I do not, fortunatly need your good wishes for my children. However should i discover that my childs teacher is sitting posting the drivel you post on the internet during a school night I would be discussing it with the headmaster of said school. Just sayin... like
Oh. Like that is it.
Teachers aren't allowed a life.
I suppose I should have spent my entire evening pouring over marking before retiring to bed at 8pm with a cup of cocoa :rolleyes:
I work in a school, and I think some of you would be surprised to learn at how competitive some parents are. Yes they do ask for more homework or better homework for their children. And yes they judge the school on this. Teachers set the homework based on things learnt in lesson from that week, or may ask for research to be done on a future project.
Theres no point in seeing the headteacher without seeing the child's class teacher first. The head will only ask for the teacher to be present anyway! And theres no point in listening to other mums in the playground, they will all have a different opinion. Start with the teacher, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Don't blame the teachers, we do as we are told. We have to set homework every other lesson, which when you teach science is twice one week and once the next at years 7 -9, and 3 or 2 times a week at years 10-11. Every lesson for 6th form.
I don't enjoy giving out homework to the younger years, at GCSE there's no choice, coursework and prep for exams requires the students to put more in above lesson time. That's not the teachers fault btw, we now have less hours to deliver what we have always had, because our hours have been cut to make space for PSE.
And yes parents complain, at parents evening they ask why their child seems to never have homework (that their child doesn't DO it is besides the point), and yes, we have those who think their children should have more.
Teachers do their very best to help children to get the best out of their time in school, but bare in mind we are being hamstrung from above too.
The discussion was only about primary/junior school not secondary.
Oh. Like that is it.
Teachers aren't allowed a life.
I suppose I should have spent my entire evening pouring over marking before retiring to bed at 8pm with a cup of cocoa :rolleyes:
For some of us lucky parents our childrens teachers are so passionate about teaching, it is their life.
My daughter did the homework she was interested in at primary school, and ignored the rest. It used to get commented on at parents evening, but the teacher didn't really seem to bothered.
Since neither her dad or me believed that homework is necessary at primary school, we were fine with the situation. We provided support if she requested it (and sometimes she would get fired up by a subject and work very hard on it), but never pushed her to spend ages on something that she did not want to do as we were all tired after a long day of school/work and felt that time to relax was more important.
Though I was bemused at the school setting work and then not really following up on it seriously at the time, looking back I can see that was right. For the parents that demand homework it was as expected. For those like us that thought she deserved to be a child as you never get that time back again, we had time to be a family in the evenings. She did very well in her SATS at the end of year6, so certainly did her no harm in the 'official' sense. She had no problem adjusting to secondary school either, where homework does get more important.
My daughter did the homework she was interested in at primary school, and ignored the rest. It used to get commented on at parents evening, but the teacher didn't really seem to bothered.
Since neither her dad or me believed that homework is necessary at primary school, we were fine with the situation. We provided support if she requested it (and sometimes she would get fired up by a subject and work very hard on it), but never pushed her to spend ages on something that she did not want to do as we were all tired after a long day of school/work and felt that time to relax was more important.
Though I was bemused at the school setting work and then not really following up on it seriously at the time, looking back I can see that was right. For the parents that demand homework it was as expected. For those like us that thought she deserved to be a child as you never get that time back again, we had time to be a family in the evenings. She did very well in her SATS at the end of year6, so certainly did her no harm in the 'official' sense. She had no problem adjusting to secondary school either, where homework does get more important.
i think you raise a good point. Not all parents agree with homework for primary children, some children tire easily while others have extra curricular interests, ie swimming, brownies etc. But it is also fair that some children are like wee sponges and want more info and its rubbish to criticise these parent for wishing the school to assist them. As for the suggestion that a teacher sets homework but does not monitor or check it is a nonsense. I am shocked by some of the tales I am reading on here.
I think the whole subject of homework needs re-thinking. A bit of reading, learning a few spellings, yes. And in more senior high school years, maybe quite a lot of reading/ writing up experiments etc.
But with a lot of homework, especially of the more 'creative' kind, only two things are really being tested:
a) Does the pupil have interested, competent parents?
b) Does the pupil have a computer with plenty of internet time?
