teacher comments on homework

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
teacher comments on homework
16
Sat, 10-16-2004 - 4:37pm
I hear you loud and clear...on one end, I'm assigning homework and on the other end I come home and have about 30 minutes to 1.5 hours of homework to deal with on this end of things. So I hear you. If you really want to get things to change, you have to go right to the top and direct your complaints to the federal government and state government and school board because THAT is where the push is coming from...these are people that are working for you, you voted them in. You don't like the impact of No CHild Left Behind on your family life, then write directly to Bush.

Do you know that back in the day if your child came into kindergarden with about 5000 words, that was great? Children are coming into kindergarden now with a word back of 50,000!! My friend's nephew at three can tell you about the planets, their moons and a whole bunch of other trivia. Can your child compete with that? I know that mine couldn't. The implication is that if your child doesn't have this required bank of words, the achievement gap is only going to get worse and worse for her as she gets older. The pressure that your teacher has to bring your child 'up to standard' is great. The school will not make the grade, the funds will be cut, etc. Complaining to her is inadequate. Her hands are tied. It's like complaining to your local beat officer about crime...big deal. Be political and write a lot of letters to the people who set up the rules. Vote.

On the pedagolical side of things. She's not passing the buck to the parent. The same way that you expect your teacher to carry the ball when you hand over your child to her, you have to follow through and not for her, but for your child. You can tell your child that education is important, but if you DON'T back your words with behaviors to reinforce how important reading is, how important getting homework done is, and you don't give her a quiet space and time to do her homework, forget it. People who do the research say that if a child doesn't have the homework thing down by fourth grade, it's just going to be an uphill battle for them...you can't just expect them to become efficient at completing their homework over night. The teacher isn't expecting you to teach your child, she's expecting you to help your child practice what she is teaching your child so that she can accelerate the program. I know that your child is in the second grade, but for me in high school, I have to move pretty quickly because April and May are just shot with standardized testing. I can't teach anything during those months and then we have finals and the year is over. So because of No Child Left Behind and other testing, I have to input, practice, drill and evaluate nine months of schooling into seven. And yeah, I expect my parents to give their child a quiet place to study, to sit there and help their kid master the material and practice. The kids making it into four year colleges? They've got parents who know what it takes to get into those schools. There are tons of studies on that, that you can pretty much guestimate how far a child will get to in their own schooling based on the mother's education level. It's not written in stone, but it's a good indicator.

I hate not being able to go out to dinner on a week night and hit the mall to run a quick errand, I hate not being able to watch an entire movie in a sitting with the kids...but I'm on the other end of things and I see where my kids have to get to. I changed their school because the first one's standards were too lax and my children were never going to make the grade. My kid's a brainiac and I've got my eye on one of the best high schools for him and then Brown or Berkeley or MIT after that. I'm not going to stand in the way. His fourth grade teacher complained to me about his homework sloppiness, his dad and I got right on it.

Second grade isn't what it used to be...neither is high school. It's really cut throat.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-22-2004 - 10:36am
I think at the conference, you want to talk about how your child is doing in class and socially with her peers, her strengths and weaknesses. Why waste that time on criticizing their curriculum and talk about the teacher? I suggest that you write to the teacher and CC the administrator and maybe ask for a conference to discuss this matter.
About rallying up the other parents...I think from an administration point of view that if one person says I've talked to people and they tell me XYZ, but you're the only one approaching the school to actually verbalize it, then it's only one voice saying that other people feel the same way. Do you know what I mean? I'm saying this because I've been the target of some families and it's just that, some families. they call their friends and phrase things just so and of course they agree, but they don't feel as strongly about it or maybe don't agree, they don't bother to call the school and it's just one family complaining out of 130 families.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-22-2004 - 10:51am
I think it's important to point out here that at a private school the teachers MAY be responsible for their own curriculum, but that's NOT the case at public schools. Teachers have to use board adopted texts and they have to follow the beat of the national standards, the state framework and their own district's curriculum. Their hands are tied. And with No Child Left Behind, anything creative, anything that might lead to higher critical thinking is being chucked out of the curriculum. Some districts follow NCLB more than others...I know schools have administrators 'dropping in' and admonishing teachers for teaching poetry, etc.
Depending on your private school, some of these teachers aren't trained to teach...do you know for a fact that your second grade teacher has a teaching credential and is maintaining the credential?
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-25-2004
Fri, 10-22-2004 - 11:22am

That is a good tip. I did check and yes - they have to have those credentials and maintain them. It is a Catholic school. I chose it because I like him to have the Christian religion incorporated into his daily school life, the families are nice, it is not as crowded as the public schools here in our area, they are good with the peanut allergy and it is much cheaper than the other private schools in our area.

I know that they cannot CHANGE the curriculum. But the teacher's input and attitude makes all the difference. This year's third grade teacher crosses stuff off that doesn't make sense, she sends home extra sheets and does fun projects to really teach the message well.

I was just in class today to help with her contract reading program and was so impressed with the students and classroom atmosphere. Attitude makes all the difference.

I consider myself lucky because until last year we have loved every teacher. I guess you get a bad apple sometimes!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-02-2003
Fri, 10-22-2004 - 1:11pm

Thank for the feedback again. I am not planning on spending the entire conference complaining about the assignment. I was and still am planning to bring it up towards the end of the conference. And I want to get the teacher's perspective on the assignment. This is not about forming a witch hunt against the teacher. Honestly, I got the impression that he didn't like the assignment either and its not his choice.

I want to know how it is being taught in the classroom, why this prticular level of text was chosen, what the goal or purpose is and how she will be assessed on it. If he is not prepared to answer my questions at the conference than I will request his response in writing. I will work on the principal next if I am not satisfied with the answer.

Regardless, I think I have a right as a parent to advocate for my child and request an alternate assignment. I don't think it's appropriate that my 8 year old daughter has a 6th grade level word list that consists of words like: arrogance, boycott, custody, degrade, persecute, segregate, violate, among others.

Regarding other parents, I will only get them involved if I feel my voice has been dismissed. I will ask if they feel the same way and if they want to advocate for their children too. If they do, I will ask them to join me. I won't speak for them though.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-02-2003
Fri, 10-22-2004 - 1:19pm
on 2nd thought, I think you're right. This deserves a meeting of its own. Thank you for suggesting it. I think I will do that.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 10-23-2004 - 12:21am
I think that this is a good route...maybe you will get some satisfying answers (!!). Don't forget to be vote and be heard. Call up those people running for the school board and find out what they're about. This is your opportunity to create change in your schools...where your child will be for the next ten years!

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