More homework please...said no kid ever!

More homework please...said no kid ever!
Helen Wilt
June 20, 2016
Twitter@HelenWilt


Ok teachers and parents, do you really love homework?  Parents, do you enjoy fighting with your kid about doing her homework every evening?  Teachers, do you enjoy asking your students to get their homework out?  If you said yes, you're a liar.  Ok, that's a little rough.  As teachers we dread the moment we say, "Please get out your homework."  This is when several students start rummaging through their desks and backpacks.  Some students start whispering to each other, "There was homework?" One student will say, "I think I was at the bathroom when you assigned that."  And of course, my favorite: That confused look like I just asked them to take out their intestines and lay them on their desk.

I've been teaching for 25 years and believe me, I've tried everything to get my students to do their homework from promising candy to threatening them with no recess for the entire year.  The usual suspects get to spend their recess sitting out according to the rules of schools I've worked in.  That works zero percent of the time.  The students I've "put on the wall" over the years because they didn't do their homework will again visit that wall over the school year.  This is the kid that needs to run around and get his energy out.  I was just punishing myself when that same student came back to class so eager to learn.  Not!

After reading Ron Clark's book The Essential 55, I tried his homework challenge.  I excitedly told my classes about this new homework challenge.  I would give them a point every time 100 percent of them did their homework.  After earning 10 points, I would bring in homemade cookies and brownies for them!  "Woo hoo!" they yelped with excitement.  I started thinking about how much this was gonna cost me.  Oh I forgot to tell you, if one kid, just one, forgot his homework, all points were erased and they had to start over.  Hey, Ron Clark's idea, not mine.  I encouraged them to exchange each others' phone numbers to remind their friends to do the homework assigned that night.  Numbers were exchanged and kids started pointing at other kids, "You better do your homework tonight."  Good peer pressure.  I smiled.

We started out strong.  I had 3 math classes at the time.  I always let them begin their homework in class to give them that extra edge.  Some would finish it before we even left for the day.  The homework was 7-10 problems by the way, not 20, not 50, not a packet of work. 7 problems.  I was sure this was going to work.  I started planning the party.  How many boxes of brownie mix would I need for 3 classes of 22 students? Hmm. Could I afford this?  What have I done?

Well, no need to worry.  Every time a class got close, someone blew it.  The kids would get mad at him or her and I started to fear for certain kids' lives at recess.  I mean, let's face it.  The kids who need to practice by doing homework were my kids that had only one parent at home.  These were the kids who were in charge of little brothers and sisters when they got home.  They made Hot Pockets in the microwave for dinner.  They were watching episode after episode of Phineas & Ferb, Spongebob Squarepants or God forbid, Jerry Springer.  There was no one at home to remind them to do those 7-10 problems I had assigned.  They weren't thinking of brownies down the road.  They had other worries.  Did mom remember to buy Hot Pockets this week or will we have to skip dinner again?

My students who did have their homework finished didn't need to do it.  They had this stuff mastered. Yes, one or two wanted more homework.  I gladly gave them more. Hey, knock yourself out. But I don't need YOU to do the homework!  I need this other kid to do it!  And there were some of them who had mom's handwriting on it, but hey, it was finished, right?

So we have 3 groups of kids:

1. The doers group
2. The non-doers group
3. The my-mom-does-my-homework-for-me-because-she-loves-me-group

If you read Alfie Kohn's book The Homework Myth you'll throw homework right out the window.  He cites research that's been done with elementary-aged children.  This research showed that when given homework, students showed no increase in academic achievement and sometimes actually showed a drop in achievement! (Kohn, 2006)  

So I tried it.  No more homework I said. Kids gave me that look.  Is Mrs. Wilt serious?  Is she crazy?  Was this an April Fools joke?  Nope I reassured them.  We are gonna work hard in here every day and you'll go home and spend time with your family and friends.  Go outside and play I told them.  Most parents loved it.  "Thank you so much.  We spend 2-3 hours doing homework a night between math, science and reading."  What?!  My colleagues were giving homework too and we didn't even think about the time it would take them.  How many of us are guilty of this?  My colleagues kept giving homework and fighting and arguing with kids about it.  Not me.  I went outside with my kids and watched them run around, play football and soccer.  I didn't stress anymore about homework.  I didn't have to come up with bribes or contests or turn to threats.  We did our work at school and went home to relax, read and play.

