Whose Homework Is It Anyway?

Whose homework is it anyway?  Another topic for discussion regarding “at the heart of it” is certainly homework.  It is a topic that has been on our minds for a very long time both as moms and as educators. We’ll each share a story or two.

Judy

The homework thing was never more apparent to me than at  my daughter’s science fair project in elementary school.  As a third or fourth grade student, my daughter was required to turn in a science fair project most of which, if not all, was to be done at home.  I questioned coworkers about this asking for advice and suggestions on what they had done with their kids. I assumed they would suggest some projects my daughter could complete on her own with guidance from me.  Oh no, I soon learned. After discussion and sharing of stories regarding the homework assignment for their children, it became apparent that the assignment was not for her it was for US.  Forced “parental involvement” I guess.

My colleagues, who were very engaged in the lives of their children, quickly informed me that in order for my child to have the best science fair project, my child and I would have to do the project together.  “Oh my”, said I.

And then I tried to engage myself in engaging my daughter on her project.  It was like engaging her in making her bed or doing the dishes.  Her decisions and product were not  always up to my standards and I stressed --out loud.  Seriously.   

So, in order for this science project to be the best science project, certainly up to par with the parents of her friends, I knew we would  have to abide by my standard---the one I set for myself as an adult.  Let’s be honest here; as an educator I watched many parents who wanted their child to be the best, be the winner, and they would do everything they could do to make that happen.  I never much appreciated that and now I was doing the same because I was in competition with them!  “So whose project was this anyway,” I asked myself and decided to back off a bit---maybe more than a bit.

My daughter brought her project to school and I must say it was in the middle plus range of projects.  She had the purchased poster board and markers for display and plenty of guidance on how and where to do research.  I made lots of suggestions about procedure and what to measure--the scientific process--but I didn’t actually “do” the project.  Looking around the science fair as an educator myself, I was able to determine which parents did the projects, helped with projects and which parents let their kids work on their own.  There was a significant difference between these categories and I was pretty certain about what the old “bell curve” would dictate here.

Often, knowing that I was an educator, friends and acquaintances would complain to me about how much homework “they” had every night.  They would complain that with their work schedules and responsibilities at home after work, they didn’t have enough time to complete “their” homework and were concerned their kids’ grades would suffer. In many cases, the adults didn’t even understand the directions or how to complete the assignment.  WHAT?

As a school principal, I often received calls from prospective parents asking about the amount of assigned homework, not as an indication of too much homework but as an indication of the quality of the school.  More homework, more scholastic integrity and therefore a “better” school than the one with less homework.  Or, there were the parents who wanted their children to be assigned a lot of homework to keep them busy until the parents got home from work.  

As a teacher, because of district requirements, I often assigned homework that most often   wouldn’t be completed.  The type of class was not conducive to homework but in order to comply and have a “relevant” class, I assigned it anyway.  What a struggle. I knew that most homework assignments needed parental understanding and support and I also knew that not all parents, for a variety of reasons, were in a position to give that support.  There was no good purpose to this convoluted homework practice and it certainly did not have the student at the center of the decision. And I asked once again, “whose homework is it anyway?”

Yes, there may be some quality homework assignments and these assignments must support and enhance the classroom work rather than be exercises in repetition or plain busy work.  This assignment must be made with the student in mind supporting significant learning that is relevant and FUN!  

Dani

As a first grade teacher in a large public school district, I was required to follow the district’s homework policy, which was 30 minutes of homework per night, for six-year-olds. I do not believe in worksheets to “keep children busy,” or in homework for a math curriculum that is so obscure parents have a hard time figuring it out, or in collecting and keeping track of meaningless paperwork. I have no disagreement with children reading each night. Appropriate reading for first graders would be looking at picture books, being read to by a family member, or reading on their own, depending on their current reading skills and the materials available to them. Realizing early on that many of my students did not even have books at home so they could not meet this requirement, I allowed them to borrow books from my personal classroom library. They may have been favorite read-alouds that they wanted to share with their families, books they were especially fond of, or just something new to look at. The first time a child asked if he could borrow a book, his face lit up when I said yes. I never really kept track of who borrowed what or worried about losing books. I was just happy that they were excited about reading. I think what really made that powerful was choice. Children could make choices and decisions about things that were relevant and interesting to them.

