Critical Minds Session December 5th, 2011
Critical Minds met to explore how to improve the 6th grade written performance task.
Nathan and Alex both presented and shared facilitating. The team spent 45 minutes discussing the issue and all members contributed valuable information.
Summary of Problem:
In addition to common exams, 6th grade students are giving several performance tasks throughout the academic year. One of the tasks is a written performance, which is graded based on grammar, accuracy and creativity. Before the task is given, teachers spend one lesson preparing students for the task, which either includes 1) writing a collective story on the board or 2) reviewing relevant grammar structures. After preparing for the task, the teacher selectively gives each student a unique picture - such as a playground picture - and students are given 40 minutes to write as much as they can about their picture.
Both Alex and Nathan believed this approach to be too artificial and didn't reflect the true abilities of the students. They wanted the learning community members to evaluate the task and give feedback on how to improve it. In particular, 1) how to make it more relevant to the students, 2) how to make it more fair, and 3) how to make it more enjoyable so that students would write more creatively.
Main Points of the Discussion:
* Make it more relevant: The group concluded that instead of giving pictures - which many members believed to be too crowded and intimidating to begin with - that a personal object, such as student artwork or a personal item from home, might encourage them to write more purposefully and creatively.
* Story starters: The group concluded that 40 minutes was not enough time to both think about and write a complete story. As a result, the idea of providing 'story starters' was given as a way to encourage direction so that students would spend more time writing and reviewing their work.
* Tasks instructions: The group concluded that the instructions given to students for the task is too formal and focused on grammar. Both Alex and Nathan agreed that listing grammatical structures in the instructions forced students to write unrelated and random sentences that in the end didn't form a fluent and cohesive composition. The group concluded that these should be removed.
* Practice sessions: The group concluded that enough practice time - one lesson - was not enough to throughly prepare the students for the task. In particular, the group felt that because this task happens in the beginning of the year, that most students need more time to prepare. Several ideas were given, and both Alex and Nathan agreed that the idea of including group work as part of the preparation process was valuable. In particular, over the course of several lessons, students could work together in groups to write a composition, therefore learning through peer instruction and gaining confidence in the task. Later, they could move on to more individualized instruction - which could include a homework assignment. In the end, the group concluded that structuring the preparation differently, would greatly improve the content and outcome of the performance task.
To conclude, many fantastic ideas were discussed and both Alex and Nathan felt inspired to change the task and make it more relevant and enjoyable for the students.
Conclusions:
First of all, both Alex and I would like to thank the group for their ideas. I would also like to apologize for posting so late, but we delayed our post because we actually modified our Oral Performance task with the group's ideas. In the past week, we gave our students an oral task, and instead of giving our 'traditional' picture for students to speak about, we actually encouraged students to choose meaningful items from home. We prepared questions for the students so that they couldn't just prepare a standard speech at home. On the day of the task, students brought in baby shoes, first toys, tickets, valuable coins and such other items to show and discuss for their task. We saw two valuable outcomes from this modification:
1. Students were able to excited for the task. As a result, they were more proud and confident to speak in front of the class. It also gave us a chance to get to know the students better.
2. The presentation was more natural. We don't believe this approach made the task easier, but it made it more interesting because instead of random sentences, students tried to produce a cohesive monologue, as if they were sharing their ideas to a friend.
Overall, the sixth grade team is very happy with the results, and although we can always improve the task, we believe making it personal and relevant for the students is the most important change.
Share A Book at Lunchtime Session 2
29/12/2011
We got together in the library today and Ümit Karaca from Grade 11 shared Chekhov's book of One-Act Plays with us. He told us of his early interest in the theatre. His parents took him to see plays at the Dormen Theatre and when he started to study in the Prep Class he chose to join the Turkish Drama Club. Since then he has acted in creditable school performances, is receiving training in the Istanbul Municipal Theatre and is hoping to study drama at university level.
He has been drawn to Chekhov's plays because of the down-to-earth language and realism. He says that everyone can recognise themselves in Chekhov's characters and he will be performing solo in 'Smoking is Bad For You'at school in May. There will also be 2 other plays performed and as part of a project to support LÖSEV, audience members will be asked to bring along a book to donate to the charity.
Ümit recommended going to watch "Profesyonel", a play being performed in the Istanbul State Theatre. That's if you can get tickets...it's playing to closed houses!
Ümit's developed presentation skills show the importance of drama in education. It brings with it self-confidence and it will be no surprise to see Ümit take his place in Turkish theatre in the future!
"Ortak Payda Uçuşta" Toplantı 2: Okuma Zevki Oluşturmak...
“Ortak Payda Uçuşta” grubu olarak 19.12.2011'de ikinci kez toplandık. Bu kez "Okuma zevki nasıl kazandırılır?" sorununu tartıştık. Simge dergisinin "Okumak" özel sayısından seçtiğimiz iki makaleden yola çıkarak şu sorulara yanıt aradık:
* Bizim okuma zevkimiz nasıl gelişti?
* Okuma isteği uyandıran temel nedenler nelerdir?
* Okuma alışkanlığı olmayan birini kitap okutmaya nereden başlatabiliriz?
Seçtiğimiz protokole göre, makaleleri okumak ve soruları yanıtlamak için 15 dakikalık bir zaman belirledik. Görüşlerimizi ve çözüm önerilerimizi paylaşmaya başladıkça anladık ki, kitap okumak "kitap okutmak" haline getirildiğinde tüm iyi niyetli çabalar sonuçsuz kalıyor.
