Don’t Believe the Hype About “Excellent” Teachers; There’s a Lot of Snake Oil Out There Right Now

I just watched the second half of Fareed Zakaria’s CNN special on fixing American education, and I read his long piece in Time last week on the same topic. In his defense, he’s not an educator, and he’s a bit awestruck by famous faces. In the special, Bill Gates gets the most face time, and while he’s got good intentions , his foundation continues to spread a false gospel that poverty can be fully surmounted for all children through good teaching, and that closing the minority achievement gaps is easily in our reach, also through good teaching. This gospel originates from Michelle Rhee, former Washington, D.C., superintendent of schools and current media talking head. I just want to analyze one little piece of what she’s spouting, so you can see how unquestioning the media have become of education “reformers.”

When it comes to the “achievement gap” that exists between white test scores and those of African-Americans and other minorities (though, curiously, not Asians), Rhee believes that the gap can be erased in about five years of excellent teaching. Here’s her evidence: The top 20% of teachers (as judged by student test scores, a very unreliable way to grade teachers) take their students a few months more than one full year’s worth of achievement in one school year. On the other hand, the bottom 20% only take their kids ahead 7 or 8 months in a full school year. Therefore, she extrapolates, over about 5 years, the crippling gap between whites and most minorities can be completely erased if we just ensure that the minority students have excellent teachers. For you who don’t do math, don’t get glossy-eyed and give up here.  That’s as hard as the math gets.

First, understand that the “excellent” teachers Rhee likes to talk about are a very fluid group. The teachers whose students score in the top 20% one year are very likely to not be in that group next year, I guess meaning they’re no longer “excellent.” Meanwhile, among the dregs this year whose kids score in the bottom 20%, lots and lots of them won’t be in that category next year, and some will even magically become “excellent!”

But more importantly, though, let’s give Rhee the benefit of the doubt, and let’s agree that her analysis of the teachers is correct.  So, with good teaching, if a student can move ahead five extra months per year than they would have with poor teaching, can we really assume they’ll continue that same rate over five years? I play golf, and when I get on a hot streak and shoot 95 instead of my customary 100 (an improvement rate of 5 strokes per round), can I then assume I’m just five rounds away from shooting 70, and one more round beyond that from joining the PGA tour? If I can sprint 40 yards in 6 seconds (120 feet per second), is it fair then to assume that my time in the mile will be just 76 seconds, if I were to bother to actually try it?  Or intellectually, if I read an extra book per month, and my IQ score improves by a point, am I just a few hundred books away from making Stephen Hawking look a bit dim? I’ll challenge Michelle Rhee right now: Show me one kid, just one, who has made that journey and closed the gap in five school years, using just good teachers in a regular classroom in a regular school day, and I’ll write an apology to her.

So what’s the takeaway for parents with kids in the schools? The reformers make a lot of noise and get lots of media, but then frontier towns were captivated by snake-oil salesmen with their traveling wagons full of miracle cures!  There is, right now, a ton of money to be made in being a critic of the schools, because it plays on parents’ most basic fears for their children. Don’t give in to the panic.  In most schools, there is a good education to be had for those who want it. There are teachers who don’t give in to the pressure to pass kids on no matter what, teachers who bring their unique creative energy to their class every day and help their kids understand the world. Seek them out, make some noise, get your kid in their classes.  And then watch them achieve!

For those who wish to learn more, see Diane Ravitch’s book The Death and Life of the Great American School System. Much of the basic data I used here is found in the book.

 

Being an Advocate for Your Child

This principal wants what you want: whatever is best for your child. Be sure all the adults in your child's life are informed of problems, and maintain a united front with these professionals.

By Lisa Hummel

As parents, we’ve probably all found ourselves in situations where we were concerned about something going on at school (or something our children have told us was going on at school) and been unsure about whether and how to speak up about it.  Having had this occur often lately with my own children, I’ve been mulling over the most effective way to be an advocate for my children.  I’ve found that there can be a fine line between being an advocate and being a pest.  I do try not to be a pest or to micro-manage my kids’ education, yet it is my responsibility to see to it that their educational needs are being met as well as possible.