'Projects' are downloaded word for word. Non-written projects (of the 'design a board game' nature) are done by parents. There is a reason why very academic private schools tend to have 'prep' (done, supervised, at school) instead of 'homework'. Teachers need to understand that the five lines of inky, poorly spelled work may represent honest toil, while the five pages of beautifully constructed and illustrated work represents nothing more arduous than a google search.
I think the whole subject of homework needs re-thinking. A bit of reading, learning a few spellings, yes. And in more senior high school years, maybe quite a lot of reading/ writing up experiments etc.
But with a lot of homework, especially of the more 'creative' kind, only two things are really being tested:
a) Does the pupil have interested, competent parents?
b) Does the pupil have a computer with plenty of internet time?
'Projects' are downloaded word for word. Non-written projects (of the 'design a board game' nature) are done by parents. There is a reason why very academic private schools tend to have 'prep' (done, supervised, at school) instead of 'homework'. Teachers need to understand that the five lines of inky, poorly spelled work may represent honest toil, while the five pages of beautifully constructed and illustrated work represents nothing more arduous than a google search.
Wish I was as articulate:DI clearly did not do my homework, did not have a computer, (actually I grew up without electricity) I did however have a devoted and wonderful teacher.
i think you raise a good point. Not all parents agree with homework for primary children, some children tire easily while others have extra curricular interests, ie swimming, brownies etc. But it is also fair that some children are like wee sponges and want more info and its rubbish to criticise these parent for wishing the school to assist them. As for the suggestion that a teacher sets homework but does not monitor or check it is a nonsense. I am shocked by some of the tales I am reading on here.
My son's writing is bad. Without supervision it's unreadable. A few weeks back he did some homework by himself as I was working. A whole page of virtual nonsense written badly. He got a sticker, a tick and a written well done.
I know the teacher didn't read it, she couldn't. The problem is that because of the "independant" writing homework she sets, we can't go back to basics because it's telling him that he should be past that level.
Thankfully my son has a mighty thick bubble that pretty much protects him from the reality that's staring the rest of us in the face, that the teacher is wasting his time. It's not nice when you think too much about what's going on.:(
So usually I write everything out for him while we talk about what he wants to say, putting it in proper sentences ect. And he then copies it out and can concentrate on his writing. It's working, it breaks the process down into stages he can cope with and he's making progress.
Two weeks ago I went for a private meeting with her and told her what was happening and that if she sends homework home, he needs some structure, not just a blank piece of paper and a title. Either start it in the classroom and sketch out some plan or send home some sentence outlines, words, phrases he can incorporate.
Last weeks homework was to write a newspaper article.:mad:
I remember homework in primary school a little bit, we usually wrote words out to learn to spell them with that 'look, cover,. write, check' thing...
And then used each word and wrote a sentence with the word in it
I remember being given a project in my last year of primary school, did it on the romans or something... they made us get a folder, and have it all displayed nicely etc. it was bloody hard work for me at 11 years old, it was more the thing high school wouldve asked of you, we were doing the same kinda stuff in 2nd year history (at 14yr)
Is that spelling method the "look, say, cover, write, check" one? If so I remember it! As regards the project on the romans, we have to do that kind of stuff at university, have them all typed up and professionally done. Don't remember ever doing it at school.
My son's writing is bad. Without supervision it's unreadable. A few weeks back he did some homework by himself as I was working. A whole page of virtual nonsense written badly. He got a sticker, a tick and a written well done.
I know the teacher didn't read it, she couldn't. The problem is that because of the "independant" writing homework she sets, we can't go back to basics because it's telling him that he should be past that level.
Thankfully my son has a mighty thick bubble that pretty much protects him from the reality that's staring the rest of us in the face, that the teacher is wasting his time. It's not nice when you think too much about what's going on.:(
So usually I write everything out for him while we talk about what he wants to say, putting it in proper sentences ect. And he then copies it out and can concentrate on his writing. It's working, it breaks the process down into stages he can cope with and he's making progress.
Two weeks ago I went for a private meeting with her and told her what was happening and that if she sends homework home, he needs some structure, not just a blank piece of paper and a title. Either start it in the classroom and sketch out some plan or send home some sentence outlines, words, phrases he can incorporate.
Last weeks homework was to write a newspaper article.:mad:
That is horrible. Really bad .Keep on her case tho. Good luck.