Okumak üzerine sorduğumuz sorulara verilen yanıtlar da bu düşünceyi destekliyor:
" Önce bir kitapla tanış olmayı öğrendim. Kitap ile zaman geçirmeyi ve zevk almayı... Daha sonra kitaplarda nitelik, üslup arar oldum. Yazarları seçmeye başladım. En az yirmi yıllık bir yolculuk ile oluştu okuma zevkim. Bence insanda okuma isteği uyandıran temel neden, merak duygusudur. Biz öncelikle, öğrencinin merak duygusunu cezbedecek kitaplar önermekle işe başlayabiliriz."
Çiğdem KEKLİK
" Kişisel okuma zevkimin oluşumunda bana birden fazla kitap seçme hakkı verilmesi etkili olmuştur. O seçebilme güdüsü, bende rahatlık ve istek oluşturdu. Kitap okuma alışkanlığı kazandırmak için, öğrencide ödev ya da görev zihniyeti yaratmak yerine, bir amaç ya da hedef doğrultusunda istek yaratmak gerektiğini düşünüyorum. Seçim hakkı ve baskısız yönlendirme, bu sorunu çözerken anahtar sözcüklerimiz olmalı."
Esra Gülseren BALCI
" Öğrencinin kitapla ilişkisini, hikayesini bilmek (Onu kitaba ne yaklaştırıyor, kitaptan uzaklaşmasına sebep olan ne?), ilgi duyduğu alanı seçmesine izin vermek, başlangıç noktamız olmalı."
Arzu K. BODET
"Ortak Payda Uçuşta" olarak bir sonraki toplantımızda da bu konu üzerinde tartışıp deneyimlerimizi paylaşacağız. Kendi uygulamalarımızı gözden geçirip kitap okumayı bir "zevk" ve "ihtiyaç" meselesi haline getirmenin yollarını aramaya devam edeceğiz.
* Bizim okuma zevkimiz nasıl gelişti?
* Okuma isteği uyandıran temel nedenler nelerdir?
* Okuma alışkanlığı olmayan birini kitap okutmaya nereden başlatabiliriz?
Seçtiğimiz protokole göre, makaleleri okumak ve soruları yanıtlamak için 15 dakikalık bir zaman belirledik. Görüşlerimizi ve çözüm önerilerimizi paylaşmaya başladıkça anladık ki, kitap okumak "kitap okutmak" haline getirildiğinde tüm iyi niyetli çabalar sonuçsuz kalıyor.
Okumak üzerine sorduğumuz sorulara verilen yanıtlar da bu düşünceyi destekliyor:
" Önce bir kitapla tanış olmayı öğrendim. Kitap ile zaman geçirmeyi ve zevk almayı... Daha sonra kitaplarda nitelik, üslup arar oldum. Yazarları seçmeye başladım. En az yirmi yıllık bir yolculuk ile oluştu okuma zevkim. Bence insanda okuma isteği uyandıran temel neden, merak duygusudur. Biz öncelikle, öğrencinin merak duygusunu cezbedecek kitaplar önermekle işe başlayabiliriz."
Çiğdem KEKLİK
" Kişisel okuma zevkimin oluşumunda bana birden fazla kitap seçme hakkı verilmesi etkili olmuştur. O seçebilme güdüsü, bende rahatlık ve istek oluşturdu. Kitap okuma alışkanlığı kazandırmak için, öğrencide ödev ya da görev zihniyeti yaratmak yerine, bir amaç ya da hedef doğrultusunda istek yaratmak gerektiğini düşünüyorum. Seçim hakkı ve baskısız yönlendirme, bu sorunu çözerken anahtar sözcüklerimiz olmalı."
Esra Gülseren BALCI
" Öğrencinin kitapla ilişkisini, hikayesini bilmek (Onu kitaba ne yaklaştırıyor, kitaptan uzaklaşmasına sebep olan ne?), ilgi duyduğu alanı seçmesine izin vermek, başlangıç noktamız olmalı."
Arzu K. BODET
"Ortak Payda Uçuşta" olarak bir sonraki toplantımızda da bu konu üzerinde tartışıp deneyimlerimizi paylaşacağız. Kendi uygulamalarımızı gözden geçirip kitap okumayı bir "zevk" ve "ihtiyaç" meselesi haline getirmenin yollarını aramaya devam edeceğiz.
Share a Book at Lunchtime
On December 15 we had our first 'Share A Book at Lunctime' session in the High School Library.The aim of these sessions is for students to share their ideas about books they have borrowed from the school library. What started off as an English Reading project has developed into a mainly Turkish reading project but hey, who cares? We're gedtting together and discussing books!
We had 10 students at the first session and are now looking forward to Session 2 on 29 December when Ümit Karaca (Grade 11) will discuss one-act plays by Chekhov in Turkish.
If you're free between 12:30-13:00 please join us.
Busy Bees Session 2
Due to a top-heavy schedule Busy Bees are sad to announce that their 2nd session cannot take place this Thursday (22 December)! Instead we'll meet on Thursday (5 January)
"Ortak Payda Uçuşta" 2. Toplantı
Grubumuz 2. toplantısını 19.12.2011 Pazartesi günü, lise binası yönetim katı toplantı odasında 15.45'te gerçekleştirecektir.
