Just been thinking about ds's year 7 homework- interested in people's views.

DD1 got something very like this last term - write about the Norman Invasion in the style of a newspaper report. They'd covered the factual research in class and had a lot of notes to work from, it was very much an exercise in how to present the research in a particular format.

DD read some sample newspaper articles and went with a Daily Mail style 'Our Brave Saxon Boys versus The Dastardly Normans With Their Flat-Pack Castles' by Jingo sort of piece and did very well. It was also good to see how quickly she picked up the differences in writing styles between tabloids and broadsheets, and spotted political bias. I thought it was very good homework.

For something like this I'd be tempted to look at some really good historical fiction for children as suggesting they watch 'Ripper Street' really wouldn't do

I think that the teachers like to be vague so they don't get 30 reports that exactly answer the questions in a frame work.

However, if they are being deliberately vague they should jolly well tell the pupils that they don't mind if they write as a modern policeman or a historical one etc. that they want the DCs just to go off and find what catches their imagination and go with it.

DD2, particularly gets paralysed by thinking she's doing the wrong thing.

As a historian it sounds good to me - what are facts what is opinion which is the most reliable source times dates etc, Primary literacy has covered different styles of writing, including report writing.

I think this sort of homework is asking for inauthenticity (is that a word?).

Which police force? The British force or the one the crime was committed in? A modern police report or one from the time of the crime, perhaps full of racism, prejudice (shall we imagine how the police would have described Jack the Ripper's victims, say?) and ignorance? What if the famous crime was committed before the police existed? Has the teacher read any police reports and seen how dry, uninformative and poorly written they are? It is no good setting homeworks that cannot be interpreted literally.

At least with the - equally inauthentic - standard yr 7 write a newspaper account of the Battle of Hastings or whatever they have got something to base it on and can play around with the familiar aspects of a modern newspaper - ads, headlines, the date and so on, and have a bit of fun with the idea of taking it back in time.

But in answer to your question, when my dc have been given the newspaper hw, which is the closest I can think of, they have been told roughly what to do to start them off (think about presentation, one main story or several short ones? what is your newspaper called? that sort of thing).

And if this is the first piece of humanities hw they have had, I think it is ridiculous to expect them to research, structure and write up what could be a substantial piece of work with such a vague brief.

Dd1 is in year 7 of typical comprehensive. She's had very similar homework from history.

But what she also has is at the beginning of each term, each child is given information on what is expected to maintain their level in eache subject, and what is needed to improve their level. So she does her homework checking that she has maintained and preferably improved her level.

I don't know exactly what she has for history to improve, but the sort of thing is: "quote from an independant source", "use correct labels on a diagram".

That way this sort of homework they can all do on their own level.

In all honesty it sounds like an excellent homework for a mixed ability set because it has the potential to be done on all different levels. Ones who can just write a few notes, and those who can so a small project in the same time.

I agree with pp that you may be underestimating the abilities of the lower and middle ability children to do this homework. The class may also well be mixed ability in theory but in practice could actually be all working around the level 4 mark or above (fewer level 3 children in this group by coincidence rather than design); they should have no particular problem with it and do as much or as little as they want.

The issue I have with this kind of homework is the 'research' element. Without an explicit school policy - or very strict parents (me) or excellent primary school training - many year 7s will just cut and paste from t'internet, even the very high ability ones. It's the overall school policy on how to research that I would be interested in as a governor, rather than individual homeworks.

Seeker, we get that sort of vague, unstructured homework set all the time. The most priceless one being: write about Scotland. DS2 had a total meltdown - he had no idea where to start without just cutting and pasting from Wiki. I had to get him to choose some topics and he panicked that they weren't what was required.

Ashamed to say I gave up on expecting anything clearer and just set my own guidelines for DS, as to how many paras, and helped him work out how to structure stuff. His English improved loads when he was given a bit of structure for it.

So, that's what I'd suggest as a mum, but admire you as a governor for wanting to investigate this further on behalf of the other children.

Also the teacher may thing they have had guidance in class during a discussion on view points and bias, which unit I suspect this is part of.

Trouble is, if it isn't repeated on the HW sheet, the pupils may not make the connection.

I've been having a moan about a geog project

Here too the brief is too brief and The DCs were given no guidance as what to include, just told lots it's this half terms HW.

In this case it's set 1 rather than mixed Y7, but it's flummoxed my HA DD2.

Apart from the fact she hates craft, she has no idea how to move on from what would be acceptable level of write up in primary to what is suitable in Y7.

In fact I think LA DCs find these things easier because they don't worry about them. They either copy down the first thing they find on Wiki or forget about it.

DD2 worries if she's doing it right and gets in a tiz.

(DD1 is much happier to chatter and crash out a framework and hand something in, she's far more confident, she cares far less if it's exactly what the rest of the class have done. In fact she knows, being dyslexic it will be shorter, so original is good.)

I don't see that this is too much for a Year 7. Like tiggy says, their brief always outlines what they have to do to achieve a certain level. It sounds to me like you should discuss it with the teacher if the brief is unclear.

This morning DD wrote up a "diary" of an imaginary week's holiday in Italy, which took quite a lot of research - Venice, Rome, and the Bay of Naples/Amalfi/Vesuvius/Pompeii). I helped her with some suggestions about Venice and Rome but the rest she researched herself.

