No homework ever...wwyd?

[Caboosey]

Sounds like the my kindergarten class. Most of my student's parents would revolt if I didn't give homework.

What type of neighborhood are you student teaching in?

I'm in NYC as well - working at a small school in Alphabet City. Parents have to apply to get their children in, so they take education seriously. Parents are encouraged to be involved in the school community, and can come in and do projects with classes. I love it!

 

[Kath2003]

I'm in NYC as well - working at a small school in Alphabet City. Parents have to apply to get their children in, so they take education seriously. Parents are encouraged to be involved in the school community, and can come in and do projects with classes. I love it!

An aside but I love Alphabet City, what a great place to work

 

[jrmasm]

I'm in NYC as well - working at a small school in Alphabet City. Parents have to apply to get their children in, so they take education seriously. Parents are encouraged to be involved in the school community, and can come in and do projects with classes. I love it!

Surely you're not suggesting that parents that do not see any value to homework in the lower grades do not take education seriously and are not involved in the schools???

 

[Caboosey]

Surely you're not suggesting that parents that do not see any value to homework in the lower grades do not take education seriously and are not involved in the schools???

Um, no. Not at all. I never said anything like that.

I think that parents that seek out a school that fits their child's needs and get involved with special projects in that school take their child's education seriously.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Surely you're not suggesting that parents that do not see any value to homework in the lower grades do not take education seriously and are not involved in the schools???

I don't think that's what she meant.

Here it's hard to get your child into a great public school. As a matter of fact, applying to some of these schools is worst than applying to college.

Most require the students to pass an entrance exam. That includes kids entering kindergarten or first grade. Some schools require letters of recommendation. The middle school my son attended (6-8) required the parents and the child to come in for an interview. The school only accepts 60 6th graders each year. However, they test over 250.

Parents who have to jump through all these hoops, tend to go above and beyond what's required of them. They don't complain if the school has a mandatory uniform policy. They don't complain about homework, fund-raising, projects....

Some schools have a lottery system. Some people luck up and have a great school as their zone school.

 

[Caboosey]

I don't think that's what she meant.

Here it's hard to get your child into a great public school. As a matter of fact, applying to some of these schools is worst than applying to college.

Most require the students to pass an entrance exam. That includes kids entering kindergarten or first grade. Some schools require letters of recommendation. The middle school my son attended (6-8) required the parents and the child to come in for an interview. The school only accepts 60 6th graders each year. However, they test over 250.

Parents who have to jump through all these hoops, tend to go above and beyond what's required of them. They don't complain if the school has a mandatory uniform policy. They don't complain about homework, fund-raising, projects....

Some schools have a lottery system. Some people luck up and have a great school as their zone school.

Thank you for clearing up what I was trying to say! The NYC school system is complicated, I'm only beginning to understand it myself, so thank you for explaining it a bit better. I was floored last year when the guidance counselor came in to talk to my middle schoolers about applying for high school. That's an intense process!

I find it a little silly that parents are asking about homework for my kindergarteners. Some of them aren't even five yet! Work on teaching them to tie their shoes and share their toys! Really, reading and practicing letters and numbers is what they need most - and there are so many ways to do that without the teacher sending home worksheets. I feel like a lot of kindergarten is just socializing the kids to know how to act in school, to work with other kids, to deal with having to wait for the teacher's attention, etc. - some days, it seems like the work we do is really secondary to the social aspect of school.

 

[disneydance]

If i had that teacher i would be on cloud9 no seriously i am a 8th grader and all my teachers ever seem to do is give out HW I know that no really ever does there HW at my school so the teachers send about half there students to lunch study hall ive never go it but i got it once last year... many kids dont do there HW and i dont see the use of it but again i am a student can your daughter teacher come to my school and switch my block teacher i can assure you that then your child will have LOTS of HW more than they will ever neeed

 

[swilphil]

I think elementary school libraries tend to be underfunded and are generally badly done. Many now place a great emphasis on making the kids take out books that the teachers and/or librarians deem to be the "correct" reading level for them, and disallowing them to take out books that don't get the seal of approval.

I noticed that my oldest would take out the same two books every week from the school library. She never looked at them. When I asked her why, she told me that she knew the librarian would approve these two books, and it irritated her when the librarian wouldn't let her take out others. So, she just kept checking out the same two to mollify the librarian.