Konumuz: "Okuma zevkini nasıl kazandırırız?"
Presenter: Leyla TARAKÇI
Moderator: Başak KULUĞ
Konumuz: "Okuma zevkini nasıl kazandırırız?"
Presenter: Leyla TARAKÇI
Moderator: Başak KULUĞ
Impulsive Behavior
30.11.2011
Presenter: Pınar Başar
Moderator: Aylin Geron
Presenter: Pınar Başar
Moderator: Aylin Geron
Pınar has a 7th grade student who does not take notes. She tries to do her best to make him concentrate on the lesson but she feels she spends too much time on him and, this is taking time away from other students. The parent is aware of the situation and tries to check whether he is doing well both in the class and at home. Pınar informs the parent every week, but no avail. The questions we asked Pınar in our session:
Does the student have to take notes?
Do you always stay next to him to check whether he is taking notes or not?
Has the student got similar problems in other subjects?
Is the counseling Department aware of the situation?
When do you think we can let the student take his own responsibility?
Do we always have to accept responsibility for the students’ actions?
Do you think both you and the student are being stubborn?
Is it a kind of battle of powers?
Have you ever tried not to check him and leave him alone?
Derya told us about the student because she has known him for years.
We discussed without Pınar interrupting.
Some students can be successful without taking notes.
A seventh grade student should be able to take responsibility for his actions.
A teacher is also responsible for the other students in the class and shouldn’t spend all her time with one student.
Students shouldn’t be spoon-fed.
If a student doesn’t take notes or doesn’t listen in the class, he should accept the consequences such as not having a good mark. This way he can learn to concentrate on the lessons.
Pınar drew some conclusions:
She said she will try to give the responsibility to the student but she will do it step by step. She thinks it is not proper to change all of a sudden. She may also tell the student that he will be on his own from now on. However, she feels she needs time to decide.
The Bald and the Beauties
The Bald and the Beauties Session Nov 15th 2011
The Bald and the beauties met on the 15th November for their first meeting of this year.
Canan was the presenter and Bev was the facilitator.
Noyan, Gökçe, Joseph, Bev and Canan were present at the meeting.
The Four “A”s Text Protocol was used.
Timing was fine and all members participated in the discussion equally and made valuable contributions.
The Text
The title of the text used was “Should Children do Traditional Homework?” The text consisted of four separate essays examining the benefits of giving students homework. Each essay presented a different opinion on the subject, some in favour of homework and others not so supportive of the idea.The text is presented below:
Should children do traditional homework?
September 24, 2011
OPINION
"Children work all day, go home and do more," says Sue Thomson. Photo: Craig Abraham
Schools are under pressure from parents and academics advocating more, less or something different.
THE TEACHER KATHARINE BIRBALSINGH
The radio presenter Alan Jones doesn't believe in homework because children should have time to play outside and learn skills that only time after school with your family can teach. Normally, I would agree. But do children today have these types of experiences after school?
Families are so busy working that when children come home, they often sit in front of the TV for hours or play computer games. Children spend hours every day networking on Facebook. Exhausted parents do not realise just how dangerous these modern technological tools can be.
Technology can open a world of excitement to children. Yet it can also glorify gangster lifestyles through MTV, and encourage the use of bad language and ''text speak'' in social networking.
An hour of homework a night distracts children from such activities and enables them to practise what they were taught at school. Excellent learning requires constant revisiting, and homework is the perfect tool to reinforce facts and skills. Teachers often find that children forget what they learnt the day before. At high school, you may not see your history or geography teacher for a few days until the next lesson. Without any homework in between to bridge the gap, often teachers take two steps forward, then one step back in the following lesson.
It is the school's responsibility to inform parents that homework has been set - easily done through a diary system. The school should also ensure the homework set is of quality and not some assignment that can essentially be downloaded from the internet. Equally, it is the parents' responsibility to ensure homework gets done.
No one said raising children was easy. I am a teacher from Britain, and I believe similar cultural trends exist all over the Western world: if something is hard, better to give it up rather than work harder to achieve it. Do teachers want to mark homework? No. Do parents want to make children do homework? No. And if children themselves don't want to do it, the conclusion seems simple. But we have a responsibility to give children the best opportunities to learn, and homework is a crucial part of learning.
Katharine Birbalsingh is a teacher and the author of To Miss With Love (Penguin).
THE ACADEMIC RICHARD WALKER
Homework, traditionally defined as tasks teachers give students to complete at home, is a complicated area of educational research. It involves highly complex interactions between factors such as parental involvement, student capabilities, teacher attitudes and practices, classroom environments, and school cultures and policies.
However, some things can be said about homework with a reasonable degree of research support.
First, homework varies according to the subject, so what can be said about homework in one field, such as maths, is not relevant in other curriculum areas, such as humanities.
Second, homework has a clear value in improving academic achievement only in the senior years of high school. It has not been shown to improve the achievement of children in the early years of primary school. It has negligible benefits in the higher grades of primary school and very limited benefits in junior high school. At the senior high school level, homework benefits the achievement of about 45 per cent of students.
Third, homework helps develop independent and self-directed learning. This has only been shown to occur when students receive scaffolded support from their parents in primary or junior high school. Many parents are not able to provide this support.