The worst example I can think of when a parent  did not advocate for her child was when I was teaching high school science .  A freshman girl in the English teacher’s room next to mine said she didn’t feel very well.  Thinking she was nauseous, he sent her down the hall to the bathroom.  What she meant, though, was that she had a seizure coming on.  She left as she was told and had that seizure on the hard stone stairs on her way down to the nurse, unaccompanied by anyone.  This could have resulted in a severe injury, but luckily it did not.  It turns out that this girl, new to the school like every other freshman student, was subject to frequent violent seizures and nobody informed the teachers.  This was a dangerous situation in which her parents should have made sure that all the adults who were responsible for her knew about this problem.  In a case as serious as this, parents needed to make sure all the teachers were made aware.  Don’t assume that school personnel have passed on information, especially if your child is in a new school or class.

An excellent example of parent advocacy for a child with special health needs happened when I was teaching at a summer camp.  The mom knew that we had no nurse, and she made sure we knew her child had a severe food allergy.  She was apologetic about it, but she asked for a meeting with me and the camp director to discuss the allergy, including the child’s use of an epi-pen if needed.  This mom actually took the time to show us how to use the pen, letting us practice stabbing it into an apple to get the feel for it.  It may sound silly, but as a teacher who is not a trained health professional, I was very appreciative of this mother’s proactive efforts.  Happily, we never needed the epi-pen, but I was very comfortable having this student in my class, knowing I was prepared for a possible emergency.

Of course, if we’re lucky, it is not about severe health problems that we worry when it comes to our kids at school.  Rather, we find ourselves concerned with academics, discipline, and social issues.  We may think our child has too much homework, or not enough, or is being teased or distracted.  Maybe the curriculum in our children’s school is inadequate or the discipline is too lax.  Whatever the case, I’ve met many parents who have concerns like these but are afraid to say anything about them.  Maybe they feel that if they “rock the boat,” their child will be retaliated against for it.  I suppose that’s not impossible, but I have found that when I bring up a concern, school administrators and teachers are generally receptive and interested in improving the situation.  They want good outcomes for their students, and constructive feedback parents give them is usually appreciated, especially when it is given in a respectful manner.

When I have an issue with a teacher or principal, I of course try to keep it just between the adults, not involving my child in any way that would sow seeds of discord or disrespect in the classroom.  As far as the kids know, the school and their parents are a united front.  Kids need to show respect for people in authority and to understand that even decisions they don’t like may not be theirs to make.  Before I had kids of my own, I remember a student telling me what her wise parents told her and her siblings: “You do what the teacher says, and if there’s a problem, you come home and tell me, and I’ll deal with it.”  So while these parents knew teachers weren’t infallible, they also wanted their kids to learn in no uncertain terms that it was not their role to argue with their teachers.  Those students got the message that they were to be respectful, but also that their parents would stand up for their interests.  Parents like these were mature enough to get both sides of the story and make their objections in a constructive manner.  Parents who don’t get good results from this should follow the chain of command, starting with the teacher but moving on to the principal, superintendent, and school board if necessary.

Finally, being an advocate for our children doesn’t stop at the individual needs of each child.  As a society, we must advocate for effective education for all the children in our collective care.  If something happening in your school or district (even if your own children go to a private school) seems detrimental to the kids’ education, pay attention.  Go to a school board meeting, write an e-mail, make a phone call, and make your voice heard.  I think sometimes the school board only hears the voices of the central office administrators, but when these people are making decisions that harm the students, such as taking away recess or a treasured music program, parents and community members need to speak up.  We are the taxpayers and the voters who put the school boards in place, and we need to be watchdogs for our children.  Let the school board and others know when you like what they’re doing, thanking them for their public service, and also let them know when their decisions harm kids.  Ignoring problems when they don’t directly affect your own child doesn’t help.  As a society, especially in our struggling economy, we need the best-educated people we can get.

