I hit on this idea back in November, but I’m considering it for next semester. All reading will be done in class, through a mix of out loud, small group, independent, whole class, listening to tapes, and some other methods I can devise to get through the text. Since that will likely take up the entire class period, the writing associated with the text will be homework. I’ll need to be more organized and have writing topics prepared well ahead of time, but that’s a good thing and will help me focus my lessons on a particular piece of literature.

My friend was talking about the possibility of limiting whole-class novels to 2 core works each year, with short stories, literature circles, and more self-selected works during the rest of the year. While I don’t do literature circles (not out of anything other than inertia), the idea sounds good to me. If we can read more during class, that frees up time at home to write drafts or responses to specific topics for the next day’s discussion. It also works to limit the reading list to something more manageable (despite the state standard that requires the reading of 2 million words annually outside of school-related reading by the end of the senior year).

Similar Posts:

• Homework? During Break?

Homework?

And is there a pedagogical reason we are giving the work or is it assigned because it is expected and it feels like the right thing to do? If the work isn’t completed, will the student really be at a loss? If the work is completed, will the student actually be better prepared for the rest of the course? I know that I assign work from time to time simply because I feel like I haven’t given homework in a while and I should. But I fight that urge every time it creeps up and I cringe every time I realize I’ve already done it (UPDATE: An online homework survey will provide some good data for an upcoming book on homework; it doesn’t take long to fill out).

I’m curious if we (teachers) assign work too often. What we’ve found at our school is that students are failing because they don’t do homework. Perhaps if there was less homework, more students would achieve academically. Should that be the reason that students don’t get the credits for a class, because they haven’t done work outside of class? Shouldn’t the credits go to a student if he or she has the skills the course requires? If we’re finding that homework is a huge reason for failure, if we’re finding that the current paradigm of homework isn’t working for a majority of our students, don’t we have an obligation to address that and seriously examine our homework policy?

On occassion over the years, parents have asked me why there hasn’t been any homework for the last 2 or 3 weeks. Going through the credential program at SJSU, I recall hearing from some teachers about a school homework policy that dictates the number of nights homework is required, with some schools going as far as requiring homework every night. To some, assigning homework means that you are a good teacher. Should teachers be considered less adept at what they do simply because they don’t assign homework as often as required? What if the lesson for the day doesn’t necessitate homework? What if there simply is no reason to assign work for the night?

During Break?

Certainly, special circumstances may require some students to complete work during vacations. Maybe they are in an AP course and need to complete the work to prepare for the exam, have missing work to make up, are failing, are doing extra credit, need to polish their skills – there are several reasons why work should occasionally be expected during days off. But for most students, for the majority of the kids we teach, maybe vacations or breaks should be exactly that: time off from school, time to relax and pursue other interests.

I Didn’t Do It

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t do a single bit of school work until the day before we went back. That work I did, about four-hours’ worth, got me all set up from now until the end of semester and even a bit of the beginning of semester two. How did you do? Did you get everything done that you wanted to? Did you grade all those papers? Were they ready to be returned on Tuesday morning upon the resuming of school? I only know one teacher who reached that lofty goal. And I know a lot of teachers.

So if we, as professionals, can’t seem to consistently get the work done that we want/need to achieve, how can we possibly expect our students to do so? But really, all of this gets at a much larger issue.

Do As I Say…

Do we, as teachers, regularly expect more out of our students than we are able to give? Because of the fact that I didn’t do a shred of work during the Christmas Break, I returned feeling like I actually had time off from work and I have been more excited about things, ready to take on the rest of the year. I wish my students felt the way I do and maybe having a 2-week break without work would help make that happen.

When was the last time you completed something you assigned to your students? Every time I assign an essay, I keep telling myself that I should try to complete it at the same time my students are working on it. This is something that I’ve done before (about 2 years ago, I wrote the beginning of most of the essays I assigned to my students that year), but I certainly don’t do it every year.

So if we expect our students to complete large amounts of work during a break (a 30-page packet, read an entire novel, complete a research paper), shouldn’t we have the same expectations for ourselves?Similar Posts:

• Fix, Create, Save, Think
• New Homework Policy… Maybe
• Teaching On The Edge
• The Problem Of The Long-Term
• A Small Success