Fourth, homework outcomes depend on the quality of tasks. High-quality homework tasks are well prepared, interesting and challenging, but not overtaxing. Low-quality homework is repetitive, boring and too easy or difficult for students. High-quality tasks motivate students, encourage them to invest effort in their homework, and lead to improved outcomes. Low-quality homework has adverse effects on motivation, effort and on achievement outcomes.
Fifth, setting high-quality homework is difficult for teachers because the capabilities of every student in a class have to be taken into account. Teacher education courses, mostly, do not have the time to help develop these skills.
Sixth, students report more negative emotions when working on homework than when working on class work. To enhance homework motivation, students need to be given some autonomy and choice in relation to their tasks. This does not commonly occur in schools.
So the answer to the main question is both yes and no. Traditional homework does have benefits but there is scope for reform.
Richard Walker is associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Sydney and is writing a book on reforming homework.
THE RESEARCHER SUE THOMSON
I took the job of writing this article home one night this week, but after a long day at work I really didn't feel like doing it. So here I am first thing in the morning doing it before I start work again.
I have three perspectives on homework. When I was a maths teacher, the school policy was that we should set homework at least twice a week. Why? "It's good for kids to learn time management and discipline." I wondered about that at the time, and after a few years of teaching knew that assigning traditional homework did no such thing. Children who understood what was going on in class whipped through their homework and probably got a bit of benefit in terms of reinforcement. Those who didn't understand just didn't do it, or struggled for hours longer than they should have.
As a researcher, the data from international assessments such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study tell me the relationship between homework and achievement is not straightforward. There is a positive correlation between the two up to about 1½ hours of homework in year 8, but then the relationship is in the opposite direction.
Probably that is because it is the students who have problems in class who spend too much time on their homework. Why is it that we expect children who struggle in class to be able to finish the exercise they were lagging behind in at home with no support? By year 8, it is unlikely that many parents will be able to help, layering frustration on top of feelings of underachievement and making children hate learning.
Meta-analysis of research by John Hattie in New Zealand and Harris Cooper in the US has cast doubt on the benefits of homework, but still it is the norm that children work all day at school, then go home and do a couple more hours.
As a parent, homework became the bane of my life. It was usually boring and repetitive, but at times enormously demanding (such as the task of building a volcano). My children were lucky that they had parents with the time and resources to be able to help them - what about those whose parents or parent work a couple of jobs, or have poor language skills?
I wanted to talk to my children about their day, read with them, cook dinner with them. That is what homework should be.
Sue Thomson is the director of educational monitoring and research at the Australian Council for Educational Research.
THE PRINCIPAL JONATHAN CANNON
I have been given some homework by the Herald - I have to write an essay about homework. And I don't like it. I've been given less than 24 hours to complete the task. I've been given a tight limit of just 400 words.
And my work is going to the toughest of markers: the public, including students, teachers and parents.
Homework creates tension. There is the tension of requirement: the student may get a detention if he or she fails to complete the homework. There is the tension of assessment: the student's future pathways are being determined by the quality of the work completed at home. There is the tension of alternatives: the student may prefer kicking a ball or visiting friends. There is the tension of exerting effort: it's much easier to do anything else than work, like sleeping or watching television.
Is the tension worth it? Dr Etta Kralovec, co-author of The End of Homework, says ''homework simply doesn't make sense in this brave new constructivist world of teaching and learning''. But common wisdom tells us that many hours of extra effort are required for a swimmer to win gold at the Olympics. A couple of hours with a coach each week is just not enough. Practice makes perfect.
Many additional hours of revision and familiarisation are required to become immersed in the discipline before a maestro performance. Every subject taught at school also requires directed practice and recapitulation to reinforce and improve skills and understanding.
The discipline of doing what is required has value. But beyond that discipline there is also the spark of interest that feeds excellence. Many of the students at my school have become enthused by original scientific research or music composition or football or poetry - and spent many more creative hours than could be demanded towards outcomes that attract the attention of experts and the media.
Finally, we live in a competitive world. It would be of great benefit to my students if all the other schools decided homework was not necessary. Then my students could trump them all. But I am sure most schools will continue to direct study both at school and at home to coach their students towards a goal beyond competence towards excellence. And surely this is what we all desire for our common future good.
Jonathan Cannon is the principal of Redeemer Baptist School, North Parramatta.
Main points of the discussion
It was agreed that students doing homework is always preferable to their playing computer games when they return home.
We were interested to learn from the text that certain research has shown that homework has a clear value in improving academic achievement only in the senior years of high school but does not improve the achievement of children in the early years of primary school. We expressed our suspicion of the validity of such results and commented that other research could show different findings.
Certain comments in the text led us to conclude that homework tasks should be varied according to student’s differing abilities so as to challenge rather than bore the brighter students and consist of realistic tasks that do not de-motivate the weaker students.
We agreed with the comment made in the text that often more able students breeze through their homework and benefit very little from it whereas we assume that the weakest students will be capable of doing homework alone at home even though they struggle in the classroom.
We all shared experiences of having had students who bring to school homework of an extremely high quality that has been done by their parents or their parent’s employees. This made us question whether homework could be valuable when it is difficult to be sure who actually completed the homework.
Conclusions
Homework should be different according to each student’s individual needs so that each child is appropriately challenged. Homework should be inspiring and motivating so that students enjoy their work and value its purpose.
Homework that encourages students and parents to work together is also valuable as it provides an opportunity for families to come together, exchange ideas, discuss and learn more about and support each other. We also concluded that homework was always seen as preferable to students playing games on their computers every night.
