"Can I tell you a story?" Joel asks.
"Okay."
"So Santa Claus is delivering gifts on Christmas when he gets stuck."
"He can't get stuck," Micah interrupts.
"No, he gets stuck . . . "
"He has magic."
"He's not magical enough to lose weight, Micah." That quiets Micah for a moment.
"So Santa gets stuck and his feet dangle down. He kicks off his shoes and he's left there with his socks hanging down. So the kids get up and say, 'Look, we have new stockings.' And when they look inside, they scream, 'Oh my gosh, these are feet! These are feet! Santa gave us feet instead of candy!' So Santa starts yelling at them and they say, 'Wow, the feet are talking to us.' They pull and they pull, but it doesn't work. So they saw off Santa's feet. Then they never get any more stockings on Christmas, because they didn't listen to Santa Claus."
It's a violent story filled with irony and even a touch of justice at the end. I admit that I'm a biased parent, but I think the story is clever. It's possible that Joel is simply a smart kid. If so, he inherited his intelligence from Christy. Yet, it's also possible that young children are more capable of critical thinking, creativity and irony than adults assume.
So, it has me thinking about the topic of homework. Often, teachers send home practice worksheets for students to fill out. It becomes a toned-down, boring version of a rote-memorization exercise in class. I'm not opposed to children learning at home. Playing the "how did you get to that number" game or the "tell me a story" game or "make up a story that has these four topics" are all examples of learning that we do at home.
We do science experiments. At some point today, we're going to get a tub of water, weigh the tub and way an item. Then we'll add the item to the water to see if a floating item increases the weight of the water by the same amount as the item.
What if schools redefined homework to home learning? What if they sent students home with games, ideas and activities that parents could (emphasis on parent choice) use if they are struggle to engage their children in critical thinking? I hate getting a packet of worksheets. However, if the teacher sent my son home with an erector set (might be a little expensive) or a list of fun mental math games, I would embrace the idea.
Christy often reminds me, "You can't make the assumption that our kids will learn how to learn when they're at school. We'll have to teach that for them."
ReplyDeleteThe sense of teaching versus allowing here is often messy. To what extent do we model learning and they follow the social cues? To what extent do we push them to learn and to what extent is it a natural exploration? Tiger Moms would have you believe that home learning has to be a punishment-driven, grueling process. I've found that little ones like being challenged to think deeper. Maybe that's just my own kids, but maybe it's a universal part of childhood.
I think that in the grand homework conversation we are having these days, we need to clarify the definition of homework and say that we're against the idea of busy work for homework. Because there's rote problems and then there's a chapter of reading for tomorrow's discussion and those can be two different things.
ReplyDeleteI know it basically sounds like semantics, but I think it's needed.
As a teacher I am against homework for it's own sake and often feel that the only reason for it's existence is parental pressure. Schools produce homework timetables so that parents can see that home should be regularly set. If it's not, it's the teacher's fault.
ReplyDeleteHowever, over the past few years I have embraced the idea of independent home learning projects: students are given the choice of 3 or 4 projects and several weeks to complete them. The idea is that at least one of the available choices should appeal to the students' preferred learning style and the extended deadline allows for deeper understanding to be demonstrated.
This is definite preferable to old style worksheet based homework, but where it breaks down is when patents contact me saying, this is too difficult for my son/daughter. Can't they have something easier?
Some teachers are bending over backwards to try to encourage critical thinking & creativity in their charges. What might really help is if more parents valued what we are trying to do.
Hi John!
ReplyDeleteJust to let you know I linked this over at my blog. Hope that's OK! http://www.theheadsoffice.co.uk/from-homework-to-home-learning/