Things got trickier when I couldn’t just say “read every night” because vocal, competitive parents expected more. I tried a number of strategies. I’d assign math pages from the student math workbook in addition to reading. I’d come up with elaborate projects related to things we were studying in the classroom to make assignments relevant and provoke curiosity. I’d make a weekly homework bingo board and families could pick five assignments for the week. I even tried differentiating homework by dividing students into three “homework groups” based on their reading levels. But then I had to come up with three different things each day and parents wanted to know what their child could do to “move up” a level. It was exhausting! And I still had lessons for each school day to plan and prepare for.

What I really wanted to tell parents was what one of my daughter’s teachers, years after I left the district, told me about homework: “The district has a homework policy. My belief is that after-school time is family time. Go for walks. Have conversations. Read together. Play games. Ride bikes. Do whatever it is your family enjoys doing together.” That teacher is the primary reason we stayed at that particular elementary school. And for middle and high school we chose a charter school that does not assign homework. 

          Here is what is really at the heart of this blog post. Research does not support a correlation between homework and student achievement, particularly in elementary school. For an excellent read on this, see Alfie Kohn’s comments here. Harris Cooper, Duke researcher, did a meta-analysis of nearly 200 studies on homework and his findings are here. 

If we continue to assign homework when the benefits are not proven, we also need to consider what harm we may be doing when we as educators assign work outside of the school day. What are children not doing because they are spending time on homework? Are we creating stress, fatigue, bad feelings toward school, and taking away from precious family time? And we might just be increasing disparities for students and families who do not have the resources or time to successfully complete work at home. We must consider the socio-economic diversity of families as well as the diversity we see in our classrooms.  As educators we are partners with the families of our students and as such, must know and understand their individual differences. Are they  willing and able to support assignments at home?  And if so, we must consider how we assess any work that is done at home.  In addition we may want to think about the student who aces the test but never turns in homework assignments, which is reflected in his grade.  Are we assessing knowledge and understanding of a subject or a study skill?  If homework is assigned to promote student responsibility, discipline, and organization, perhaps study skills lessons and activities at school would be more effective. 

There are so many things to consider about homework and much has been written in the past few years.  Take some time to look at some of the references we cited here and together with the thoughts in our blog, use them to evaluate and maybe even change some of your ideas about “whose homework is it anyway?”

Inquiry Part 2

Inquiry is a powerful and effective way of teaching and learning because it ignites curiosity and empowers children to take the lead. Inquiry is inclusive; all children have a voice. The teacher’s role is to guide, support, and encourage, not always a comfortable role as it requires teachers to step aside rather than the more traditional method of “stand and deliver.” The learning can be tailored so each child can take charge and become a productive learner. One of the current, and persistent, topics in education is the achievement gap. While Minnesota’s students continue to perform near the top of the nation overall, there remains a striking gap in achievement for students of color compared to white students. Instead of thinking about this achievement gap simply in terms of lower test scores, we are approaching it as a multi-faceted opportunity gap and  believe the inquiry method of teaching and learning is the best strategy for closing this gap.

Children and families come to schools with different experiences, skills, and opportunity. There’s a lot of talk about “school readiness” but who and what defines a child’s readiness for school? Typically and traditionally school readiness connotes a middle-class value defining how a child should behave and what a child should know on that first day of school. However, many children in our schools today do not fall into this traditional standard definition. We assert that all children are naturally curious and are excited to learn that which they don’t know. This is where we must start.