Evaluation of the protocol:
It was suitable for our text and following it did not dominate our discussion.
The Bald and the beauties met on the 15th November for their first meeting of this year.
Canan was the presenter and Bev was the facilitator.
Noyan, Gökçe, Joseph, Bev and Canan were present at the meeting.
The Four “A”s Text Protocol was used.
Timing was fine and all members participated in the discussion equally and made valuable contributions.
The Text
The title of the text used was “Should Children do Traditional Homework?” The text consisted of four separate essays examining the benefits of giving students homework. Each essay presented a different opinion on the subject, some in favour of homework and others not so supportive of the idea.The text is presented below:
Should children do traditional homework?
September 24, 2011
OPINION
"Children work all day, go home and do more," says Sue Thomson. Photo: Craig Abraham
Schools are under pressure from parents and academics advocating more, less or something different.
THE TEACHER KATHARINE BIRBALSINGH
The radio presenter Alan Jones doesn't believe in homework because children should have time to play outside and learn skills that only time after school with your family can teach. Normally, I would agree. But do children today have these types of experiences after school?
Families are so busy working that when children come home, they often sit in front of the TV for hours or play computer games. Children spend hours every day networking on Facebook. Exhausted parents do not realise just how dangerous these modern technological tools can be.
Technology can open a world of excitement to children. Yet it can also glorify gangster lifestyles through MTV, and encourage the use of bad language and ''text speak'' in social networking.
An hour of homework a night distracts children from such activities and enables them to practise what they were taught at school. Excellent learning requires constant revisiting, and homework is the perfect tool to reinforce facts and skills. Teachers often find that children forget what they learnt the day before. At high school, you may not see your history or geography teacher for a few days until the next lesson. Without any homework in between to bridge the gap, often teachers take two steps forward, then one step back in the following lesson.
It is the school's responsibility to inform parents that homework has been set - easily done through a diary system. The school should also ensure the homework set is of quality and not some assignment that can essentially be downloaded from the internet. Equally, it is the parents' responsibility to ensure homework gets done.
No one said raising children was easy. I am a teacher from Britain, and I believe similar cultural trends exist all over the Western world: if something is hard, better to give it up rather than work harder to achieve it. Do teachers want to mark homework? No. Do parents want to make children do homework? No. And if children themselves don't want to do it, the conclusion seems simple. But we have a responsibility to give children the best opportunities to learn, and homework is a crucial part of learning.
Katharine Birbalsingh is a teacher and the author of To Miss With Love (Penguin).
THE ACADEMIC RICHARD WALKER
Homework, traditionally defined as tasks teachers give students to complete at home, is a complicated area of educational research. It involves highly complex interactions between factors such as parental involvement, student capabilities, teacher attitudes and practices, classroom environments, and school cultures and policies.
However, some things can be said about homework with a reasonable degree of research support.
First, homework varies according to the subject, so what can be said about homework in one field, such as maths, is not relevant in other curriculum areas, such as humanities.
Second, homework has a clear value in improving academic achievement only in the senior years of high school. It has not been shown to improve the achievement of children in the early years of primary school. It has negligible benefits in the higher grades of primary school and very limited benefits in junior high school. At the senior high school level, homework benefits the achievement of about 45 per cent of students.
Third, homework helps develop independent and self-directed learning. This has only been shown to occur when students receive scaffolded support from their parents in primary or junior high school. Many parents are not able to provide this support.
Fourth, homework outcomes depend on the quality of tasks. High-quality homework tasks are well prepared, interesting and challenging, but not overtaxing. Low-quality homework is repetitive, boring and too easy or difficult for students. High-quality tasks motivate students, encourage them to invest effort in their homework, and lead to improved outcomes. Low-quality homework has adverse effects on motivation, effort and on achievement outcomes.
Fifth, setting high-quality homework is difficult for teachers because the capabilities of every student in a class have to be taken into account. Teacher education courses, mostly, do not have the time to help develop these skills.
Sixth, students report more negative emotions when working on homework than when working on class work. To enhance homework motivation, students need to be given some autonomy and choice in relation to their tasks. This does not commonly occur in schools.
So the answer to the main question is both yes and no. Traditional homework does have benefits but there is scope for reform.
Richard Walker is associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Sydney and is writing a book on reforming homework.
THE RESEARCHER SUE THOMSON
I took the job of writing this article home one night this week, but after a long day at work I really didn't feel like doing it. So here I am first thing in the morning doing it before I start work again.
I have three perspectives on homework. When I was a maths teacher, the school policy was that we should set homework at least twice a week. Why? "It's good for kids to learn time management and discipline." I wondered about that at the time, and after a few years of teaching knew that assigning traditional homework did no such thing. Children who understood what was going on in class whipped through their homework and probably got a bit of benefit in terms of reinforcement. Those who didn't understand just didn't do it, or struggled for hours longer than they should have.
As a researcher, the data from international assessments such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study tell me the relationship between homework and achievement is not straightforward. There is a positive correlation between the two up to about 1½ hours of homework in year 8, but then the relationship is in the opposite direction.
Probably that is because it is the students who have problems in class who spend too much time on their homework. Why is it that we expect children who struggle in class to be able to finish the exercise they were lagging behind in at home with no support? By year 8, it is unlikely that many parents will be able to help, layering frustration on top of feelings of underachievement and making children hate learning.
