Comments on: Summer HW? http://mstliteracy.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/summer-hw/ Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:25:10 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Bill Simons http://mstliteracy.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/summer-hw/#comment-1048 Bill Simons Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:18:29 +0000 http://mstliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=61#comment-1048 The push for summer school work is coming from the top down. President Obama has suggested longer school days and longer school years. But it is not a new concept. Academic performace across the board has been slipping for decades. Summer work is offered to help arrest that. You mentioned in your post that kids had things to do, athletics to prepare for, and summer jobs to attend. Last year 33% of kids in the US had summer jobs. What about the majority of kids who aren't working? <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/23/business/childofrecession/main5035662.shtml" rel="nofollow"> Fun is important to have, I must agree, but how much fun does one actually need to have. For those not working, two months can be a considerable stretch of time. One that is often left unsupervised. Depending of course on the amount of homework being given, how much time each day would a student have to actually invest? 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or maybe a couple of hours? Imagine if 30 minutes of reading per day was a standard expectation... what would the accelerated program look like? I did participate in the football program for our school back in the day. I can attest that 2 hour football practices in the middle of summer are not fun. But even if I loved them, what did that football do for me now? Granted the arthritis does make life interesting, but other than that, not a lot. The amount of time wasted on sports today is amazing, often at the expense of academics. What if the front foyers of high schools had cases full of academic awards instead of athletic ones? Tributes to outstanding student achievement in math and science would be nice. Today it seems that our schools are in a rush towards mediocracy. An even increasing load of standards and an ever widening curicullum act to insure that no topic is taken more than an inch deep. Summer homework is merely a primer to help teacher take topics deeper. Perhaps school years and the school year should be lengthened to help close the academic gap our nation is experiencing. What do think? The push for summer school work is coming from the top down. President Obama has suggested longer school days and longer school years. But it is not a new concept. Academic performace across the board has been slipping for decades. Summer work is offered to help arrest that.

You mentioned in your post that kids had things to do, athletics to prepare for, and summer jobs to attend. Last year 33% of kids in the US had summer jobs. What about the majority of kids who aren’t working?

Fun is important to have, I must agree, but how much fun does one actually need to have. For those not working, two months can be a considerable stretch of time. One that is often left unsupervised. Depending of course on the amount of homework being given, how much time each day would a student have to actually invest? 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or maybe a couple of hours? Imagine if 30 minutes of reading per day was a standard expectation… what would the accelerated program look like?

I did participate in the football program for our school back in the day. I can attest that 2 hour football practices in the middle of summer are not fun. But even if I loved them, what did that football do for me now? Granted the arthritis does make life interesting, but other than that, not a lot.

The amount of time wasted on sports today is amazing, often at the expense of academics. What if the front foyers of high schools had cases full of academic awards instead of athletic ones? Tributes to outstanding student achievement in math and science would be nice.

Today it seems that our schools are in a rush towards mediocracy. An even increasing load of standards and an ever widening curicullum act to insure that no topic is taken more than an inch deep. Summer homework is merely a primer to help teacher take topics deeper.

Perhaps school years and the school year should be lengthened to help close the academic gap our nation is experiencing. What do think?

]]> By: Nelson Guirado http://mstliteracy.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/summer-hw/#comment-964 Nelson Guirado Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:31:17 +0000 http://mstliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=61#comment-964 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. 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.

]]> By: David Adams http://mstliteracy.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/summer-hw/#comment-946 David Adams Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:44:59 +0000 http://mstliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=61#comment-946 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 <a href="//chemistry.about.com/od/homeexperiments/tp/homeprojects.htm”" rel="nofollow">summer experiments</a> 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. 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.

]]> By: chemcoachc http://mstliteracy.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/summer-hw/#comment-937 chemcoachc Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:07:00 +0000 http://mstliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=61#comment-937 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 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

]]> By: Larry Wirth http://mstliteracy.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/summer-hw/#comment-935 Larry Wirth Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:21:17 +0000 http://mstliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=61#comment-935 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. 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.

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