Consider an inquiry-based classroom with these strategies in place:

• curiosity is triggered through the introduction of a concept
• children ask questions and steer the learning
• teachers act as guides to help focus the learning in order to meet standards and individual needs
• assessment is an ongoing, intentional, and meaningful process

     There is power in teachers being guides in the learning  so children can become problem solvers and experts. The children are motivated to learn more about relevant topics, concepts, and skills. Begin where the child is and ignite the desire to learn. We have seen it in action. It works.

     Learning should not be a chore. The achievement gap is a gap in opportunities for children and teachers in classrooms where we continue to do the same things over and over and expect different results. We must consider new ways of addressing our students’ needs. Inquiry is a strategy that allows the teacher and the learner to navigate the pieces and the process of learning. Look for us to address these individual pieces in upcoming blog posts. We welcome your input, ideas, and constructive criticisms. Let’s talk.

Inquiry Part 1

…Inquiry is both natural and spontaneous state when we are engaged as learners seeking meaning..

-Concept-Based Curriculum and Instructions for the Thinking Classroom-

(Erickson, Lanning and French, 2017, p-88)

Imagine yourself,  if you can, in a classroom today at your age as a learner.  Consider the professor, teacher or workshop leader’s style of teaching.  Is it “stand and deliver” or collaborative?  Possibly a combination of both?  How do you feel in this class as a student?  Engaged, impatient, tired or preoccupied with other things?  If there is something you could change about the platform for your learning, what would it be?  Did you think the teacher was actually teaching and you were getting what you paid for? Have you ever been in a class based on inquiry?   

Now consider these questions for a young student sitting in a classroom for six hours.  Think of the different types of people these learners represent; the studious always engaged student, the reluctant student, the student who can’t sit still or the socially impulsive student who “in the day” got F’s for “deportment”.  There are many types of people who learn in many different ways and learning through inquiry, defined by different strategies, we know can help all learners connect constructively and productively with the subject matter

Inquiry can be defined as structured, guided or open.  Depending on the  content of the lesson, different strategies can be implemented--or maybe all of them in the same lesson.  Experience has also taught us that inquiry as a teaching strategy can at times be very uncomfortable for some teachers.  They either see it as a free for all or as giving up control and thus evaluated as a bad teacher.  So, we’d like to explore this whole topic a bit more so you can better understand why we think inquiry is “at the heart of it”.

The desire to learn is inherent. We are born with curiosity and the drive to understand and interact with the world around us. Very young children observe and imitate. They try to grasp and manipulate objects, move their bodies towards interesting sounds or sights, and learn through trial and error and cause and effect.

In early childhood, ages 3-5, we see the emergence of play. Children are still imitating what they see and learning by doing. Consider a three-year-old child exploring water play in a classroom sensory tub. To many onlookers this may not look like an educational learning opportunity at first glance. It’s “just a child playing with water.” She fills and empties small containers, stirs the water with utensils, splashes, and navigates the use of tools and space (both socially and physically) with other children around her. She may not have the language to ask the questions but she certainly wonders how all of this works and is driven to figure it out. When she inadvertently splashes a peer and the child cries, she’s learning cause and effect. When she stirs the water with a spoon, she might be modeling something she’s seen a parent do and she’s finding out that she can use tools to accomplish tasks. When she pours water from one container to another she is learning about the physics of volume and space, as well as developing her fine motor skills. She didn’t ask about any of these things and her teacher may or may not have those intended outcomes in mind. But from a very young age, humans are inquirers. We want to discover how the world works.