Homework, like school uniforms, was thought of as antiquated and ridiculous in the 1970s.
These things came back because parents wanted them. Most people in education think differently.
As I said upthread, when i taught I could just about get away with not setting homework. I still ran the gauntlet of the pushier parents but I toughed it out. Then ignored them. But teachers have no choice, now.
All you have to do is send a note in to the effect you don;t want your child given homework.
I get on well enough with my sons' primary school to be able to pick up the phone and speak to the Head or ask to speak to a teacher after school - and that is the ideal, to do it face to face or by phone - as then at least you get some dialogue but also may spare another child suffering like this.
I totally undestand why OP is upset - I would be distressed to see my kids distressed and I would make sure the teacher is aware of the impact of their fatuous homework, on that child.
I would also make sure the Head is aware that the homework does not relate to the curriculum, and is neither extension nor reinforcement work.
What country did you go to school at three in? I thought the UK had the youngest at four. There is pre-school for three year olds but that is rather different.
I personally think that homework for infants is wrong. My six year old gets home about 3:45, that doesn't leave much time for play time when you factor in the homework, dinner, baths etc. Tonight he is at youth club so wont be home until 7:15 which means he needs to be getting ready for bed as soon as he gets in.
I was at private school at 3, and yes I had to do reading, writing and maths at that age. In fact because I had 3 much older siblings who doted on me, I could already read by the time I started. We did have play sessions as well, but it was school in the formal sense, hats, capes, blazers, ties etc. and proper teaching. As it was private there was an after school hours club where children with working parents could stay and do their homework at school, but as my mother didn't work then I used to do mine at home.
The Board Game in question I feel was very good. She got some cardboard, made a dice out of paper and asked me to help her make the cards that you pick up out of proper card rather than paper. she made a tube for a shaker and some counters. She wanted the game covering with some kind of plastic so it would'nt damage & so I helped her cover it with the clear sticky back plastic. I have to admit it looked really good and she wanted to play it when it came back from school.
Well not any more she was heartbroke and threw it away. Like Punkchick has said it was a disgrace to treat her like that.
Apparantly the questions on the Board Game should have been about shapes - she got that wrong, she tried to include as many shapes as she could on the Game. Is that any reason to treat her in this manor?
This has been happening for a few weeks now were she says the teacher keeps shouting at her and telling her she is getting it wrong but if that's the case does she not need extra help. All this has acheived is to make her cry every morning before school and fret all week in anticipation for Thursdays homework. Well enough is enough
:mad:
Well I think her board games sounds great. She certainly put a lot of effort in and that should have been highly praised. I can picture it, and it would definately have been one of the best when I had to do mine. Shame on that teacher!
I'd like to be the counter-cultural revolutionary who bans homework.
It creates a lot of extra work for teachers and children, and it has a habit of making otherwise bright and studious children bored, resentful and rebellious.
I have not read any of the replies so maybe someone has said the same as me - but here are my thoughts.;)
I see no point in giving primary school children homework unless it is very precise and relevant to what they are learning.
My kids school brought in a homework policy and it was a complete & utter waste of time. We had things like "find out all you can about xxxxx" :rolleyes.
Mind you the school also used "Homework Diaries" and I always commented if I thought the homework was not relevant or appropriate. The teachers were supposed to use these books as part of a home-school link but they seldom did. So I used to write a note in and weeks & weeks later it was obvious that the teacher wasn't keeping to their part of the policy because it had no been read or relied to, so I'd nip in and see the Head!;)
Of course I *get it* ta very much.
The problem is, far too many parents expect homework as an extra activity tagged onto the school day that will keep the kids quiet for an hour or so whilst they make the tea.
Ideally, homework should be completed with the help and support of a parent who can provide the guidance that is needed in such projects.
I see different ends of the spectrum in my job - lots of willing children who love doing homework with the help of their parents - other willing children who unfortunately struggle because their parents don't offer the slightest iota of support with homework, spellings, reading etc - and those children who do no homework at all, and evidently have a lack of support at home also.
I'm sorry, but the fact that kids in my class don't know where foreign countries are says something about the national curriculum and the last Labour government I'm afraid.
