To have written this letter to ds' teacher re homework

[shoppingbagsundereyes]

Ds is in year 1. They are set a weekly homework which often isn't even a proper task eg 'what do you understand by fraction?' every week we puzzle out what the teacher actually wants and get ds to make a decent attempt at the homework. In the past 8 weeks only 3 pieces of homework have been marked, nothing has been marked for a month.
So I have written a letter saying that homework is only meaningful if it is linked with a child's class work and regular feedback is given to that child. I have said we will do no more homework unless she can assure me it will be marked.
So aibu? She hasn't been ill or anything btw

YANBU.

No you sound fair enough to me. Very discouraging for poor lo not to have work marked.

YANBU.

YABU in a way yes.

Homework in my DS's school isn't marked in the way it was when I was in Primary.

The class are asked to take their completed homework out, and the teacher goes through the answers/discussion with the whole class.

The whole 'red pen thing' is no longer done.

Is this the first time you have had any discussion with the teacher about homework?

If it is, I think you are going a bit over the top by saying you won't do any more unless your conditions are met. Sorry.

But YANBU to have an issue with the situation, a better approach would be to actually talk to the class teacher and give her your feedback on your experience of the homework she sets and what would help you and your ds get more from it.

Should have said, this is the third time this year we have had long periods of unacknowledged work, the two previous times I have handed his book to her myself and drawn her attention to the unmarked work. Our school's home- school homework agreement that we signed when he started school says things like 'parent agrees to always complete homework on time, teacher agrees to set and mark work weekly' or words to that effect.

Then you need to speak to her and ask if it's done in the same way it is in my DS's school.

If you're not happy after that, speak to a member of the management team.

But simply refusing to allow your child to do his homework, isn't going to help anyone...least of all him.

I think a little bit U

Sometimes DS is asked to read up on something or even colour in stuff, it doesn't always get marked. It can be a gentle introduction to homework.

Why don't you talk to the teacher about it?

I think YABU to have written and made ultimatums.
YANBU to want to discuss it with her, but there are much nicer ways of approaching people, that will set up a far more beneficial relationship with the school than this letter will.

YANBU all the way, OP. Sometimes parents are justified in treating teachers as teachers should do children: explicit, direct instruction

The "whole red pen thing" should be done and I know schools where it still is. These are usually pretty darn good for exam results AND a safe well-behaved atmosphere.

Gets on my nerves when I hear of schoolkids being asked to mark each other's work in class and sit in semicircle/around desks nattering about it. Get them sitting in silence, then do your job Mrs Robinson, and mark it right or wrong. (Obviously the likes of art need a different approach- this is for mental maths, grammar sentences, KS2 science and other homework tasks with correct answers.)

How much can you learn from your nine year old peer? Did they go to teacher training college? (on reflection, best not answer that one, hotbed of left-wing mayhem they are.) Leave 360-degree appraisal to grown up professionals.

YANBU. Boy is in year 2, he had a worksheet home to do last weekend. He's not the easiest of homework victims, but managed to persuade him to do it (writing sentences). Sent it off to school on Monday. It's still in his bookbag now, I asked him "oh no she didn't want to look at it".

We have another worksheet to do this weekend. Chances of motivating him to complete it? What do you think?

I am a secondary teacher. I always mark homework.

I do peer review sometimes, but not for yes/no answers, it's more useful for things like posters and presentations where you can suggest improvements etc.

I was a secondary teacher for ten years Pre kids and always planned homework collection dates to ensure I could get work marked promptly. It isn't difficult and I think that is why I am so irritated.

Y1 with homework.

I would be telling them where to get off PDQ.

Secondary peer review is different as they have more experience upon which to build, at primary level their conceptual frameworks are far less developed, difference between concrete and formal operations- in Y1, he would be borderline even for concrete stage of the Piaget model.

For presentations I would consider the same as an art task to some extent, as it requires interpretation not yes/no, but with less room to manoeuvre on "right and wrong" when it is supposed to be a way of committing accurate biology knowledge to paper.

This used to happen at dd's primary; until Y5 she'd had a great teacher who marked every week. Y5 she got a new teacher who would -sometimes - set homework, but rarely marked it. He had some great excuses whenever he was asked about it (I wasn't the only one) but few of them were particularly believable.

It is very discouraging for a pupil not to have work acknowledged. DD got really sick of it, and she's incredibly self-motivated.

I'd always assumed that teachers had the same idea about homework as me - it was to be done, then commented on and marked accordingly - and in DDs' previous school it worked that way.

In new school their idea of marking is a tick indicating staff have seen the book, if it is in a book. If its a worksheet we never see it again. Projects are often returned with the comment "nice" and nothing else.

I spoke to DD2's teacher (year 4) a few weeks ago - she's a lovely NQT very nice and bubbly but I get the impression she had no idea what I was on about, and since then she's sent DD home with a note saying "your homework was fantastic" or something like that, which is very kind of her, but when I said to DD look your teacher said your work was fab, she replied, she tells everyone that, everyone gets a similar note every week. sigh

UANBU

Homework needs to make sense
HW needs to be acknowledged (it may not get marked, but the teacher should look at it).
DCs who haven't bothered should be pulled up.

Otherwise pupils quickly decide not to bother.

YANBU. Children are motivated by praise and tangible results they can see. When my dcs bring home work with marks and praise, they are proud to show it, and to do the next lot. Unfortunately, ds1 (y3) never seems to have his own teacher just now and the stand ins don't give out homework so he is getting less and less 'into' the practice of doing homework, and ds2 (y1) has a teacher who loves handing out homework, which he faithfully does every night, but then three weeks worth can lie in his bag. Same with his reading progress book - they read every night, each night is marked in and they get an award at 25, 50, 75 nights etc. I had to point out after 61 nights that he hadn't yet had an award (he was given two that day). Guess who got a less than favorable report this term - and I honestly believe it was because I complained (last term's was glowing). Sorry for ranting, I just think some teachers (NOT all, by a long chalk), are lazy, and this does our dcs no good whatsoever!

And ModreB, why on earth would you have a problem with y1s having homework?

It sounds as if they are using the 'Learning Log' style of homework.
The idea being that the child chooses how to approach an open ended task linked to something they have done in shcool.

In my school Learning Log homework is marked during a whole class sharing session where the children and teacher give verbal feedback, so it may appear that it hasn't been marked but actually time ha been set aside to look at, assess and learn from the homework

learning logs get a sticker and a short positive comment in our school. they are only given out hen it is deemed necessay to support school work and not just for the sake of it. children are encouraged to read/practise spellings every night.

The homeworks I set are always for a particular lesson. The maths we go through as a class and discuss their answers/talk about the strategies they used/refer to things it links to that we have done or are about to do.

The other homework we set is a learning log style homework. It is always used in class to help them complete another piece of work e.g. collecting information about their recycling before doing graphing in science. They are put out on the tables. The children move around and look at each others and offer feedback. Then they use the work to complete the class task, which is marked.

I've learnt that the 'red pen thing' is still very much desired by parents, so I still do that too- but I only do it for the parents sake. The children have already had peer feedback and verbal feedback from me.