Dani’s example of inquiry in action with a group of preschool children:

Creek Ice
Small group hikes at Dodge Nature Preschool offer a multitude of opportunities for young children to engage in inquiry and for teachers to observe and document what the children are learning. While this is not a typical classroom setting, inquiry can happen anywhere at any time. We just need to be mindful and intentional allowing it to happen. Consider ways to encourage inquiry in your own setting.  On this particular hike, I spent time with six children as they suddenly veered off-trail and headed to the creek to look at the ice. On that day they noticed many changes and made a lot of observations around ice and water. Here are some of the things they noticed:

Child: This ice is safe – I hit it with my stick and it didn’t break.
Child: Look, there’s ice UNDER ice here.
Teacher: What does that look like, that shape in the ice?
Child: It looks like circles.
Child: Yeah, or bubbles.
Teacher: Yes! Air bubbles trapped in the ice. What happens if you poke at them with your sticks?
Children: They break! That ice isn’t so strong! Let’s call that bubble ice!
Child: The bubble ice is easy to break, and there’s more ice under it.
Child: This looks like a skating pond.
Child: The ice isn’t thick in places where it’s black. I can see water under there.
Teacher: Yes, when I jump on the ice, watch that black spot.
Child: The water moved when you jumped!
Child: Hey, there’s slush on top of the ice here.
Child: Look guys, more water!
Child: This ice looks like it can break because it’s dark.
Child: Look, there’s sticks here. Like a bridge.

The children spent about half an hour along the edges of the creek testing ice, breaking through weak spots with their sticks, and finding safe places to step on the ice and on branches to get to the other side. I think it’s important to note that for young children, the inquiry process doesn’t always start with a question they can verbalize. The process starts with curiosity, something they notice and want to explore. Sometimes they ask questions. Sometimes teachers ask questions to nudge them toward their own discoveries. Often children compare what they notice to something else, something familiar. In this instance the children learned about different states of water, solid and liquid. They learned that there are layers in ice. They learned about looking closely at the ice and testing it for safety. They learned that they can use their brains and their bodies to get themselves safely across the creek. What makes it all so meaningful is that I didn’t tell them any of that. I followed them to the creek, made sure they were staying safe while they explored, asked a few questions, and just let them learn.

These are some examples of all categories of inquiry working with young children.  The same principles are applied to older students and even adults.  As an adult, a form of guided inquiry can be explained by the following example which, by the way, actually happened and is one reason I began the study of inquiry as a principle of best practice.

Judy’s example of inquiry in action with adult learners

At the first meeting of a graduate course in counseling, we were given the final exam straight out.  I was astonished at this and, to be honest, quite excited.  “What a concept” I said to myself.  A teacher telling me what I am to learn, what is important to understand and what he, the teacher, determines to be of value in my understanding of the content.  There were no secrets!  The students weren’t guessing and the teacher was telling us how to uncover that which we were to know.  I loved this.  I dug right in and read what I needed to read for understanding. I listened to lectures for details of knowledge and how things related to each other and engaged at my level of need and understanding.  Wow!  My understanding of education and how to educate changed immediately.  What if we as teachers told the students the standards and details they were to know and understand and then presented them with alternative strategies to discover these understandings?  All of this led to my inquiry into inquiry and my professional experience took a new path.

         In our next blog we will explore using inquiry with older children and pull all of our discussions and examples of inquiry into a conclusion explaining why we feel inquiry is “ at the heart of it”.  Until next time………..

Risk Taking

What is a risk taker?  A parent we once worked with was concerned that it meant encouraging her child to jump off a bridge or some such thing.  Being a risk taker goes beyond academic success and is an important part of healthy human development.  Risk is inherent in growth.  We all need to take risks and be willing to fail before we can succeed.  We assured that parent that jumping off a bridge is not what we considered a risk taker.  

People often think of risk as something physical.  In early childhood, particularly in the outdoor setting where Dani has done much of her teaching, risk is a big issue.  Gross motor skills develop rapidly in early childhood and being outside offers children many physical challenges that involve risk.  Learning to trust their bodies when balancing on fallen logs, navigating rough terrain, or climbing trees helps their bodies grow stronger as their confidence grows . Risk is a good thing in this context.  Teachers are constantly assessing risk and making sure the risks are appropriate in relation to the learning opportunity.  No one is willing to compromise a child’s safety.  Allowing children the freedom to test their own boundaries and slowly push those boundaries, they will go beyond their comfort zones and achieve new success.