Teachers, I challenge you to try to throw homework out the window this year.  You'll have pushback from some parents.  Give them a website to practice their skills.  Assign a challenging project for those kids. Try a menu board where kids choose what homework they want.  But don't kill them with packets and worksheets and busy work.  I promise you.  You'll thank me in May when you haven't spent money on candy, cookies and Excedrin. 

Kohn, Alfie, The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of A Bad Thing, Da Capo Press, 2006

Clark, Ron, The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator's Rules For Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child, Hachette Books, 2004

Reflections from technology course & action research project

August 17, 2013

I have just about completed my campus-supervised internship activities.  I still need to observe our secretary and counselor for the day.  I also need to attend a board meeting to see how they are conducted.  I have done many interviews with the administrative team to hire new teachers and new paraprofessionals.  We also hired a new counselor this summer.  Last summer I helped create the main schedule for the school.  That was quite a task!

Regarding my action research report, I am in the final stages.  My project was to see if a new classroom management plan would improve moral in our school.  I have to finalize the results of the survey and calculate some percentages.  It was exciting to roll out a new plan for our teachers this past school year.  I personally think morale was better than the previous year, but I'll find out if that's true after the work on the survey is complete.

I have learned a great deal about technology throughout this course.  I appreciate the collaboration we had to do to write about Web 2.0 tools.  I got to be an expert on several tools and my team taught me about ones I wasn't very familiar with.  Livebinders were new to me and I think the idea of livebinders is very interesting.  I'd like to thank the professors of this course for making it a great learning experience and worth my time and money.

Update on My Action Research Project

Will Implementing New Classroom Management Techniques Improve Our Staff’s Morale?

My action research project is “Will Implementing New Classroom Management Techniques Improve Our Staff’s Morale?”  It has come about after observing and reflecting upon last year’s Occupational Health Inventory, staff complaints and tension between staff and administration, largely due to lack of consequences for discipline issues. A friend and colleague of mine suggested I read a book from Jim and Charles Fay’s Love and Logic series. I read one of the books Schoolwide Discipline Without the Loopholes by Jim Fay and was invigorated to spark a change in our school.

The author explains nine essential techniques or modules to maintain both the dignity of the student and the teacher when confronted with a discipline issue (Fay, 2010).  Fay explains that when teachers use these techniques and build relationships with their students, a shift will occur in the school.  Teachers will begin to share their successes with their colleagues and want to know what the secret is.  Fay emphasizes not to mandate Love & Logic in one’s school.  This will only cause resentment and mistrust (Fay, 2010).  Instead, he suggests inviting a few teachers to learn about and try the techniques.  I thought it’d be worth a try to improve things in our school. 

I attended the three-day Love & Logic training this summer in Denver along with my principal and a colleague.  During this trip, my principal suggested I read several books from Todd Whitaker. I read Motivating & Inspiring Teachers: The Educational Leader's Guide for Building Staff Morale.  The author explained that having a respectful relationship with one’s students along with consistent classroom management is one of the cornerstones to positive morale amongst the staff (Whitaker, Whitaker & Lumpa, 2008).    This philosophy was very similar to the Love & Logic series. If the teachers have the tools to deal with issues that arose in the classroom, they wouldn’t be as frustrated and therefore morale would increase.  It started to make sense to me.

In Denver at the Love & Logic conference, we learned a great deal from the presenters.  The training detailed the nine steps or modules for effective classroom management and a plan on how to introduce the modules to your staff.  My colleague and I presented the first module of the program during an hour-long after school workshop in September 2012.  We then invited teachers to sign up for the next training session in October if they wanted to learn more.  I was really surprised at the positive feedback I heard and the amount of people who have joined us each month.  Our teachers are actually using some of the techniques in their classrooms and are experiencing success. 

            I have gathered last year’s discipline referrals and counted them.  Currently, we have seen a lower amount of referrals compared to this time last year.  Our assistant principal seems pleased with the time he has for other things now.

