Take it into Consideration

After parent teacher conferences this week, the element of what parents thought was weighing on me.  In my action research I don't have anything planned for the opinions of parents.  This got me thinking "is there anything out there about parent opinions on homework"?  One article, Making Homework work at Home: The Parent's Perspective (to find complete article see complete citation below) found that parents had a lot to say about the homework their students were bringing home.

The research conducted by Kay, Fitzgerald, Paradee & Mellencamp (1994) found five themes:

1. Parents felt ill-prepared to help their children with homework.
2. Parents needed more information about the classroom teachers' expectations of their child and of their own roles in helping with homework.
3. Parents wanted their children to be given homework assignments that were appropriate for them as individual learners.
4. Parents valued and even enjoyed hands-on homework and projects in which the whole family could participate.
5. Parents wanted an extensive two-way communication system that would allow them to become partners on their child's instructional team.
*As the themes are described, the term parents, will mean the parents of students with disabilities, unless otherwise noted. (p. 554)

Remembering back to last week, I had two parents chaperon our class field trip.  Somehow they got onto the subject of homework.  One of the parents told me that she liked the way homework was handed out last year when it was given out on Monday and collected by the teacher Friday.  When I asked her why to gain more understanding on the reason behind it she said that some night it is hard to get homework done with so many after school activities going on.  When it was all due on Friday they would work towards doing more homework on the days their schedule would allow for it and still have everything turned in by Friday without the stress of cramming it in on their busy nights.  Since I am not a parent myself yet, that thought never dawned on me!

I also had one father tell me during parent teacher conferences "Whatever you're doing, it's working!  She completed like five spelling assignments this week!"  That was encouraging since other parents told me "My child won't take homework if it is an option and I want them to have it, so just give it to him!"

Considering everything, it was a fast week and I feel as though I didn't complete nearly as much as I wanted to.  My class took the MAP test three days this week, we had an early release day with a school wide meeting before conferences and Friday got started with a delay due to the snow (or at least with what Kentucky calls snow).  =)

I am looking forward to next week after watching the video about data.  I feel much better and I have more clarity on what exactly I should be writing down throughout the day.  My notebook of observational notes is still light since I'm not really sure when or what I should be observing, but I will do better next week.

References

Kay, P. J., Fitzgerald, M., Paradee, C., & Mellencamp, A. (1994). Making homework work at home: The parent's perspective. Journal of learning disabilities, 27(9), 550-561.