 

Adieu, Spelling and Penmanship. Hello Technology! (Uh-oh)

Last year, Parkway school district here in St. Louis got rid of spelling tests for elementary kids, and several schools around the country are dropping the teaching of penmanship, the art of writing in cursive. Not part of the digital age, they’ll tell you, and too mundane for our kids who must be immersed in “critical thinking” skills. As someone who often has trouble reading his own handwriting, I’m here to advocate for more penmanship instruction to help make up for the lack of practice kids get today. There won’t always be a computer or smartphone nearby to put our thoughts into, and they won’t always be up and running when they are there. Likewise, good spelling gives the appearance of competence and control in written communications, and spelling is a simple, concrete function any kid can learn if they are willing to spend the time.

My bigger concern, though, is the belief permeating education today that technology is the holy grail of learning. So to make room for more tech in our classrooms, we’ll get rid of spelling tests and penmanship, we’ll send laptops home and dump the textbooks, and we’ll ask kids to “create” knowledge instead of expecting them to master and apply what they’ve learned in class.  Now I’ll be the first to admit it; technology is seductive and sexy. I’m writing this on a new laptop, and I LOVED the whole process of acquiring it! I love my plasma HDTV, my smartphone, and the huge ipod I’ve got in my car, holding what used to be on about 100 CDs. They are truly awesome, and make my daily life better in numerous ways.

But I think back to what must have been the first school–Socrates under an olive tree talking with Plato. (For all you Greek historians, it’s SPA, isn’t it, not SAP?) What’s the key element there? A teacher communicating to a student. Human interaction. Since before I’ve gotten into education, technology promised to improve the teachers that existed, and even bring the great teachers to more students. Anyone remember the closed-circuit movement? There were going to be hundreds of classrooms in many cities, hooked up to one great teacher. The kids would have the ability to buzz in and ask questions. Many such classes were conducted, but the idea never took off. With no human interaction, little learning takes place. Now they’re promising us the same thing with online classes, but the limitations are the same. (I’ve taken online classes before, and they require one vital thing from the learner: self-motivation. How many school-age kids would you consider “self-motivated”?)

Now, of course, we want to put a laptop in every kid’s hands and a smartboard in every classroom, and we expect to see great results. I’ll say it again: Education is the human interaction between a teacher and a student. The rest is bells and whistles. And believe me, I love bells and whistles. I’ve conducted one lesson on a smart board, and it was great! The smartboard made it better. But can it turn a bad teacher into a good one? No. A good teacher into a great one? No. A creatively-stifled teacher into an enthusiastic one? Of course not. You want better education in your kids’ schools, then focus on the teachers, not on their tools. And when a principal, superintendent, or school board is trying to sell technology to you as anything more than a tool for good teachers, don’t trust ‘em. My car, TV, refrigerator, and computer all make my life better. None of them make me happier, and none of them make me think better.

 

The Role of Sports in Educating a Young Person

How likely is your child to ever play in front of paying fans?

I’m not just a teacher, parent of a student-athlete, and a sports fan, but I’m also a high school referee for soccer, so I’ve got lots of competing perspectives on this topic. I’m going to focus here on what parents should know about student athletics, and a few do’s and don’ts. In a later post, I’ll give my referee’s perspective on parent behavior at the games, as that’s not a commonly-heard view. But for today, let’s stick to the athletes themselves.