I am very pleased you are not my son's teacher. I am a professional, have to crpss London to get to work and back. By the time I get the kids from the childminder's, get to my house, cook some dinner, settle down the baby, I am knackered. My husband works shifts, so he is not always there. I then still have to do homework with my son. It's crazy. Reading and spelling? Fine, but some of the stuff is frankly crazy and I've said so to the teacher. You will not find more dedicated parents than my husband and me, but my son has a hard time sometimes and he hates homework.
If I wanted to be a teacher, I would have trained as one. I don't expect the teachers to come to my job and do it, and I don't want to do theirs.
I have the same concerns with my sons homework. He's 6 and in year 1. When my older children went to the same school their homework would be a task sheet, either maths or english or both.
Very straighforward, and done and dusted within half an hour.
Now though its ridiculous, if I get another set of homework instructions saying 'play detective again this week' I'm going to bloody scream!!
He's 6 for goodness sake, but expected to research the most random things and then write about it. He struggles with his handwriting so we can spend hours googling various subjects, and him finding out all about whatever he needs to find out about, which is all well and good, he learns something new, but when it comes to him then having to get it all down on paper everything comes to an abrupt halt.
If he was given work sheets to improve his handwriting skills then maybe the teacher might actually be able to read what he'd written!
I was at private school at 3, and yes I had to do reading, writing and maths at that age. In fact because I had 3 much older siblings who doted on me, I could already read by the time I started. We did have play sessions as well, but it was school in the formal sense, hats, capes, blazers, ties etc. and proper teaching. As it was private there was an after school hours club where children with working parents could stay and do their homework at school, but as my mother didn't work then I used to do mine at home.
Sounds kinda similar to me, I went to a small private school at 4 but I had to wear full uniform and only spent 5 minutes in the nursery class. I remember the uniform - I had a red blazer, red tie, white blouse, grey pinafore dress, red tights and black shoes and I think a cap as well. In the summer we had a red striped dress and cardigan. I was able to read too but the teacher didn't like it and after about a year where I was pushed up three classes my parents took me out and taught me at home til I was 13 and moved to Ireland. Mum told me though that I was apparently quite proud of my school uniform and often refused to take that off. If that was true or not I don't remember
I have the same concerns with my sons homework. He's 6 and in year 1. When my older children went to the same school their homework would be a task sheet, either maths or english or both.
Very straighforward, and done and dusted within half an hour.
Now though its ridiculous, if I get another set of homework instructions saying 'play detective again this week' I'm going to bloody scream!!
He's 6 for goodness sake, but expected to research the most random things and then write about it. He struggles with his handwriting so we can spend hours googling various subjects, and him finding out all about whatever he needs to find out about, which is all well and good, he learns something new, but when it comes to him then having to get it all down on paper everything comes to an abrupt halt.
If he was given work sheets to improve his handwriting skills then maybe the teacher might actually be able to read what he'd written!
Sounds rather like my six year old. He can read perfectly, he can even spell very well but putting it onto paper is a nightmare as his handwriting is pretty awful. I think boys struggle more with the writing at an early age. I have seen on my sons weekly spelling tests him being marked wrong where he did actually get it right and he had been getting it right at home learning, just the letters rather messy.
I have had many talks with my sons teacher about the fact he isn't forming the letters the right way as it wasn't taught at the start. I have tried teaching him myself but not a lot of success as he has got into bad habits.
My 15 year old in Year 11 has this 'diary' thing that has his homework in. I probably see it ocne a term, sign off a whole swathe of weeks in one job lot, and that's it. I whine at him to do his homework (only because he's doing GCSEs). Am fairly sure he must do it as never get complaints on parent evenings.
I gave him carte blanche to forge my signature, but he's too scared to...
I had a nice sideline in first year secondary school (now Y7), forging people's parents' signatures on homework diaries. Had forgotten all about that!
Yes that's right. Keep on her. Because your son is her absolute priority and she has no other children to consider.
I don't mean to rude but if you are indeed a teacher I do find your attitude a bit unsettling, as it appears a few other posters do. I found your comment regarding the OP's concerns about depression distasteful, naive and a tad ignorant truth be told.
Obviously as a teacher you clearly wish to defend your profession and we do only know one side of the story but the OP comes across as someone who has genuine concerns for their child's welfare and personally I'm not sure your views so far do anything other than to reinforce some of the negative attitudes towards teachers.
Comments
Oh. Like that is it.
Teachers aren't allowed a life.
