constructivists characterize teachers who favor direct instruction as dour, boring, and punitive. In other words, they are the entire reason why kids hate school, and if they just weren’t teaching, why think of all we could change! In fact, I think we call all admit there are times when we want to learn things ourselves using a constructivist approach, and I don’t know about you, but I have certainly listened to some fascinating lectures.
The point of the chapter is not necessarily to advocate one method of instruction over another, but to emphasize that what method you choose needs to be based upon what your desired results are. All of a sudden the necessity for backward design “clicks.” How can you figure out whether lecture or a Socratic seminar would be best if you don’t know what you want the students to understand? In the words of Bob the nutrition unit designer, “What is the best use of our limited time together?” This should be the mantra of teachers planning instruction.
The two pages of formative assessment techniques are well worth some study (248-249). I like the index card summary idea. One of my colleagues uses hand signals with good results. Actually, her approach is slightly different from that of the book. She asks students to hold up one finger for one answer, two for another, and three for a third. It’s a very quick way to engage all the students and see who understands and who doesn’t. I tend to rely too much on discussion, which means if you talk a lot in class, I know what you know. I need to utilize methods of “hearing” from silent students more often (and not necessarily calling on them more often, although that would help; students are sometimes intimidated and afraid to say “I don’t get it”). I want to put a question box in my room, too. I think I already use oral questioning and follow-up probes to good effect, but there is always room for improvement.
I tend to teach grammar using direct instruction, and I am thinking that perhaps a constructivist approach would work better. But you know what? It would be harder to teach it that way. On the other hand, I think the students would understand it better. I know I am completely guilty of “marching through the textbook” when I teach grammar. No wonder I wind up complaining students didn’t learn what I taught. Teaching grammar next year is going to take some thinking.
Work Cited: Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design. Expanded 2nd Edition. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2005.
[tags]Grant Wiggins, Jay McTighe, UbD, Understanding by Design, instruction, constructivism, assessment, curriculum, planning[/tags]
After hearing Vicki’s sensible arguments for tagging today, I have been wondering about tagging on this blog. I use a very easy tagging plugin called SimpleTagsPlus. I can use it to create Technorati, Flickr, or del.icio.us tags based on keywords I enter using certain code before and after the tag(s).
I have only been tagging my posts with Technorati tags. Would it be useful to tag them using del.icio.us, also? I use del.icio.us to save bookmarks all the time, but I hadn’t thought of tagging my posts using del.icio.us.
Does anyone use Ultimate Tag Warrior to tag WordPress posts? What do you think of it?
I want to get serious about making it easy for people to find what they need at my blog. I think the search feature I have is pretty good — I’ve always been able to find what I need to find, anyway. Would a tag cloud be of help to anyone? Or is it one more busy gizmo in the sidebar?
[tags]del.icio.us, tagging, technorati, flickr, wordpress, plugin[/tags]