First, do NOT plan on your little athlete making money playing sports for a living, or even for attaining a college scholarship. I read somewhere (if anyone knows where I can find this stat, please let me know, as I’ve looked in vain) that only about 1% of high school athletes go on to play at college, and of those only 1% will ever get paid a single dollar to play in a professional sport, even semi-pro small-town baseball, much less in the majors! And for those who do have the talent to possibly go further, lots can get in the way. Injuries, of course, but also academics, loss of passion for their sport, even the development of poor character and judgment. By way of example, I did the math one time for my students at Riverview Gardens High School, and showed that they could expect a professional athlete to come out of their school about every 10-15 years. And, I pointed out, when I was new, two football players were there who eventually made it to the NFL for a while, so the odds were even more against them! In short, if your kid likes sports, great. If s/he’s good at it, even better. Enjoy it for what it is.

Second, along those lines, do NOT think that better coaching, officiating, etc., is going to turn your kid into a professional athlete. Different sports look for different things in their players: size, quickness, toughness, strength, agility, passion, and other unquantifiable qualities that we have no control over. To take the classic “Michael-Jordan-got-cut-from-his-high-school-basketball-team” story and reverse it, Michael Jordan was so good that better judges of raw talent found him; I believe he was destined to be a professional basketball player, no matter what his high school basketball program did to him.

Third, and this goes for all parents of all athletes of any age, use the sport to teach about commitment. I’m sure there doesn’t exist an athlete who hasn’t dreaded the occasional practice, made a game when they really wanted to be somewhere else, or even had a team they wanted to quit. Even at the youngest levels, be sure your child understands what commitment to a team means BEFORE you sign them up for a sport, and then expect them to follow through on that commitment. Obviously, commitment grows more serious as your child gets older, and there are often good reasons to miss practices and even games, but don’t let them out of a practice or a team activity “just because.” Otherwise, they won’t really get the lessons of team sports–sign them up for tennis or golf, instead.

Fourth, GO TO THE GAMES AS THEY GET OLDER (sorry for yelling). First, the action gets much better, and it’s a lot more entertaining to be a fan. But second, if your kid is playing ball in middle or high school, they’re doing it because they love it. How many other things does your tween and teen allow you to watch them do that they love, and that they do with their friends? Also, seeing 20-30 high school kids give their all on the field in front of five fans (I see that a lot in soccer) is just sad. They’ll be gone sooner than you know–wouldn’t it be great to talk about that awesome play they made over dinner that evening? I know, a lot of high school game times are inconvenient for working adults; make the ones you can. Make it a priority.

Finally, and this goes back to point one, keep your perspective about it all. Our kids (even the teens) do look to us for guidance on attitudes and behavior, so if you keep the sport in its proper place (behind homework and academics, ahead of video games), it’ll help them do so as well.

 

Progress Reports: What They Mean to Teachers

Report cards used to be very simple. Is all the new data we get on our kids all that helpful?

I know progress reports are going to start coming out at the end of this week and into next week for some schools here in St. Louis, so let me take a few minutes and tell you what they mean to teachers.

First, don’t forget that teachers know how interested you are in their child’s progress, and they generallly do their best on any kind of report that’s sent home to you, including these very short-term reports that come at the halfway point of each quarter. That said, though, for middle and high school teachers, progress reports are undoutedly the LEAST important communication they’ll have with you all year. In a lot of classes, especially for those schools on some kind of block schedule, tests are given about once every three weeks, so each progress report will only have one test reflected in the grade, and that often turns out to be a very incomplete picture of what will eventually be the quarter grade. Historically, quarter grades were just “progress reports” themselves; don’t most of us have high school transcripts that reflect only semester grades?

For elementary teachers, progress reports are easier to compile; that’s the nature of having 20-30 students vs. 100-130 students. But parents should rest assured that if your child is having trouble in the class (that extends outside the norms of the class and the school), you almost certainly will have been contacted in some form by the teacher or adminstrator. These forms of contact can take the form of a phone call or e-mail, but might also include an office referral for behavioral issues, or a test being sent home for a parent’s signature.

