homework completion

My sons school uses detention as a deterent for this type of behavior. At first I must admit I was against this dramatic measure—but it works. My son went from not completing 75 percent of his class and homework assignments to less then 5 percent. The 5 percent he does not complete is usually do to not understanding the assignment. In this case the school accepts a note from me saying he attempted the assignment, he shows the note and the attempt and gets credit. The detention occurs during a time the child normally has free time and not during class time.

I am currently teaching a group of 8th grade students in a resource program. My most recent challenge is the fact that the students aren’t completing my homework. This is very discouraging to me because they are in my class for a reason.They have a deficit in this area. I realize their other homework is also challenging but, this is not an excuse for not completing mine. I have offered all kinds of incentives and then consequences for not doing the work. Help! Is it just my class or is any one else having this problem?? Suggestions would be helpful

There are two philosophies of resource rooms. One is to support the students in their other subjects - the other is for the resource room to be a subject unto itself.

I’m a little uncertain what your program is. What did you do differently in your class than in the other classes that led you to believe they’d be any more able or any more likely to complete their homework in your class? Incentives and consequences are commonly done outside of resource rooms. How have you addressed the deficits you observe them to have?

Years of teaching kids and kids with learning differences have taught me that more incentives and consequences are not what’s needed. What’s needed is support. Homework has become very difficult to do at home for some kids. Their homes are not supportive of homework. Some of my students are home alone at night and are responsible for younger brothers and sisters.

It’s also particularly true that students with learning differences can’t do their homework, at home or at school, without support. Work intended to take 30 minutes for other students would take LD kids an hour and 30 minutes - if they could do it.

What accomodations are their regular teachers making in their assigned work? Do they have their textbooks on tape? Laptops for the ones with writing issues? And if you’re assigning them more homework in your class, who helps them with the homework for the regular classes?

As a tenth grade student with Disgraphia (please excuse any spelling errors), I had a constant problem with homework in resource rooms. I no longer take resource, but I used to. One problem I had in resource is that assignments really didn’t apply to me. I don’t know how the resource program at your school is run, but in the schools I’ve attended, ADD, ADHD, Dislexic, and other LD students were all in the same class. Because there was a significant dislexic constituency in the class, all of us had to do reading assignments (even though I read way above grade level, as did several other kids in the class). The particular problem resource teachers have is that they really have to special-order their curriculum for every single student, because no two learning differences/disabilities are the same.
The apathy towards assignments you’re describing may come in part from a feeling that the assignments aren’t or won’t help. You might consider asking your students for a solution- we love that, and you’d be amazed by the maturity and insight (sp?) we can show when given the chance. It also calls the problem to their attention in a way that suggests that it’s a “WE need to work this out” problem rather than a “do this or I’LL punished you” problem- you make them more accountable when you make it clear that it’s their actions- not yours- that are causing the problem (the whole “I don’t give grades, you earn them” deal).
There’s a special place in heaven reserved for resource teachers- you guys need more patience and restraint than people in any other educational career- we’re trying to leap a huge obstacle in a single bound, and you’re the ones that teach us to use baby steps.
Good Luck.
~Annalee~

As a mother of a dyslexic child,let me tell you……I HATE HOMEWORK! My child is unable to complete assignments by himself.
After being at school all day……feeling frustrated and overwhelmed, the last thing he wants to do at night….is more work. My question…..is homework really necessary. My son benefits from classroom discussions, not completing assignments that he can’t read and doesn’t know how to do. I dread coming home at night, to help with homework. I’m tired too and 3 hours of homework is not fun to look forward to. My question to you is…..will the child benefit from this assignment…..or is it busy work?

My opinion has always been that homework is overrated even for children who don’t have difficulty with the assignments. When a child does, well, it becomes absolutely ridiculous.

The problem, though, comes with trying to change teachers’ attitudes. Many schools pride themselves on their seriousness of purpose which they think is evidenced by the amount of homework they give. That’s a really difficult ingrained attitude to try to change.

There are two ways you might meet with success with your child’s teacher on the homework issue. The first way is to have a meeting with the teacher, state just how hard it is and how long it takes your child. Explain that he doesn’t “get” the work anyhow. Ask for homework tailored to your child’s individual needs. That’s what it should be anyhow. Go to this meeting prepared with what you think WOULD be good homework for him. The teacher might agree. If not, then try to arrange with the teacher a set amt. of time your child works on homework. When that time is reached, he can stop regardless of what’s gotten done. Personally I don’t like this system because if he’s not getting anything out of the work anyhow, what’s the point?

There are lots of interesting projects that could be given as homework and that would be far more meaningful for a child who’s struggling through the paper/pencil academic work.

Kathy (my name’s Kathy, too =)), have I your permission to post your letter on an educational NG I often post on? There’s a thread on there about homework, and I really think your post would be valuable there.

Yours truly,
Kathy G.

Kathy wrote:
>
> As a mother of a dyslexic child,let me tell you……I HATE
> HOMEWORK! My child is unable to complete assignments by
> himself.
> After being at school all day……feeling frustrated and
> overwhelmed, the last thing he wants to do at night….is
> more work. My question…..is homework really necessary. My
> son benefits from classroom discussions, not completing
> assignments that he can’t read and doesn’t know how to do. I
> dread coming home at night, to help with homework. I’m tired
> too and 3 hours of homework is not fun to look forward to.
> My question to you is…..will the child benefit from this
> assignment…..or is it busy work?

