Summer HW?
June 17, 2008 at 12:23 pm | In uncategorized | 4 CommentsAuthored by Rick Catalano
(Each student in GMST 525 has written their own post for our class blog.)
More and more teachers are requiring summer homework and summer readings to try to get the students ready for the upcoming school year. While in theory this is a GREAT idea! In practicality, all it does is stress a student out before they even enter your classroom. For advanced placement and honors classes it is understandable. But for regents and/or locals level classes, this is just asking too much from a student.
USA Today had an article in 2004 in which it said “Summer homework has increasingly become a popular tool used by teachers to bridge the gap between the end of one school year and the start of another. But some parents worry that the workload is making summer fun slip away.” Parents are starting to worry that it is taking its toll on our students.
One student in Wisconsin actually sued his school saying “It didn’t completely ruin my summer, but it did give me a lot of undue stress both at home and at work, I just didn’t have the energy or the time for it.”
Most students in high school have summer jobs, athletics to train for, as well as their own fun planned. They have earned the right to enjoy their summer. They ARE still kids after all.
Nelson Guirado writes in his blog post Summer Packets-Waste of time, that he is completely against such things. He talks about how during his childrens’ winter break, the principal assigned everyone a packet of homework. He says it was very frustrating because anytime he wanted to get together with the family and do something, they instead had their head buried in their homework so that they didn’t get into any trouble.
I remember the summer before my Junior year of high school I had to do a 200 + question packet of summer homework for an AP chemistry class. True to form like most of my class, I didn’t start it until the last week before school started, when I was also in football practices.
My question to you is thus:
Is it fair to ask these students to do this extra work over the summer, when if they have any questions, all they have is each other or their parents to ask? Is there a better alternative to this? And out of curiosity, does anyone here implement summer homework or would you want to?
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Hi Rick,
I ran across your post about AP summer work, and since this is my first year teaching, I didn’t realize it existed until now. I don’t teach AP, but the reasons for summer work are two-fold: FIrst, to be sure the students can hit the ground running, and not spend time reviewing pre-requisite material that is used as a foundation; Second, at least in some states such as NY, to allow for the later start to school and the early AP exam period (mid-May). Some areas of the country start school in mid-August, and are well into the AP courses by the time we start in NYS. If we don’t do summer work, NY students start out behind.
Comment by Larry Wirth — June 19, 2008 #
Larry,
I completely see your point of view. I taught for three eyars out in Phoenix, AZ, and they started school in the first week of August!
So they do get an advantage for that.
And like I said, for the AP and Honor’s classes I could see the advantages to giving the summer hw. I just think that the teachers need to be more realistic with what they give.
Rick
Comment by chemcoachc — June 20, 2008 #
Rick,
I think one answer to your question may be in teacher preparation. If the teacher just hands the students a packet or a book to read they are missing a valuable teaching tool. If the teacher sets up a blog, the student could have communication with other students and the teacher. This could be a great icebreaker for the class as well. If everyone is already familiar with each other the class could benefit greatly before the class meets.
I myself have not handed out summer homework yet. I found a website dealing with fun summer experiments that looks interesting. After getting some great ideas I think summer homework can be fun and educational. The students don’t have to hate it, and It could really start the school year on the right foot.
Comment by David Adams — June 22, 2008 #
Thanks. I re-read it and found the grammar mistakes. Maybe I should give myself a homework packet.
Anyways, anything except watching TV or playing video games is better than homework packets.
Comment by Nelson Guirado — April 21, 2009 #