The truth, though, about progress reports is that most teachers find them to be a pain, particularly in this new era of computer-generated report cards. While they usually look just like regular report cards, they have little weight compared to a quarter grade, much less the permanent semester grade. Also, where previously only kids in “trouble” would receive a progress report, now everybody gets one, and many schools require teachers to put a comment on it for each kid. This leads to teachers having a rack of 5-10 generic comments (whose computer input codes they’ve memorized) that they then apply to every child, no matter how meaningless. Because really, progress reports just get in the way of what teachers want to do with their planning time: plan better lessons to teach our kids more effectively!

One last thought. Good tests (with short answer and even essay questions) and projects take time to grade, sometimes weeks to give each student their fair due. These often get graded at the end of quarters, and have a huge impact on the final grade, and they aren’t reflected on the progress report. So take the progress report with a grain of salt. And if you really want to keep up with your child’s grades, get on your school’s parent access list, and you can see the teacher’s gradebook right in front of you. Be concerned when you see zeros for homework, and test scores much lower than your child’s natural aptitude. That’s going to tell you that your child’s not putting the effort in they need to be successful.

 

Math Fact Memorization: Old-School Teachers Had It Right

By Lisa Hummel

My 5^th grade son was working on his math homework the other day, and I noted that his knowledge of basic multiplication facts was a little rusty after a long summer vacation.  It was really slowing him down.  I said that if I give him a problem like 8 x 7, he should instantly know the answer.  I suggested that maybe we needed to work on flashcards at home for a while again.  He naturally said this would be a waste of time, because he’d rather go play, so I found myself explaining to him what I thought was obvious, but maybe it isn’t.  Here’s what I told him:

As a high school science teacher for 15 years now, I have seen the sad and frustrating results of people who never really memorized their basic arithmetic facts when they’re young.  In physical science, chemistry, or physics, we often find ourselves setting up multi-step problems to solve for a velocity, density, acceleration, or any number of physical quantities.  I have seen many students who can set up the problems expertly using the formulas I taught them, but they are agonizingly slow when it comes to getting the right answer.  Now one could argue, as my son did, that you could just use a calculator.  But the truth is you don’t always have one with you, or it may not work.  These situations should not handicap you.  And whether you’re trying to find a calculator, or struggling to work a basic arithmetic problem by hand, it is easy to lose sight of the original problem you were trying to solve.

I used an analogy to reading.  What if every time you came across an unfamiliar word, your decoding skills were so inadequate that it took you a really long time to figure out what that single word was, or you had to rely on a machine to decode it for you?  Pretty soon you’d lose the meaning of the original sentence or paragraph you were trying to decipher.  It’s the same with mathematical and scientific problem solving.  If you’re struggling with the multiplication and division, it’s really hard to understand the larger implications of the multi-step calculation.

Maybe the lack of emphasis on memorization grew out of the 60’s counterculture, where anything that smacked of uncritical, unthinking, blind knowledge was rejected.  An overemphasis on memorization at the expense of critical thinking is certainly not desirable.  But I’ve seen the pendulum swing too far the other way, to where memorizing the most basic facts is seen as unworthy of the time of elementary students and teachers.  The consequences of this rejection are crippling when students reach middle and high school.

But it doesn’t have to be an either/or situation.  A good teacher or math tutor will help a student understand what it means to multiply or add, and s/he will also insist that students master their math facts with instant recall, just as a good reading teacher or tutor will make sure that students instantly know the sounds letters make.  Fortunately, this is not hard.  A young child’s mind is like a sponge.  It was made for memorization.  That’s why it’s so much easier to learn a new language when we’re young.  And while an adult might find memorization dull and tedious (maybe because we were raised in or after that 60’s counterculture, and because our brains are different), a young child can find it gratifying and even fun.  It can be made into a game or a song, and the child knows concretely how much s/he is learning, which builds true pride and self-esteem.  Think about the ABC’s, counting songs and games, rhymes to learn the months of the year, etc. Children eat that stuff up.  Even much-disdained flashcards can lead to friendly competition with oneself or a classmate.