Being a risk taker also means having the courage to try something new, to demonstrate integrity or to work for and embrace change.  It is not hard to find risk takers if we look at what’s happening in the national political and educational landscape. The teachers in Oklahoma and Kentucky, as well as the students demonstrating about gun control, are quite clearly demonstrating how to be risk takers.

The high school students in Florida have taken a huge risk in standing up for their beliefs.  They have defined their issue and passionately defended it to the world.  This took courage and, we might suggest, some courageous mentoring and validation by influential adults along the way.  These students have suffered much criticism, insult, and even threats while continuing to loudly and articulately communicate their wants, wishes and hopes.  These young women and men are a prime example of risk takers who have a message for change based on their personal truth.  They should be commended.

In addition, the teachers who have taken a stand about the condition of their schools where teaching and learning are supposed to occur are another example of risk takers.  How appalling it is to view the conditions of schools where students spend the majority of their day and teachers try to teach, and then to consider the wages these professionals earn to educate children.  Let’s take a national look at the pay scale of teachers and decide if in fact these professionals are underpaid for the work they do.  Or perhaps the better question is are teachers and education valued?  And if so, why don’t the schools and wages reflect that value? One big elephant in the room has to do with gender.

Consider this quote from a New York Times article about why more men don’t go into the teaching profession.  “According to Education Department data, more than three-quarters of all teachers in kindergarten through high school are women….The disparity is most pronounced in elementary and middle schools, where more than 80 percent of teachers are women.”  In this regard, education is a female gendered profession and as such may not be given the societal value of a more male gendered profession.  Also, “jobs dominated by women pay less on average than those with higher proportions of men, and studies have shown that these careers tend to enjoy less prestige as well.”  

Even among professional educators themselves, college and high school teachers (where male teachers have greater representation) are viewed with greater value and status, and sometimes higher pay, than elementary teachers who are mostly female.  How many of you, honestly, whether you are an educator or not, consider a high school or middle school teacher a harder worker or better teacher than a kindergarten or first grade teacher?  What about the teacher of our youngest students who is most often a woman?  How would you value her work?  Did you know that a licensed preschool teacher with a Master’s degree in child development or education earns about $18.00 an hour, and whose job (according to one out of touch and misinformed high school principal) consists of wiping noses and cleaning up bathroom accidents?  This is what exists within the profession of education in this country.

It’s been suggested that in order to attract more males to the teaching profession, we need higher pay and more prestige. As a society we recognize and admit that men are paid more and their jobs tend to carry more social value due in part to gender. Do we see the hypocrisy in that?  Why do we have to put more men into the field of education to place more value on those jobs?  Isn’t there inherent value in the education of our children regardless of the gender of the teacher?

So maybe it is time for educators to start speaking up about the truth in their own schools.  Maybe the #MeToo movement gave this traditionally female gendered profession the courage to loudly speak their truth.  Whatever the case, consider these teachers and the students from Florida risk takers for change.  They are all to be applauded.

We invite you to be risk takers with us on this blog.  Comment on this post or another. Add your thoughts and questions. Join the conversation. 

At The Heart Of Who We Are And Why We Care

The word educate comes from the Latin educare "to bring up, to rear.” It is also the source of Italian educare, Spanish educar, and French éduquer, additionally meaning “to bring out, to lead.” It wasn’t until the 1580s that we began to see the definition “to provide schooling” also attributed to the word educate.

Think for a moment about the word care embedded in education’s roots… What does it mean to care for a child? Education today encompasses vast territory from the basics of literacy and mathematics, to specialized curricula, to providing daily nutrition and safe before- and after-school care for children. Education is everything in a child’s life from birth to graduation and beyond. Indeed children are always learning something, regardless of who is doing the teaching, or what the intended outcome.