Since we go to the public library at least weekly, and let the kids pick out a tote bag full of books at a time and actually read them, I guess we've all come to the decision that the school library is pretty irrelevant to our family. I can see the value in having school libraries for kids whose parents aren't library users, but wish school librarians were a little more progressive, and a little less like librarians used to be 50 years ago.

Trust me there are school librarians that are very progressive. The research shows that a certified school library media specialist at a school with a well-funded library can help test scores and student success. Please don't think that the school librarian at your school is exactly like every school librarian in the country. Sure there are bad school librarians, just like there are bad schools, bad teachers, bad doctors and bad lawyers.

 

[golfgal]

Trust me there are school librarians that are very progressive. The research shows that a certified school library media specialist at a school with a well-funded library can help test scores and student success. Please don't think that the school librarian at your school is exactly like every school librarian in the country. Sure there are bad school librarians, just like there are bad schools, bad teachers, bad doctors and bad lawyers.

I agree, the schools we have been involved with have had excellent librarians and libraries. While I am sure that Pigeon's experience is true, it is not the case in most schools.

In our kids' middle school they have reading requirements where they have to read so many pages from 3 different levels of books, below, at and above reading level. The books at below reading level are there to increase reading speed and comprehension. The books at reading level are there to expand their reading choices--they have to pick so many fiction/non-fiction and books from several categories. The above reading level books are there to challenge their reading skills. They use the previous year test scores to determine reading level. Our twins tested out at 12th grade reading level so their below level books are anything under that obviously. THe challenge books are a little more difficult to find but they have them available.

 

[shortbun]

The only homework my 6th grader has is a project for each unit that he can not finish in class and algebra. The unit projects are intense because DS always wants an A and his teacher says to get an A, you must go above and beyond what is required. Otherwise, we are homework free and basically have been since K. I can't argue with the system, it's producing very high achievement test scores and other tests show DS in the top 10% in the country. They MUST be doing something in the classroom, lol!!!

 

[disneyjunkie]

I was floored last year when the guidance counselor came in to talk to my middle schoolers about applying for high school. That's an intense process!

Did you grow up here?

Did you see the high school directory the kids get? It looks like a phone book!

I graduated from junior high school in 1982. At that time everyone looked forward to the high school process.

The summer before 8th grade, many students would take test prep courses. In the fall you took the high school entrance exams for the top schools, and had auditions for the performing arts school.

We attended high school fares and open houses. Applications were due late fall. The acceptance letters rolled in about mid-spring.

You had until late spring to decide which high school you would attend.

Next fall, if you decide you don’t like the school you attend, you get to start the process all over.


The system worked pretty well, until the Mayor Bloomberg decided to revamp the process a few years ago.

 

[Cindy B]

I thought the NYC school system was pretty complicated.


I'm in NJ-- and there was an intense process for student to get in to the IB middle school. My son got in-- and I was glad! I've heard of parents begging/, camping out at the administration complex, and even getting a special ed Dx just so they could get to be in a specific program at this IB school.

We also have the high school counselors as well!

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

WOW! I think this is great!

 

[Caboosey]

Did you grow up here?

Did you see the high school directory the kids get? It looks like a phone book!

I did not grow up in NYC - I've been here about a year now, I moved here for grad school. Where I grew up (California and Virginia, primarily!) you just went to the neighborhood school. There were magnet schools, but I feel like most kids just went to the school that was nearby.

The middle schoolers that I worked with last year were in the special education program, so that added a whole new layer of complexity to their high school search. On top of looking at school size, programs offered, commute from their homes - they had to see if the schools they were interested in had a special education program, and would have classrooms small enough to suit their learning style. (My kids were in a 12:1:1 classroom, so not super-severe but not the most independent learners!)

 

[Captain Brain]

No homework for an entire year? I know that most of the parents around here would rejoice and kiss the teacher's feet.

 

[Mary Anne]

As a parent of a NYC school system children I can agree with what DisneyJunkie has said about the whole junior/high school process. However it made the college process SO MUCH EASIER. We were used to the "fair" the taking of the entrance tests, the interview process. My kids were used to the system and it worked to their advantage.

That said, if I had anything to do over again I would have put my foot down with the usless busy homework, as well as the holiday and summer homework. That did nothing but put stress in our family life and in the end we got very little out of it.