dd (Yr 4) did a large project and handed it in on time two MONTHS ago. And she's not had an ounce of feedback. Am not happy.

[emkana]

From early November until beginning of January she worked on it every weekend, plus in the Christmas Holidays. Handed it in on time, and since then nothing. Nothing at all. Same for the whole class. They know where all the projects are - in a box in the classroom, gathering dust. One lunchtime the class had a rifle through (without the teacher's knowledge) and they spotted some comments on some of them.

I think this is so sad. Now I know the children do the project mainly to learn etc not for the feedback, but surely their work should be acknowledged, if not celebrated?

that's crap
i would bring it up at the next parents evening if not before

dd just told me that the teacher said before half-term that she would take the projects home to read them. So for well over a month she never even looked at them.

that's bad. After all that effort they would love to get feedback. Shame.

That is a real shame as it will teach the children that their work is not valued, and this will have an impact on their approach to future homework tasks.

However, I do think it's important to realise that the real 'learning potential' for the students is through the actual process of completing the project; it is unlikely they will learn very much from the teacher's actual comments.

But it is still very wrong that she hasn't given them feedback.

So what do you think I should say to the teacher? I already wrote a note last week in the h/w diary to which the teacher replied she would do the feedback last week - hasn't happened. So what next?

just say that you were wondering when the students woudl be gettign feedback on their projects from last term. that dd spent a long time doing it and is looking forward to hearing what she (the teacher) thinks of it.

Just phone up, explain how much your dd enjoyed the project and that you are both looking forward to feedback.

A sensible gentle prod should do the trick rather than some hullaballoo on here.

Please remember that primary teachers are never ever able to finish all the work they have to do. I think the last suggestion was the best - a bit of a prod. The teacher probably feels bad for not having had the time to go through them yet.

If it was me though, I would at least have taken them home.

Ariesgirl, I do appreciate teacher's workload (was a teacher myself at one time), but I still think a project of this kind deserves a bit more, especially when it was drummed into the children that it was important to be organized with their work.

Am I the only person for whom the very word 'project' brings on the shudders?

Did we do em in my day? nope. Were we any worse off...

(okay okay, cue Hovis ad..)

Part of the prob is that teachers are pressured into setting homework that they know in their heart of hearts they haven't got time to deal with properly. I bet the teacher feels dreadful about this too. If it had been me, I would have loved a friendly mention of the "elephant in the room" of the projects. If you do it in the right way I think she'll prob do something about it. Part if the teacher perfectionism will be that she will know the children have put effort in in spades and will want to acknowledge them properly but in truth, she just needs to spend ten mins in class showing them off and pointing out something she liked about them. I like the idea of saying how much dd enjoyed it. Will make her feel that it was a positive thing to do.

Having spent my WHOLE weekend helping ds in yr4 with his science work (which was most definitely too much and too complex )- I am of the opinion:

"If the teacher won't or can't mark/provide appropriate feedback, then DON'T set it for the children in the first place!"

It's not fair on the kids who work on it, or on parents who give up their time to help their dc with the project

I'm with you Bellissima! Particularly hate them during school holidays! I want to spend time doing fun things with my kids during holidays - not school work!

My kids' school has a habit of setting project homework from the May half term week through to end of June / early July while the teachers are busy writing reports. Fair enough if it is valued, marked and commented on by the teacher in the end but it is generally just a way of setting one lot of homework that will last for weeks. In year 5 my son put next to no effort into his project while his friend did quite a bit. They ended up both getting a generic certificate (along with the rest of the class) saying 'super project - well done'!

be brave, feed back to teacher. very easy for teachers to be under the impression that parents like or want homework when the opposite is true. I am of the opinion that very little of the homework that is set at primary level is of much value - those who are conscientious about it would otherwise be doing interesting stuff with family, or actually just playing. Those who aren't are not getting much benefit either.

I'm a teacher who's guilty of setting projects for homework but not because I feel I have to - I do it because I don't see the point in endless worksheets sent home just because parents expect something. My projects are more along the lines of 'find out about Louis Pasteur' then we spend some time in class talking about ways to do this and to represent their findings. For some it will be a labour of love, others will print something off the internet from the classroom computer at lunchtime (most don't have computers at home in my school) and some will opt out altogether.

The projects I set are valued though, when I set them I explain that they're not for marking but that we will set aside an afternoon to share the projects, have a go at playing the board games they've invented/watch the presentations/read the books etc. and always make sure they're displayed somewhere in class so the children don't feel that it was a waste of time and energy. The children that have opted out of bringing anything will be set other work to do on this afternoon.

Feedback from children and parents has been positive to date.