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April 25, 2010
Homework Hell
Can someone tell me how many math problems is enough to demonstrate that your kid understands subtraction that involves borrowing? I have a feeling it is less than most teachers might think. The thought of one more worksheet makes my skin crawl--and they aren't even my worksheets!! The research (or so I hear), says that homework isn't even effective until around 5th grade. On the other hand, my sister who teaches K says that most parents feel reassured by homework because they see what their kids are doing in school. I am not reassured by homework or by worksheets. I support education, but I want it to be interesting and compelling and not 2,000 opportunities to show everyone that you know what 82 minus 53 is. (It's 29, by the way.)
In second grade at Neighborhood School, weekends aren't made for homework. On Mondays, a packet of math worksheets comes home, to be returned on Friday. These are dreaded worksheets, or at least dreaded by all in our family.
It seems that while I was away, J did not do his weekly homework, and it was still lingering around when I got back. We slunk off to Target, our place of choice for doing homework these days.
One page spoke volumes: there were probably 30 simple two number addition problems on the page, and then my favorite part: "Shade all of the boxes that result in the number 72."
J sighed every time he found the answer was 72. At one point, he said, "Don't they know this is a waste of pencil lead?" At another point, he inquired, "What is the point of shading all these boxes anyway?" I responded impulsively, "You should ask your teacher what state standard that requirement addresses." J thought for a moment and said simply, "Motor skills."
In addition to those 30 problems, he had another 30 or so of subtraction that involved borrowing, and another page of the same. He also had a few pages of telling time, and some other things I don't even remember anymore.
On top of that, he had to write a journal entry in response to the following prompt: "If I owned a restaurant, I would serve...." J is too pragmatic for these things. He doesn't want to own a restaurant and serve anything. Yet, he knows that's not the right answer, so it takes him forever to come with something. So we sat there for what felt like an eternity, talking about serving lego sandwiches (no one would eat it), cat food (too complicated to write about), and the list goes on. We settled on fruit.
I won't say how the writing got done, but it did get finished. In his own handwriting. The math, on the other hand, is another story. A flock of penguins (are they a flock? or a gaggle? or a quorum?) seemed to waddle by the windows of our local Target, catching J's attention. When he looked back at the table, the math worksheets were gone, and we're not sure where they went.
If J's teacher is reading this, I am so busted. But, I'm sure she's too busy grading papers to take time to surf the net.
Posted by chri1010 at April 25, 2010 11:38 PM | Family Matters
Comments
Wow... just wow. If we had that much homework in 2nd grade, I've completely forgotten about it. I remember my sister studying her spelling each week before dinner - but not stacks and stacks of worksheets.
And, on being on the other side - fascinating isn't it? I think that the times that has happened to me have been really good for me as a teacher - I think I get some of my students a little bit more...
Good luck with the homework J!
Posted by: Kimberly at April 26, 2010 10:49 AM
The teacher can't possibly want this much work to grade from every student. Do all of the worksheets get returned? With a score? With comments? If not, are they even read?
On the other hand, sometimes that kind of repetition is meditative. If a kid is doing the work correctly, they're "hard wiring" that method and that information into their brain, right? Sounds like J doesn't need that, however.
When I was in first grade, my mom was shocked that no homework was assigned, so she asked my teacher to give me homework. I think she'd dig these worksheets.
Maybe they teach time-management skills--figure out how to get your pile finished by Friday without too much suffering, delay gratification until the worksheets are finished and all that.
You know I love the writing prompt because it's about food, but what is its goal? Just to fill a page? To practice writing a list? And I'm sooooo bummed J didn't write about leggo sandwiches! I'd buy one with a cup of marbles to go.
Maybe this is like any work assigned to students--if there's not a clear purpose, they sense it. Students loathe "busy work," so if you can't say why it's not "busy work," don't assign it.
Are these worksheets busy work? Or, is there some other purpose?
I've got it...it's J's next writing prompt:
The purpose of these weekly math worksheets is.... (Due by Friday.)
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In a recent conference it has been theorized that 9 to 11 repeats of the same form of questions for rote types of math yields the best results. Arizona University has a good of research on this.
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