She recently completed assignments where she had to write about her life as a medieval peasant!

Her school sets a lot of homework - pointing out that it is equivalent to an additional year of learning at secondary school.

In Y6 of her primary school they prepared them for the secondary homework regime, culminating in a minimum 10 page project on a topic of their choice, which they had 3 weeks to complete and there were prizes to be won. She ended up doing 15 pages on Diana, Princess of Wales! Most of the parents understood that they have to do this with their children. How else can they learn how to do these things? There simply isn't time at school.

I have spent years as a governor and parent of secondary school DCs.
I have learned that no one ever agrees about homework. Parents complain endlessly that there is too much homework; too little homework; too easy homework or too difficult homework . Everyone seems to have different expectations and of course all DC are different
Often those who complain of too much have a child who is spending much longer than they should because they have either misunderstood how much is required of ignored the teacher's guidelines.

Differentiation in marking is perfectly possible in a piece like this but the first homework in year 7

It is not a governors role though to try and judge the quality of something directly to do with teaching and learning, governos are not qualified or trained to do that ( and even if they are because of another job they hold it is not appropriate for them to do so).

If it is something that you as a governor feels strongly about you should ask to join the curriculum sub-committee (or similar) so that you can start to understand what goes on in school to do with teaching and learning.

I teach mixed ability English to the same age. This sort of homework would be "differentiated by outcome" ie the higher ability children would show their ability in what they produce and the lower ability might show their needs. As this is the first longish piece of homework, it may well be what the teacher does with it afterwards where differentiation will occur. Some, for example, might focus on improving their structure, use of sources and vocabulary, while others might have the target of writing at least 6 sentences next time. The teacher is using the work to assess the pupils (formatively, to inform furniture teaching and a pupil's needs, not summatively, to produce a result e.g. A grade etc.

Also, as it involves research skills, something pupils find hard, she might be wanting to see how pupils go about the research to inform teaching of this in future. A skilled teacher could learn / do a lot with a task like this. A bright pupil will enjoy doing it, as will many of the weaker ones as it involves choice and some freedom as to how to interpret the task.

I don't think it is too big an ask as homework goes, even for the poor ability. Some will write a simple newsreport style of one paragraph, others will get several neat structured pages out of it. A large % won't do it at all mostly because they can't be arsed, but you knew that already.

Seeker, I am that this is the first piece of homework he has had. In DS's comp they get a piece a week for each humanities subject.

The homework would be fine for the more able pupils, but those in the middle would need more guidance about what to choose and at least some bullet points for information to choose. The least able should have a fully scaffolded sheet which they just fill in (probably about a straightforward, pre-decided, easily researchable crime). IMHO

Seeker,

A little like other posters, I am not quite sure about where your issue lies with this homework.

As a parent, yor child can do it - and there is enough 'meat' on it in terms of historical research and in terms of planning and writing skills for him to be challenged by it (if he choses to be callenged). The only possible issue is the lack of detailed guidance about what is being looked for rto achieve higher levels in this homework - ie if he chooses not to challenge himself, then there is nothing in the homework to force him to do so.

As a governor, it is too small a sample to extract useful data about homework policy from. Yes, you may have a concern about how accessible this homework is, and may also have a concern about the setting of homework per se BUT as a governor you need to take a much broader view - starting from the policy and if appropriate working as part of a team to hold the school to account about how the policy is implemented. Homework may or may not be a strategic priority for the school (a school I know of in a very challenging area sets no homework to take home - as so many of the pupils are vulnerably housed and have no capability to do good quality homework e.g. in the corner of a bedsit or when 'sofa surfing' - but instead timetables structured sessions for the work normally set as homework within e.g. the school day, immediately after school, lunchtimes, at half terms etc) and if it is not, it may not be a priority for you as a governor to become involved in it.

Trinity, one of the governors' roles is to approve the school policies, incuding the homework policy.

Seeker.

I can remember my dss having homework along these lines. In the end I googled /used tes to get level indicators nd guidance. Sometimes teachers only have time to give slips out and provide a small amount of guidance. I found my ds didn't always remember.

I don't see that it would be beyond most Y7s; DS did something like that in Y5, they were part of a project that was on display at the open day, and ALL the children had made a good attempt at it.

I do take your point about differentiation of homework though. DS had "project" type homework, where they list the different results they need to produce for each level...of course it is to some extent the child's decision how far they go, but they don't point out to Ds that he should be capable of far more than the bare minimum.

Have you completed your governor training yet, it seems to me that you have a slightly misguided role of the governors in school.

If you as a parent have a concern about your child's homework you raise this with the school as a parent.

Governors do not get involved in the day to day running of the school, that is delegated to the head teacher and their staff. The governos are there to maintain the strategic direction of the school and support the head to do so.

My ds has SEN this would have been a good homework task for him in Yr 7 . He understood the concept of a crime and whilst it would have been a simple description he could have written a couple of sentences about it or maybe a para .

My HA ds3 would probably write a book ! But the point is both would have been able to approach the homework at their own level.

Lower ability does not mean no ability , the thing is if you only have HA children it is sometimes difficult to see how a lower ability child would approach a topic until you have one IYSWIM.