We recently watched the trailer to the new Mr. Roger’s film. He stated that “every child wants to be loved and to give love.” This may seem like a grandiose topic to tackle in reference to education, but that is exactly what we intend to do in our new blog.  Passion for children and their need for a healthy education is the core of what we will explore.  We will discuss this in our own words and invite guests to participate in discussions as well as submit ideas of their own.

Some of our initial topics for discussion will be homework, parent involvement, the teaching profession, and embracing healthy change. How are these things addressed in schools today? Can we do a better job defining and following through with ideas for change? Our contention is, yes we can.

         We are writing this blog as catalysts for change. We are educators, mothers, and grandmothers. We are engaged citizens, taxpayers, the products of public education, and lifelong learners. We are also risk takers, willing to engage in dialogue surrounding tough issues in education. We care about our community, all of our children, and the future of our schools. We want to share our passion for education with you and invite you into the conversation. The goal is to examine the system of education today, discuss the things that go well and take a closer look at what is needed for all students to be successful.  What is truly at the heart of successful schools is successful students.

So please read and hang in there with us as we explore a variety of topics.  We encourage your feedback and suggestions and hope that our audience will grow to include people passionate about education and children, as well as those who are skeptical about the necessity of giving up some control.  Read to think, read to stretch, read to engage in dialogue. Let us bring some sunshine into the world of education today, allowing us to explore these topics with an open mind.

Introducing Judy:

I met Judy when my son (now an adult) was beginning kindergarten at the school where she was the principal. I was a young, single parent who knew little about education or schools other than my own experiences. Trusting your child to strangers is never an easy thing. From the moment I met her, Judy made me feel confident that my child would be safe, cared for, and in a learning environment that really valued all children. I was reassured by her warm smile, her easy rapport with children and parents, and the respectful relationships she had with teachers.

Over the years I got to know her as a fierce proponent of the school, a fearless leader who truly wanted input and participation from our entire school community, and an unwavering advocate for doing what was best for children. She invited me, and all other parents, into that school as though it were our own… which of course, it was.

That was more than twenty years ago. I have learned a lot from and about Judy since that time. She inspired me to get my teaching license. She welcomed me into my very first classroom after hiring me for my first teaching job. I watched her lead meetings, engage the community, help teachers become learners with a new curriculum, encourage risk-taking, visit classrooms, finesse school budgets, get parents engaged enough to attend and speak at school board meetings, and remind everyone what was really at the heart of everything. She always asked, “Is this what’s best for kids?” If it wasn’t, we were on the wrong path.

If you follow our conversations on this blog, you will come to know Judy as someone who believes passionately in education, who isn’t afraid to talk respectfully about things that make her or others uncomfortable, who wants to understand other perspectives and takes the time to listen, and who values working together for solutions that are in the best interest of children.

Introducing Dani:

Dani is a caring and committed woman with many talents.  She is a mother, wife, teacher, writer, naturalist and awesome photographer; a creative person and a willing collaborator.

I first met Dani over 20 years ago when she was registering her son for kindergarten at the school where I was Principal.  Her warmth and interest in the success of all children drew me to Dani and I was fortunate to hire her as a first grade teacher.

         And what a fabulous first grade teacher she was.  Dani studied and enthusiastically embraced the IB program which our school had just begun.  She had natural instincts for the IB concepts and philosophies and comfortably engaged her students in inquiry.  I always remember visiting her classroom to see children studying insects and mimicking their eating habits with pliers and green paper.  They were so excited and eager to explain the process.  On another day, these students were lying on the floor painting on paper taped to the underside of their desks modeling the painting of Michelangelo.  What a rich classroom for little children Dani created!

Over the years I have watched Dani grow in her profession by taking risks and exploring options.  She has combined her skills as a classroom teacher with her love of nature in preschool teaching at a nature reserve. And she has developed a college course for teachers designed to help them gain confidence and skills necessary to engage in hands-on experiential teaching and learning.  Dani is all about the students, young or not so young.

I am thrilled to collaborate with Dani on this blog.  She will bring energy and integrity to this endeavor and a truly courageous voice.