            Part of my project was to form a new discipline committee. However, my principal decided against forming a new discipline committee, so I will have to delete that from my action plan.  We are using the people who have volunteered to attend further training as a PLC, rather than a committee.  We feel that this will serve our staff and students much better.  I liked this idea because these teachers are part of this professional learning community on a volunteer basis, not a mandate.  Sometimes when one is asked to serve on a committee it may be considered as a waste of time.  However, this way, having the option to attend training or not, makes the PLC a more positive learning experience. 

            I have scheduled one workshop per month to teach the classroom management techniques, as suggested by the program’s authors, Jim Fay and Dr. Charles Fay.  I am really feeling good about this action research project and the increase in our staff’s morale already. 

            The final phase of my project will be to survey the staff regarding the new techniques and their feeling about discipline in our school.  Also, I will need my principal to generate a report on this year’s office referrals.  I will graph the data and add that to my final paper. 

References

Fay, Jim (2010) Schoolwide Discipline Plan Without the Loopholes: Yeah, but- A Salamander is Not a Fish! Golden, Colorado: Love & Logic Press

Whitaker, T., Whitaker, B., & Lumpa, D. (2008) Motivating & Inspiring Teachers: The Educational Leader's Guide for Building Staff Morale. Larchmont, New York: Eye on Education, Inc.

Action Research Project Progess

     My action research project is “Will Implementing New Classroom Management Techniques Improve Our Staff’s Morale?”  I attended the training this summer in Denver along with my principal and a colleague.  We learned a great deal in three days and were very invigorated to get this ball rolling!  My colleague and I presented the first module of the program during an hour-long after school workshop.  We then invited teachers to sign up for the next training session in October.  As of today, we have 27 people signed up!  I am really surprised at the positive feedback I’m hearing.  Our teachers are actually using some of the techniques in their classrooms and are experiencing success. 

     I have gathered last year’s discipline referrals and counted them.  Currently, we have seen a lower amount of referrals compared to this time last year.  Our assistant principal seems pleased with the time he has for other things now.

     My principal decided against forming a new discipline committee, so I will have to delete that from my action plan.  We are using the people who have volunteered to attend further training as a PLC, rather than a committee.  We feel that this will serve our staff and students much better.  I liked this idea because these teachers are part of this professional learning community on a volunteer basis, not a mandate.  Sometimes when one is asked to serve on a committee it may be considered as a waste of time.  However, this way, having the option to attend training or not, makes the PLC a more positive learning experience. 

     I have scheduled one workshop per month to teach the classroom management techniques, as suggested by the program’s authors, Jim Fay and Dr. Charles Fay.  I am really feeling good about this action research project and the increase in our staff’s morale already.  It’s off to a great start!

Review of Web Conferences

I'm supposed to comment on how the web conferences helped during this class.  I found them to be frustrating.  The topics addressed were about taking the ILD, getting certification, etc.  I thought the conferences were supposed to help with the weekly assignment.  I would ask a question and get ignored.  I typed one question 3 times during the last web conference.  Nobody answered.  Finally, another classmate had the same question, he asked and got an answer!  I didn't even log in to the last web conference this Sunday.  What was the point?  

4th class, 8 to go

I'm almost finished with my 4th class.  It's getting harder to balance going to work, completing my school work, going to the gym, spending time with family and sleeping!  Plus I'm on the Relay for Life committee and on the activities committee for my HOA.  We are hosting a "National Night Out" event next week.  And it's still 94 degrees in Texas!  What?!   

Other than that, everything is peachy.  My husband is awesome, my daughter makes me proud everyday and my health is good at the present time.  (Scans scheduled for November for those of you who were wondering.)  Until next time...h

Tweaking the plan

It's Week 5 of my action research class.  I participated in a web conference with my mentor who is the superintendent for a district in Texas.  She gave me some valuable advice about my project and my plan to share my ideas with my peers.  I've decided to take her advice about changing the title and focus of my project.  My new title is "Will the implementation of new classroom management techniques improve our staff's morale?"  Earlier, I had included "and increase student achievement" to that title.  It's really two different projects.  My mentor stated the obvious that if the staff's morale does improve, student achievement will likely increase.  With the STAAR data not released, there's no benchmark to use for the students' success rate in 2012.  I'm excited that I've narrowed my focus to see how classroom management impacts staff morale at our campus!