I suppose I should have spent my entire evening pouring over marking before retiring to bed at 8pm with a cup of cocoa :rolleyes:
Theres no point in seeing the headteacher without seeing the child's class teacher first. The head will only ask for the teacher to be present anyway! And theres no point in listening to other mums in the playground, they will all have a different opinion. Start with the teacher, you may be pleasantly surprised.
The discussion was only about primary/junior school not secondary.
Must try harder.
Some of the points are equally valid, like you blaming the teachers, when they are only carrying out school policy.
For some of us lucky parents our childrens teachers are so passionate about teaching, it is their life.
Since neither her dad or me believed that homework is necessary at primary school, we were fine with the situation. We provided support if she requested it (and sometimes she would get fired up by a subject and work very hard on it), but never pushed her to spend ages on something that she did not want to do as we were all tired after a long day of school/work and felt that time to relax was more important.
Though I was bemused at the school setting work and then not really following up on it seriously at the time, looking back I can see that was right. For the parents that demand homework it was as expected. For those like us that thought she deserved to be a child as you never get that time back again, we had time to be a family in the evenings. She did very well in her SATS at the end of year6, so certainly did her no harm in the 'official' sense. She had no problem adjusting to secondary school either, where homework does get more important.
i think you raise a good point. Not all parents agree with homework for primary children, some children tire easily while others have extra curricular interests, ie swimming, brownies etc. But it is also fair that some children are like wee sponges and want more info and its rubbish to criticise these parent for wishing the school to assist them. As for the suggestion that a teacher sets homework but does not monitor or check it is a nonsense. I am shocked by some of the tales I am reading on here.
But with a lot of homework, especially of the more 'creative' kind, only two things are really being tested:
a) Does the pupil have interested, competent parents?
b) Does the pupil have a computer with plenty of internet time?
'Projects' are downloaded word for word. Non-written projects (of the 'design a board game' nature) are done by parents. There is a reason why very academic private schools tend to have 'prep' (done, supervised, at school) instead of 'homework'. Teachers need to understand that the five lines of inky, poorly spelled work may represent honest toil, while the five pages of beautifully constructed and illustrated work represents nothing more arduous than a google search.
Wish I was as articulate:DI clearly did not do my homework, did not have a computer, (actually I grew up without electricity) I did however have a devoted and wonderful teacher.
My son's writing is bad. Without supervision it's unreadable. A few weeks back he did some homework by himself as I was working. A whole page of virtual nonsense written badly. He got a sticker, a tick and a written well done.
I know the teacher didn't read it, she couldn't. The problem is that because of the "independant" writing homework she sets, we can't go back to basics because it's telling him that he should be past that level.
Thankfully my son has a mighty thick bubble that pretty much protects him from the reality that's staring the rest of us in the face, that the teacher is wasting his time. It's not nice when you think too much about what's going on.:(
So usually I write everything out for him while we talk about what he wants to say, putting it in proper sentences ect. And he then copies it out and can concentrate on his writing. It's working, it breaks the process down into stages he can cope with and he's making progress.
Two weeks ago I went for a private meeting with her and told her what was happening and that if she sends homework home, he needs some structure, not just a blank piece of paper and a title. Either start it in the classroom and sketch out some plan or send home some sentence outlines, words, phrases he can incorporate.
Last weeks homework was to write a newspaper article.:mad:
Is that spelling method the "look, say, cover, write, check" one? If so I remember it! As regards the project on the romans, we have to do that kind of stuff at university, have them all typed up and professionally done. Don't remember ever doing it at school.
That is horrible. Really bad .Keep on her case tho. Good luck.
Yes that's right. Keep on her. Because your son is her absolute priority and she has no other children to consider.
let us know how you get on i am really interested to see what the school says, good luck
These things came back because parents wanted them. Most people in education think differently.
As I said upthread, when i taught I could just about get away with not setting homework. I still ran the gauntlet of the pushier parents but I toughed it out. Then ignored them. But teachers have no choice, now.
All you have to do is send a note in to the effect you don;t want your child given homework.
I get on well enough with my sons' primary school to be able to pick up the phone and speak to the Head or ask to speak to a teacher after school - and that is the ideal, to do it face to face or by phone - as then at least you get some dialogue but also may spare another child suffering like this.