Children should and can successfully memorize important facts.  Parents and teachers must insist that they do.  And we shouldn’t let them reach for the calculator when it is a problem that they should know the answer to faster than it takes them to punch it into the keypad.  Even if a child never studies math and science beyond high school, s/he will need basic math skills to be an informed shopper and educated citizen.  And now I need to stop typing and go get out the flashcards.

 

Make the Best of Your Carpool Time

Whether minivan, SUV, or just a regular car, use the carpool time to get to know your kids better.

By Lisa Hummel

Because my 10 year-old is in a special educational program that doesn’t provide bus transportation, I find myself in the car with him a lot. Thankfully, after 40 minutes in the car together every school day for 2 years, another student who lives near us joined the program, and we now carpool.  But whether I’m driving him alone or with his classmate, I find that this time can be an important part of our day together.  Rather than a burden twice a day, it’s a time that helps us communicate about what he’s learning and doing at school.  When things get busy in our family, it may be one of the few times we have to talk uninterrupted.

In the morning, the drive to school is a chance to remind my son of things he needs to work on or remember that day.  Expectations like being responsible, respectful, and polite at school, or dealing with conflicts wisely can be discussed in the car and set the stage for the school day.  We can also discuss plans for after school activities and appointments, so he knows what to expect later.  “Don’t let me forget…” is how I often begin these reminders.  (That’s not just a convenient segue either; as they’ve gotten older, my kids really do help me remember things we need to do.  I’m a bit forgetful!) Once his friend gets in the car, it’s a chance for them to catch up with each other, which usually involves quite a bit of banter and (mostly playful) teasing.  When it’s time to drop them off, I always step out of the car for a quick hug.  I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to get that each morning!

At pick-up time, the question, “How was school today?” as soon as the kids get in the car doesn’t usually get the most enlightening response.  One kid might use it as an opportunity to tell me something bad the other did.  Or I’ll get that famous answer, “Fine.”  If I start the conversation by telling the kids about my day or something I learned or did, they’re more willing to share what they did.  That also keeps it from becoming an interrogation rather than a conversation.  Specific requests like, “Tell me what you did in P.E. today,” or “Who did you play with at recess?” usually get an enthusiastic description about something positive that happened at school.  After the positive, we can move on to the more problematic queries, such as “Do you have a lot of homework tonight?” and “How did you do on your social studies test?”  My son knows that school is important to me and that I care about what he is doing there, because I find out something about it every school day.

We don’t believe in having a DVD player in our car (too much screen time), so for entertainment our sons read while we drive.  My 10 year-old usually keeps several books, magazines, and/or comic books in the car.  He and his carpooling friend LOVE to read, so after the conversations about school, that’s how they pass the time.  If your child doesn’t get car sick from reading, this can be a great time for daily pleasure reading, especially after a day of mostly being told what to read.  Nothing strengthens reading skills and vocabulary like just spending time reading, especially if a child is reading something s/he enjoys.

On the other hand, I remember my grandfather telling me as a child that it’s always important to look around and see what’s new in the world.  So I will occasionally interrupt the two voracious readers in the backseat to point out a plane taking off from the airport, an interesting rock garden, a hawk circling overhead, or the dancing Statue of Liberty that wants to do my taxes.  I think this helps the kids to enjoy the scenery and take an interest in their community and the environment around them.  Additionally, it makes them aware of where things are, which they’ll need when they begin to drive.

So while I don’t really enjoy driving back and forth each day, as I’m sure most carpooling parents don’t, at least it’s not wasted time.  It can be valuable time spent with my child, time that can support and enhance his education in several ways.  As our days get busier, it becomes a precious time to touch base and communicate.  And of course once the kids get out of the car, I can blare some music on my radio and sing like a fool as I head home or to work.

 

What We All Can Learn From Home-School Parents

Home schooling is how it all started...some of its lessons are eternal.

