mean teacher

[Royd]

I remember such projects in Spanish class, fondly....We had to do a puppet show, and also got to learn to do some Spanish dancing. Nothing like centrifigal force and those long skirts.

 

[mommissan]

Quote:
Why is free time thought of like that, defered til you have got you diploma, then the degree maybe to have free time after a masters. In other words put it off and put it off until it gets to the point that the only time you will get free time is when you are too old to enjoy it. From what I can see its hours of homework in the week then more at the weekend and even some in the holidays, when you get to the point that kindergardeners are being given homework its going too far. The constant over demand of time for the kids to do more and more homework is going to burn them out. If you have burnt out teenagers what good is that going to do for the workforce? Cut back on the homework and send them out to play rather than sit them down and watch the obesity rates rise because they are too busy to do anything but homework.

You are so right! Where did it all the time go? I miss fifth grade. Back then I thought there was so much homework too. It just gets harder as I get older. I replaced "mean teachers" with "mean bosses".

My kids get assigned some great homework assignments. They get orders to go outside and play, from some of their teachers. Those teachers get it. As a grownup, we have to assign ourselves those homework assignments too. Make time for yourself first, then homework.

 

[SarahBeth9394]

Quote:
Nope the teachers did that themselves when they handed out homework packs the first day of kindergarten and kept giving them the same thing to do for the whole year. They developed their own frustrations at doing the same assignment 30 times when it only took a few times to master it. I got to the point of telling the teacher that we were no longer wasting our time on skills mastered a month ago especially since they were still doing those assignments in class. And they passed kindergarten with flying colors while they were bored to tears and unchallenged.

 

[pbjmaker]

Sara I am somewhat on the same page as you. I have been working on my teaching degree because I decided to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. My oldest is gifted and talented and we really struggled through her freshman year because she quit doing homework as it was all just busy work to her. She understood and was proficient in a lesson but they would spend two more weeks going over it. She got "A's" on every test but "C's" in several classes because she was just bored to tears and very pigheaded. I talked to her over and over again how "busywork" will always be part of her life and every job has some tedium to it, that she just needed to find a way to get through it. At that point I let her take the reigns in her own hands. Because what better time to learn personal responsibility? She did better the following three years and is doing well on her own although she has put off college for now. She paid for two trips to Japan herself also and has a very neat personality and makes good money.

Teaching is a hard job because not every student is at the same level and I feel it takes a lot of time to make sure each student is getting what they need. A good Ideal, but doesn't always work when there are 25- 35 kids in a class these days.

My other problem with homework, especially where I work is that the parents themselves are not always educated and when you send home some higher level stuff ( I am talking about older kids) they may not have the resources at home to complete it. That includes someone to help them when they have a question. My youngest child and I are struggling with this now. While I was gifted in Math, I never went past Algebra 2 and that was 28 years ago. She is taking pre-calculus and I have no CLUE how to help her. How should she complete her homework? Fortunately she has a teacher that is available before and after school to help her out without getting docked points. Not all teachers these days are like that.

I think some homework is fine if it is carefully planned and has a purpose. But much of it these days is a bunch of busywork.

Oh and I know for a fact that all my daughter's straight A friends have parents that do at least some of their work for them. It disgusts me.

 

[SarahBeth9394]

Good luck with the math homework. Your best bet is to get a local university student to tutor if they understand the curriculum the school is learning. Classes like the pre-calc usually have teachers that will set aside tutoring time. Our school went to a math curriculum where they hand out a packet to the students in groups and they are to read it and help each other through it. There's no book so if they don't complete the work in class there's no examples to bring home for the parent to look at or for them to refresh their memories at home. They do offer tutoring but there isn't anything to do to help them bring their grade up and learn the material to above a 70.

Now my son hates homework with a bloody passion that motivates him to finish during class. It is rare that he has something to do at home now. He doesn't take pre AP classes because of the busywork. Sorry but creating a midevil costume to wear while telling your story is extra bs. He is a fantastic writer and I've yet to have a teacher not rave about it telling me how smart and creative his writing is.

 

[dianaross77]

I'm a parent and was a kid who hated school. A little homework is okay but too much is just that, too much. My friend has a child in kindergarten, as do I, in the same district but different schools. My daughter hasn't had homework yet. Her son has homework every night! His teacher expects him to already know who to write every letter in the alphabet so she can teach the class sign language. What a monumental waste of time. Sign language is a great thing to learn but lets focus on learning plain old english first! Not to mention that a 5 year old needs 12 hours of sleep a night. My kids get up at 7:30am to make the bus stop on time. They don't get home until 4:15pm. Add in 45 minutes for dinner, 30 minutes to get ready for bed and get a story, another 30 minutes on bath night. Where does that leave time for homework?

 

[the Pollo Loco]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I think Birdboy has got the message... ( I hope) What do you think about this... I've been having some trouble with my 5th grader doing his homework... and pretty much the same story as Birdboy. The other day I said to him that I go to work and do a good job and get rewarded with a paycheck at the end of the week, I said that's my job. your job is to go to school and do good, get good grades and you too will be rewarded. You bring home good test scores, and I'll pay you. My kid likes money, last week he brought me home 100% scores on some test they had his attitude towards homework has changed. I don't mind motivating him this way, cause I don't give out allowances anyways, so I thought why not...

 

[Matthew3590]

I use to get paid but i was too good at school and then it became expected and now when I do bad I get chooed out brother does bad its well expected.

My teachers complain about grading all the home work they give when they are the ones doing it. THE ONLY PLUS TO HOMEWORK IS THE HOMEWORK GRADE THAT HELPS YOUR FINAL GRADE AND THAT IS IT.