Meta-analysis of research by John Hattie in New Zealand and Harris Cooper in the US has cast doubt on the benefits of homework, but still it is the norm that children work all day at school, then go home and do a couple more hours.
As a parent, homework became the bane of my life. It was usually boring and repetitive, but at times enormously demanding (such as the task of building a volcano). My children were lucky that they had parents with the time and resources to be able to help them - what about those whose parents or parent work a couple of jobs, or have poor language skills?
I wanted to talk to my children about their day, read with them, cook dinner with them. That is what homework should be.
Sue Thomson is the director of educational monitoring and research at the Australian Council for Educational Research.
THE PRINCIPAL JONATHAN CANNON
I have been given some homework by the Herald - I have to write an essay about homework. And I don't like it. I've been given less than 24 hours to complete the task. I've been given a tight limit of just 400 words.
And my work is going to the toughest of markers: the public, including students, teachers and parents.
Homework creates tension. There is the tension of requirement: the student may get a detention if he or she fails to complete the homework. There is the tension of assessment: the student's future pathways are being determined by the quality of the work completed at home. There is the tension of alternatives: the student may prefer kicking a ball or visiting friends. There is the tension of exerting effort: it's much easier to do anything else than work, like sleeping or watching television.
Is the tension worth it? Dr Etta Kralovec, co-author of The End of Homework, says ''homework simply doesn't make sense in this brave new constructivist world of teaching and learning''. But common wisdom tells us that many hours of extra effort are required for a swimmer to win gold at the Olympics. A couple of hours with a coach each week is just not enough. Practice makes perfect.
Many additional hours of revision and familiarisation are required to become immersed in the discipline before a maestro performance. Every subject taught at school also requires directed practice and recapitulation to reinforce and improve skills and understanding.
The discipline of doing what is required has value. But beyond that discipline there is also the spark of interest that feeds excellence. Many of the students at my school have become enthused by original scientific research or music composition or football or poetry - and spent many more creative hours than could be demanded towards outcomes that attract the attention of experts and the media.
Finally, we live in a competitive world. It would be of great benefit to my students if all the other schools decided homework was not necessary. Then my students could trump them all. But I am sure most schools will continue to direct study both at school and at home to coach their students towards a goal beyond competence towards excellence. And surely this is what we all desire for our common future good.
Jonathan Cannon is the principal of Redeemer Baptist School, North Parramatta.
Main points of the discussion
It was agreed that students doing homework is always preferable to their playing computer games when they return home.
We were interested to learn from the text that certain research has shown that homework has a clear value in improving academic achievement only in the senior years of high school but does not improve the achievement of children in the early years of primary school. We expressed our suspicion of the validity of such results and commented that other research could show different findings.
Certain comments in the text led us to conclude that homework tasks should be varied according to student’s differing abilities so as to challenge rather than bore the brighter students and consist of realistic tasks that do not de-motivate the weaker students.
We agreed with the comment made in the text that often more able students breeze through their homework and benefit very little from it whereas we assume that the weakest students will be capable of doing homework alone at home even though they struggle in the classroom.
We all shared experiences of having had students who bring to school homework of an extremely high quality that has been done by their parents or their parent’s employees. This made us question whether homework could be valuable when it is difficult to be sure who actually completed the homework.
Conclusions
Homework should be different according to each student’s individual needs so that each child is appropriately challenged. Homework should be inspiring and motivating so that students enjoy their work and value its purpose.
Homework that encourages students and parents to work together is also valuable as it provides an opportunity for families to come together, exchange ideas, discuss and learn more about and support each other. We also concluded that homework was always seen as preferable to students playing games on their computers every night.
Evaluation of the protocol:
It was suitable for our text and following it did not dominate our discussion.
Busy Bees Session 1
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BxyprR_fiyVxyU4zeWuhnYjjnznW9JMoStDq8zLcujw?feat=directlink
Konu:Bilgi İşlem Merkezi’nden bugüne kadar ne istekte bulundum?strong>Bilgi İşlem Merkezi’nden başka ne isteyebileceğimi düşünüyorum?
Protokol:“CHALK-TALK”
Sunucu:Candan Asal
Moderatör: Eda Çetintaş Bingöl
Herkes sessizce düşüncelerini yazmaya başladı.
Eda ÇETİNTAŞ BİNGÖL:- Bilgisayar ile ilgili tüm aksaklıklar,
- Bir sunum hazırlarken destek almak için,
- DVD ve film eklemek, hazırlamak, çekmek ihtiyacı için,
- E-ışık şifreleri için,
- Elektronik kartlar için,
- Yemekhane giriş kartları basımı,
- E-mail grupları oluşturma,
- Aklımda 3 kişi var: Ramazan, Timur e-ışıkla ilgili: Berna,
- Bilgisayar Öğretmeni olarak bir tek Serkan’dan Excel yardımı aldım.
Filiz ABABAY:- Toner istemek için,
- Bilgisayar arızası bildirmek için,
- Berna’dan bazı ders konuları ile ilgili yazı, resim, destek alıyoruz,
- Kişilerle ilgili Heather’la aynı fikirdeyim (aynen yazmış)
- Bu yıl bilgisayar öğretmenleri 1.sınıflarda sınıf öğretmenleri ile birlikte istasyon çalışması yapıyorlar.