Be my guest, if my letter can help any other child in the world of homework….I’d be thrilled. :-)

Call 1-8883006710– there are modifications ..Call National Center for Learning Disabilities…for information on modifications on homework and class work….none of the ADD, LD or ADHD should have any homework… the assignments are to be reduced , for these children…modified… they cannot complete the same work as a regular classroom student without any MODIFICATIONS>>>>>>this is the FEDERAL LAW….you might have to call a child advocate or a lawyer , to put this in place at the IEP meeting , but the teachers have to do this, or you could legally sue them for their own personal property (houses, Cars….) if they refuse…explore all possibilities do not put LD children through 3 hours of homework…..E-mail me for a good lawyer.

The most effective way for a teacher to accomodate the students who need the accomodation with homework is to insitute a classroom wide system. Maybe a classroom website with homework link? A phone voice mail service where they can call after hours and find out what the assignment is.

Having a cheat sheet with check off system:
do you have your homework? yes or no
do you have the book you need to do the assignment? yes or no
is your assignment written down? yes or no

Careful attention needs to be made to what you send home as homework. Remembering as others so eliquently put,reg ed homework is taxing enough,give em a break.

The old song?.. Free your mind and the rest will follow.

I was hoping someone else would speak up against homework.

Teachers often think that “more” is what an LD child needs — more practice, more repetition, more work. As the mother of a dyslexic, I have found that one-on-one instruction combined with appropriate curriculum materials virtually eliminates the need for “more” of anything. Many LD children learn just fine when the teaching is adapted to meet their specific learning needs. Unfortunately, classroom teachers seldom have the training or resources to provide this. That’s why we ended up homeschooling.

Mary

Thanks! I’ve done just that.

Here’s the URL to that NG thread if anyone wants to read it. It’s on “k12.chat.teacher,” and the URL is as follows:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&threadm=rwexler-1611011931440001%40192.168.2.100&prev=/groups%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26group%3Dk12.chat.teacher

Yours truly,
Kathy G

Kathy wrote:
>
> Be my guest, if my letter can help any other child in the
> world of homework….I’d be thrilled. :-)

You know, I really hate homework, too. Particularly the teachers who assign the wrong amount of it or projects that aren’t age appropriate. (One teacher sent home a 5th grade homework project that required the students to create a 6-panel brochure using the computer— she expected it complete with computer pictures. Even with desktop publishing software and me doing most of the formatting, it was a bear. What would kids without computers do? What would kids without desktop publishing software do? We found out later it was an 8th grade assignment that she thought would fit nicely into her curriculum.) I can’t tell you how many nights I have just crashed after a day at work followed by 3 hours of emotionally wrenching homework sessions with our dyslexic son.

But I do think homework actually would have some value if it was something a child on grade-level could complete without help and in a reasonable amount of time which I consider to be about 15 minutes per subject. (We just don’t happen to get that kind of homework!) I think it helps kids organize themselves, makes them prioritize their work, and helps them learn study habits that they will eventually need when they head off to college.

But I rarely see that happening. More often than not, the homework is geared towards the GT kids and takes my dyslexic child two to three times longer than other kids to complete. We try desperately to use his accommodations to find a balance somewhere in the middle so he practices the study habits he’ll need later, reinforces the concepts he’s learning in class, and retains a love of learning (instead of an intense dislike for homework).

I have questioned teachers about the excessive amount of homework many times with no luck. Some teachers have actually told me that they have parents pressuring them to give more and harder homework because they want their kids to be academically advanced. The whole concept of homework as it is today just seems all geared to GT kids to me. I have even tried to organize parent meetings to try to get the parents who complained about it to speak with one voice but they were all too afraid of teacher recriminations. I gave up trying to fix it for others. Now I just fix it for my own child by taking every accommodation we can, whenever we can.

Makes me wonder about the year-round school advocates… are they nuts? I live for summer break. Maybe I’ll get some rest after graduation in 7 years.

I could have written this letter myself, my feelings exactly. I live for summer too, I think I’m almost as excited as my son. Also, many times I’ve told people if and when he finally graduates…..I’m having a huge party…..for ME.

I just came from a parent -teacher conference. Of course I got to hear, how he doesn’t try, he’s lazy, and somedays “when he puts his mind to it”, he does fine.
Where do these teachers get their education? Do they not try to learn about learning disabilities? If they did they would know that some days the kids have it, some days they don’t. I did get some good news, he’s went up a whole grade level in reading in just 9 weeks. Of course, that still leaves him far behind, reading on a 4th grade level in the 7th grade. Makes doing 7th grade
work, a real challenge. But at least he’s making progress!

Another thing, the LD teacher said I need to convince him to choose a trade, because he’ll never be able to go to college. I’m not ready to give into that one yet, he can be anything he wants to be. But I did tell my son, he’ll have to pick a college close to home, because I’m not going away to college…LOL

Well, guess I sort of got off the subject, but I needed to vent!

Thanks for listening!!!!!!