By Lisa Hummel

I’m a teacher and mother who got fed up with the unreasonable and unprofessional demands in the schools where I was working.  I was fortunate enough to be able to leave the public schools for a part time position teaching at a home school cooperative.  The program has expanded and enrollment has grown over the five years it has been in operation, and I am still happily teaching there while I raise my two sons.  When I began, I knew no home schoolers.  I just had the vague impression that they were a kind-of-wacky fringe group.  But now that I am a longstanding member of their educational community, I would like to share some lessons that I think we all could learn from them, lessons that will make us better parents and make our children better students.

1. Value and appreciate your child’s teachers.  How many of us, as parents, take the time to let our kids’ teachers know we appreciate the time and effort they put into teaching our children?  And how many of our children are taught to thank their teachers?  At the last two high schools where I taught, maybe a handful of students would have a kind word for me at the end of class, or before a break.  Maybe a couple would give me a Christmas card or wish me a good summer.  It was much more likely that students would curse at me or say something rude.  This was the antagonistic culture at those schools.  I am a professional, so I did my job as best I could and tried to focus on the positives.  But I am also human, so this lack of gratitude was certainly demotivating.

How much more motivating is it to have a group of home schooled teenagers say “Thank you!” at the end of class?  Or when I receive an e-mail from a parent that ends with an appreciation for what I do?  I was bowled over when my high school students brought me treats, cards, and gifts at Christmas time my first year teaching home schoolers.  Home schooling parents know how hard a job it is to teach, because they’re doing it themselves every day, so they naturally appreciate what we teachers do.  We should all model and teach gratitude towards our children’s teachers through our words and actions.  It doesn’t have to cost anything.  The most precious gifts are those made by students, or just their words of thanks.

2. You are your child’s most important teacher.  Home school parents know this, but it’s true for all of us.  You know your child.  You know his or her likes, dislikes, interests, and friends.  Your child is home more than s/he is at school.  You know what motivates your child, and you have the power to use this knowledge to encourage your child to do what he or she needs to do.  You teach by example every day.  You teach your child about values, health, relationships, communication, and the things that interest you and spark your passion.  We have to take this responsibility seriously and realize that our children are learning from us all the time, at every age of their development.  Are we teaching them what we want them to learn by our words and examples?

3. Question educational reforms and practices.  There is a lot of untested nonsense out there that passes for research-based educational reform.  But when you look into the research it’s based on, you find that the reforms as they’re put into practice are not really supported by the research.  I don’t know if this is because schools of education have lowered their standards, or because there is so much pressure to find shortcuts to good education that people will try anything.  Whatever the cause, don’t be afraid to question school boards, administrators, and teachers, when you see them trying tactics that don’t seem to be working for your child.  Our children are not guinea pigs.  Some people who home school do so because they would rather rely on tried and true methods of education than subject their children to endless experimentation.  We can’t all home school, but we can be a voice for reason and caution in our school communities.

4. Be actively involved with your child’s education.  We all have 24 hours in the day.  As parents, how much of that day do we spend trying to teach and shape our children intellectually and socially?  We need to turn off the T.V. and get off the phone and read with our children.  We need to be available to help our children with homework and school projects.  I know home school families that have up to 10 children, where the parents still find time to check their children’s papers, take them to classes once a week, and involve them in programs like scouting, drama clubs, and music lessons.  They also take their children to museums, the zoo, and other educationally enriching places often.  We have to make this a high priority.  

5. Your child is responsible for his or her own work.  Parents who home school teach their children to be self-directed and take responsibility for their work and learning.  I have never had a home school parent blame me when a child did not get his or her work done, or when a child didn’t immediately grasp a course concept.  But this attitude occurred all the time in the public school.  If a child wasn’t interested enough to work hard, it was my fault in the public school.  This attitude will not serve students well in college or at work.  We must teach our children to take responsibility for what is ultimately their own future.