Murat YANAR:- Teknolojini gelişimini anlatacaktım, materyal istemek için başvurdum,
- Sınıftaki bilgisayarın sorunu için aradım,
- Sınıf bilgisayarının internet bağlantısı için aradım,
- Ya da bazı programların kullanımı ile ilgili destek aldım,
- Ders işleyişine Berna’nın katkısı oldu,
- Geçmiş yıllara ait dökümanlar için başvurabilirim.
Heather ERGUVANLI:- ICT den mi söz ediyoruz,
- Kime başvuracağım, teknisyen var, uzman var…
- Candan var, Cem Öncel, Berna var, kim ne yapar net bilmiyorum,
- Beyhan ne yapıyor, ne için gitmeliyim ona?
Sonra sözlü paylaşım yapıldı:
CANDAN ASAL:
BİM Yöneticiliği görevine yeni atandım. Biliyorsunuz öteden beri bir anlam kargaşamız var. Yerine oturmuş bir imaj yok. Bilgi İşlem gerçekte ne yapar, ya da ne yapmalıdır, okul toplumu için nasıl bir destek birimidir? Yalnızca destek vermekle mi yükümlüdür?
Aslında yazdıklarınız beklediğim unsurlardı. Ama bu algıyı karşılıklı düzeltmek gerektiğine inanıyorum.
Okul toplumuna BİM elemanları da, eğitim teknolojileri uzmanları da, bilgisayar öğretmenleri de görev tanımları ve yükümlülükleri ile tanıtılmalı, okul toplumu da her görev düzeyinde, veli ve öğrenci olarak ta kimden ne isteyebileceğinin ve ne istemesinin uygun olmayacağının bilincinde olmalı. Önce farkındalık yaratıp sonra görev tanımlarını yeniden dizayn edip, adımları karşılıklı atmalıyız ki sistemi işletebilelim.
Session 1
Topic:Up Until now why have we applied to the Data Center?
Protocol: Chalk Talk
Presenter: Candan Asal
Facilitator: Eda Çetintaş Bingöl
The session highlighted the following points:
1. Help with preparing a presentation
2.Adding films and DVDs
3. E-Işık passwords
4. Electronic security cards
5.Printing lunchtime passes
6.Forming e-mail groups
7.Technical aid
8.Assistance from Berna Hamarat in preparation of lesson materials
9.Setting up of computer stations in 1st Grade Classes
10. Finding documents from previous years
11.The lack of clarity on roles and divisions of technicians, computer teachers and experts.
Candan, who has been newly appointed to oversee the 3 campuses and direct IT operations said that she was not surprised about the above comments because there have up until now been no clearly defined lines as to who does what and who they answer to.She believes that those involved in these operations should be given a clear job description which will result in further steps being taken towards the development of a more efficient system.
How can we deal with impulsive students?
We had a very pleasant meeting today on "How can we deal with impulsive students in a class setting where we want to be fair to each and every student?"
Pınar İnal was the presenter and Aylin Geron was the facilitator.
We all enjoyed the session and learned a lot from each other.
Thank you very much.
Pınar İnal was the presenter and Aylin Geron was the facilitator.
We all enjoyed the session and learned a lot from each other.
Thank you very much.
2011-2012 Survivors
Mazal Dozbahar(İ/ENG)
Aylin Geron (İ/ENG)
Özer Gülen (İ/ENG)
Pınar Şimşek İnal (İ/FEN)
Sema Tekdoğan (İ/ENG)
Sevda Uygun (İ/MAT)
Sırma Demirel
Derya Bayhan (İ/SIN)
Neslihan Akçınar (L/ENG)
Mizan Coşkun (L/TDE)
Aylin Geron (İ/ENG)
Özer Gülen (İ/ENG)
Pınar Şimşek İnal (İ/FEN)
Sema Tekdoğan (İ/ENG)
Sevda Uygun (İ/MAT)
Sırma Demirel
Derya Bayhan (İ/SIN)
Neslihan Akçınar (L/ENG)
Mizan Coşkun (L/TDE)
The State and Futures of Educational Technologies
The State and Futures of Educational Technologies. By: Loertscher, David, Teacher Librarian, 14811782, Apr2011, Vol. 38, Issue 4
Database:
Academic Search Complete
HTML Full Text
The State and Futures of Educational Technologies
Contents
1. TYPES OF LEARNING BOOSTS FROM TECHNOLOGY
2. REFERENCES
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WHAT WORKS
Since the issuance of the National Education Technology Plan (reported in the February, 2011,What Works Column of Teacher Librarian), some critical reports have been issued that give us a glimpse of the technology phenomenon happening with the current generation of young people in the nation. In this column, we highlight three of thesereports and their findings:
Pew Internet & American Life Project. Generations 2010. Report issued December 16, 2010 at: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Generations-2010.aspx
STAR: School Technology Action Report: Emerging Trends 2011. eSchoolMedia Inc., 2011 at: http://www.eschoolnews.com/ wp-content/uploads/2011/02/esmstarreport.pdf
Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report. Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by[3.0[
KEY TRENDS IN THE HORIZON REPORT:
* The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is constantly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators in sense-making, coaching, and credentialing.
* People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want.
* The world of work is increasingly collaborative, giving rise to reflection about the way student projects are structured.
* The technologies we use are increasingly cloud-based, and our notions of IT support are decentralized.
* The Horizon Report also recommends that E-books and working on mobile devices are the major trends to watch closely alongside game-based learning.
