I started sending homework the third week of school. Definitely a little later than usual because of the new assessments we had to do at the beginning of the year. After the second day of homework I had a parent tell me that she thought the homework was too hard for her child and that she refused to make him do it.
Now I feel I should explain what my homework consists of so I will explain it a bit. I send homework on Monday for the week and it is due on Friday. So they get four days of homework.
The first page is just practice for writing their name. They are to write their name once a day by tracing the letters.
My second page depends on the letter of the week and they are to practice the writing the letter of the week and make a drawing of something that starts with that letter.
The third day they have a math piece that is usually counting and writing the numbers. Then they practice a high frequency word for the letter of the work.
The fourth day is something with colors... they circle things that go with the color or a sheet where they color a picture with a certain color.
I am personally not a fan of busy work so I try my best to send them something that can help with skills or content that we are learning. Of course at the beginning we are assessing and it's still a little hard to tell what they really know.
So my response to that parent? I don't expect the homework to be perfect, but I would like them to try to do it. This homework is sent to all the students and it's just to give them that a little more practice at home. This will also help them get into the routine of homework. They will have homework every week which will be tailored to their skills and content that is currently being taught.
She was not to happy and proceeded with telling me that she didn't think that's what he should be doing yet because he didn't know how to and it was too hard. That I need to understand that the kids are in kindergarten and that they don't know how to do this yet that's why I am here... to teach them how to do it all.
This response really upset me because I love my job and it's these moments that make it tough because I want all my students to succeed and without parent support it becomes really difficult especially if parents aren't on board with what is expected from the teacher.
Needless to say, the child never turned his homework in until after progress reports in October. He really needed that practice at home. Since then, the parents have started helping him with the homework and practicing skills at home. I think they noticed that it really is to help him and not to make it difficult. Thank goodness :)
We only having reading as homework. I send home extra stuff but it's not required. I only give my students class dojo points for doing it.
ReplyDeleteOur principal has banned homework unless it's reading.
Miss Nelson,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback. I like the idea of just reading homework. I would like to offer just that but in my case I have students who really do need that extra practice and have seen the growth... it also helps give parents guidance to what they can work on at home. No points are taken away or given but I do keep track for my sake :)