6. Invest in your child’s education.  Home school parents know that their children’s education is a precious investment of time and treasure.  They believe this so strongly that they make great financial sacrifices, usually giving up one parent’s salary, to give the kids what they believe is the best education for them.  Then they spend money on curriculum materials, lessons, and classes at weekly learning centers when necessary to provide expertise they may not have.  A good education is one of the greatest gifts we can give our children as they grow up in our families.  As our economy may be heading into a second decline in this predicted double dip recession, we need to recognize that money for a tutor or private school, or time spent helping a child with math homework are some of the best long-term investments we can make.

I am so grateful to the home school community in St. Louis for all I have learned from them.  Even though I left the public schools, I feel more like a real teacher now than I did before, and I’m a better parent as well.  As parents, we are all teachers, and our homes are all places of learning for our children.

 

5 Rounds a Week: Winning the Homework Fight

Is homework completed this thoroughly and peacefully at your house?

We all know that most kids would rather do anything but homework, especially when the siren calls of the X-box, Facebook and SpongeBob are in the afternoon and evening air. And frankly, can we blame them? Who among us parents recalls racing home from school, knocking the tray of milk and cookies out of Mom’s smiling hug as we push past her to get to the dining room table, where we can sit down and immediately break out our Algebra homework? Anyone? Anyone? I didn’t think so. Even the absolute best of us, if we’re honest, know that the only reason we did our homework right when we got home was to get it out of the way so we could then enjoy the rest of the day.

So when we’re thinking about homework fights, it’s a good idea to remember that homework sucks and nobody likes it. Consequently, every parent will have some fights with their kids over getting the homework done; it’s a perfectly natural part of the parent-child relationship. The important issue is recognizing when the homework fights have gotten out of hand, and are about more than the homework. Here are some reasons kids put up a fight about the homework, besides its natural unpleasantness:

1. The homework is too hard, and your child doesn’t want you to know s/he’s confused
2. They weren’t paying attention in class today, don’t know how to do the homework, and don’t want you to know about their behavior
3. The priorities of your child are (temporarily) out of alignment, and they are placing video games, social networking and/or athletics above their academics
4. Your child has realized that the homework is WAY more important to you than it is to them, and they are using that disparity to exert some power in your relationship.

What to do about each of these? The first two are going to require a call or visit to the teacher(s), so that you can find out if it’s the first or the second case. If the problem is their lack of attention in class, you’ll probably need to add some consequences for school behavior into your discipline plan at home (reduction or loss of screen time, groundings, loss of privileges, suspension from cell phones, etc.). If the homework and the classwork are too hard (which might lead to your child not paying attention due to frustration), the answer is remediation. Some schools and teachers provide help after school, and some of us are able to help our children get caught up. For many of us, though, the solution here is going to be some outside help, probably in the form of tutoring.

If the third possibility is the problem, that your child’s priorities are temporarily confused, you MUST step in as the parent and make sure they get the most important things done before the other activities begin. The unfortunate reality is that talking with your kids about their future, while important, is probably not going to convince them to change those priorities, so you are going to have to require that the homework is done at a certain time of day, and done to your satisfaction. After all, don’t we recognize that the younger versions of ourselves would have made horrible choices had we been allowed to do whatever we thought should be done? I myself probably would have pursued professional basketball, despite being 5’9″ and having minimal athletic talent. Not much of a future there, eh?

The fourth possibility, in many ways, is the most vexing. This happens usually with bright kids who are perceptive about other people. There are two possible solutions here. First, you must dial down your own commitment to the homework, and be willing to let your child face the results (at home and at school) of not having the homework done.  I’ll admit that’s a scary prospect for a lot of parents, and some strong-willed children might be willing to go a long way down that path before the natural consequences of their choices begin to change their behavior. The second option is to bring in outside help, such as a private tutor, to supervise and assist your child in completing the homework completely and correctly. The advantage to this option is that it stops the fights immediately; the problem here wasn’t that the homework was too hard or unfamiliar, it was that Mom or Dad wanted it done more than the kid wanted it. By having an outsider work with the child, that lever the child controls over you no longer exists, and peace can return to your family.