I totally undestand why OP is upset - I would be distressed to see my kids distressed and I would make sure the teacher is aware of the impact of their fatuous homework, on that child.
I would also make sure the Head is aware that the homework does not relate to the curriculum, and is neither extension nor reinforcement work.
I was at private school at 3, and yes I had to do reading, writing and maths at that age. In fact because I had 3 much older siblings who doted on me, I could already read by the time I started. We did have play sessions as well, but it was school in the formal sense, hats, capes, blazers, ties etc. and proper teaching. As it was private there was an after school hours club where children with working parents could stay and do their homework at school, but as my mother didn't work then I used to do mine at home.
Well I think her board games sounds great. She certainly put a lot of effort in and that should have been highly praised. I can picture it, and it would definately have been one of the best when I had to do mine. Shame on that teacher!
It creates a lot of extra work for teachers and children, and it has a habit of making otherwise bright and studious children bored, resentful and rebellious.
I see no point in giving primary school children homework unless it is very precise and relevant to what they are learning.
My kids school brought in a homework policy and it was a complete & utter waste of time. We had things like "find out all you can about xxxxx" :rolleyes.
Mind you the school also used "Homework Diaries" and I always commented if I thought the homework was not relevant or appropriate. The teachers were supposed to use these books as part of a home-school link but they seldom did. So I used to write a note in and weeks & weeks later it was obvious that the teacher wasn't keeping to their part of the policy because it had no been read or relied to, so I'd nip in and see the Head!;)
I am very pleased you are not my son's teacher. I am a professional, have to crpss London to get to work and back. By the time I get the kids from the childminder's, get to my house, cook some dinner, settle down the baby, I am knackered. My husband works shifts, so he is not always there. I then still have to do homework with my son. It's crazy. Reading and spelling? Fine, but some of the stuff is frankly crazy and I've said so to the teacher. You will not find more dedicated parents than my husband and me, but my son has a hard time sometimes and he hates homework.
If I wanted to be a teacher, I would have trained as one. I don't expect the teachers to come to my job and do it, and I don't want to do theirs.
Very straighforward, and done and dusted within half an hour.
Now though its ridiculous, if I get another set of homework instructions saying 'play detective again this week' I'm going to bloody scream!!
He's 6 for goodness sake, but expected to research the most random things and then write about it. He struggles with his handwriting so we can spend hours googling various subjects, and him finding out all about whatever he needs to find out about, which is all well and good, he learns something new, but when it comes to him then having to get it all down on paper everything comes to an abrupt halt.
If he was given work sheets to improve his handwriting skills then maybe the teacher might actually be able to read what he'd written!
Sounds kinda similar to me, I went to a small private school at 4 but I had to wear full uniform and only spent 5 minutes in the nursery class. I remember the uniform - I had a red blazer, red tie, white blouse, grey pinafore dress, red tights and black shoes and I think a cap as well. In the summer we had a red striped dress and cardigan. I was able to read too but the teacher didn't like it and after about a year where I was pushed up three classes my parents took me out and taught me at home til I was 13 and moved to Ireland. Mum told me though that I was apparently quite proud of my school uniform and often refused to take that off. If that was true or not I don't remember
Sounds rather like my six year old. He can read perfectly, he can even spell very well but putting it onto paper is a nightmare as his handwriting is pretty awful. I think boys struggle more with the writing at an early age. I have seen on my sons weekly spelling tests him being marked wrong where he did actually get it right and he had been getting it right at home learning, just the letters rather messy.
I have had many talks with my sons teacher about the fact he isn't forming the letters the right way as it wasn't taught at the start. I have tried teaching him myself but not a lot of success as he has got into bad habits.
I gave him carte blanche to forge my signature, but he's too scared to...
I had a nice sideline in first year secondary school (now Y7), forging people's parents' signatures on homework diaries. Had forgotten all about that!
I don't mean to rude but if you are indeed a teacher I do find your attitude a bit unsettling, as it appears a few other posters do. I found your comment regarding the OP's concerns about depression distasteful, naive and a tad ignorant truth be told.
Obviously as a teacher you clearly wish to defend your profession and we do only know one side of the story but the OP comes across as someone who has genuine concerns for their child's welfare and personally I'm not sure your views so far do anything other than to reinforce some of the negative attitudes towards teachers.