KEY FINDING OF THE STAR REPORT:
* More and more lectures are being moved to "homework" so class time is spent working with individuals and small groups. It is called inverted learning.
* Mobile devices are becoming mainstream in teaching and learning.
* While E-books are often static text, watch developments such as Blio for a new generation of interactive texts.
* VDO (virtual desktop infrastructure) utilizing cloud computing makes all resources available on any preferred student or teacher device.
* The old concept of a "dumb" terminal that connects to a computer remotely is cutting costs for one tone computing solutions.
KEY FINDINGS OF THE GENERATIONS 2010 REPORT:
* Social networking is still firmly entrenched in the vocabulary of the youngest computer users.
* Email is used by teens only for formal communication with adults.
* Personal blogging by younger users is giving way to Facebook-type networks.
While our attempt to condense for the reader the various trends, we urge the reading of the full reports to gain a better and clearer sense of what is happening in technology. However, it should be apparent that the continuous evolution of technology is forever changing current reality as adults and young people interact. It is certain that "keeping up" in technology is a must for every teacher-librarian. We have and continue to recommend that every teacher-librarian develop a PLN (personal learning network) that keeps you informed of new developments. And, the place to start is to surround ourselves with a Geek squad of young techies who teach us and whom we challenge to build a bridge from the social networking skills over into academic skills.
For example, as we read the above trends, we imagine some of the responses that might be incorporated into building a learning commons environment in the school. Our list of suggestions might stir a few ideas:
* Seeing that an increasing number of students and teachers have mobile devices, I would push toward the adoption of the free and safe cloud computing environment of Google Apps for Education (Nevin, Melton, Pc Loertscher, 2010). And, in that environment you would bypass district servers and often their networks, enabling the mobile devices option so that whether kids had computers, iPads, iTouches, mobile phones, or other computing devices, they would have access to their coursework and the resources of the learning commons at any time and anywhere.
* If I wasn't an "expert" in the Google family of resources or major open source applications such as Moodle, I would dedicate time to learn them so well that I could be a leader in technology in my school.
* It is time that teacher-librarians know and keep up with every development in the E-book department including e-texts, and free educational resources. The new collection development pushes now from print to digital and from a single person doing and finding the best of the best to a giant collaborative of adults and students building collaborative access.
* I would be a leader in going beyond the mere transference of old assignments from paper and pencil to some form of technology to entire re-invention of teaching and learning where technology is actually boosting both deep understanding and learning how to learn. An example of this is the following list that concentrates on what is to be learned and then selecting the tool to accomplish that objective. You are invited to view and contribute to the list.
TYPES OF LEARNING BOOSTS FROM TECHNOLOGY
Learning How to Learn:
Brainstorming
Question building
Gathering and organizing high quality information
Reading engagement
Analysis and synthesis of information and ideas
Collaborative writing and editing
Collaborative visualization; Mindmapping
Presenting, publishing, and communicating
Reflection and metacognition
Collaborative knowledge building; Collaborative intelligence
Other learning How to Learn Tools
Motivation
Novelty
Real world
Relevant
Experimenting and playing, problem posing and problem solving simulations
Global projects: Appreciation of other cultures
Other Motivational Tools
Creativity and Content Creation
Building/composing, creating using many tools and presentation venues
Digital storytelling; growth in oral speaking
Creativity tools and innovation because of those tools
Presenting, publishing and communicating
Collaborative and individual writing
Other Creativity and Content Creation Tools
Efficiency
Tools that save time for individuals and groups
Organizational tools that help everyone get the job done.
Other Efficiency Tool
Deep Understanding of Content Knowledge
Collaborative visualization; Mindmapping
Multimedia experiences not possible in a non-tech world
Growth in Content Knowledge: the major ideas of the various disciplines: what we know and are able to do
Other Deep Understanding of Content Knowledge Tool
Assessing What We Really Value
Deep understanding
Learning How to Learn
Critical thinking
Creative thinking
Habits of mind
College and career ready
Common Core Standards and other standards we value
Formative and summative
Other Assessing What We Really Value Tools
Teaching Strategies, Techniques, and Organization
Differentiation
Presentations
Going paperless
Tracking and managing
Management systems for courses, grading
Environments such as Google Apps for Education; Moodle
Other Teaching Strategies, Techniques, and Organization Tools
Now over to you: Brainstorm about the best Web 2.0 tools, complete the questionnaire on tools at: https://spreadsheets. google.com/view form?formkey=dGdKb1JoRDF0alh1VHFQTTY4Mk9YWGc6 MQ, and then you can view the results at: https ://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key= tgJoRhD1NjXuTqPM682 OXXg#gid=0.
The more proficient we are as teacher-librarians in promoting, demonstrating, and implementing super learning experiences that take advantage of the rich and often free information resources out there and that take advantage of the best learning technologies, the more likely we are to hold on to our positions in schools because we are indispensible. It should be clear to all of us, that merely raising each learner to minimal expectation levels must fade as a push toward excellence arises. And, should we all lose our positions in times of financial exigencies, we will be equipped to be the very best teachers in the school or as members of any learning organization.
Nevin, R., Melton, M., Loertscher, D. V. [2010). Google Apps for Education: Building Knowledge in a Safe and Free Environment. Spring, TX: Hi Willow Research and Publishing.
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By David Loertscher
Copyright of Teacher Librarian is the property of EL Kurdyla Publishing LLC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
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