As I prepare new and improved questions for my group interviews next week I can't help but address the common theme that keeps emerging... fun! Some of my students say that it is fun, others say that ONLY spelling is fun. The point of my new reading choice board was to make reading just as fun as spelling was. I realized that I wasn't hitting that target a few weeks back when I had a student suggest to do reading homework on a TV show. (I hope you're laughing at that one!) I set out to find help on the topic of fun homework and see if anyone else had found anything out.
In my search, I found Bailey et al. (2011) who stated that they sent homework activity choices home in their weekly newsletter. They offered leveled option in efforts to differentiate the activities and it involved choice as well (so the parents chose the level/activity to complete with their child). After this was implemented, they sent surveys home to parents. Bailey et al. (2011) reported three themes that were found from the parent surveys "parents and students enjoyed being given choices in homework. Second, half of the surveys reflected that they were very satisfied with the homework. Third, half of the surveys reflected a desire to have traditional worksheet-based homework" (p. 42).
What the research tells me though, is that it might be more beneficial to supply such a list for my families, of suggested activity choices. This study was done with kindergartners so it would look quite different in a third grade class, but I think there is something to be said for homework bringing families together. That was actually one of my questions on my parent questionnaire. I gave the statement "Due to the change in the homework policy, I have had more quality time with my child after school." 67% of the parents either strongly agreed or agreed with that statement. I also commented in my last post about a student who stated that he did not like doing homework because he would like to spend more time with his dad. This could be another avenue to explore in my future homework endevours?!
Bailey, J.P., Godbey, R., & Pertl-Clark, A. (2011). Hooray for homework: Making homework fun!. The California Reader, 44(3), 38-45.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Defeated...
As I approach the last week of my study I have an overwhelming feeling of being defeated. Last week I attended a math conference with the other third grade teachers on Monday and Tuesday. I'm not sure if my being out Monday and Tuesday has anything to do with the low request for homework or not. I only had ten students take homework. Then... I only had five students return any homework. That is an all time low for my records. To add insult to injury... I also handed out the Parent Questionnaires on Wednesday. I have 21 students who have parents/guardians who signed the consent forms, so out of 21 students only 15 brought them back in. There are absent students in there, which is part of it but I offered 3 gumballs AND a sucker to anyone who brought it in by Friday and I still only had 15 return. =(
I finally had a chance to break apart the responses of the parent survey and I would never have imagined the results that I got. Before I get into that, I have three papers that I am unsure on how to document the responses for. Below, is one of the surveys. Question 6 states I would like my child to have homework and question 8 says homework is helpful to my child. This parent responded to both of these with a question mark between agree and disagree. The parent also wrote "Only if he needs practice on a particular skill." How should I code that? Would you put that as a agree or disagree or just leave it out?
Another example of a survey where the parent put conditions instead of circling one way or another was on the survey below. This parent (for the same two questions) wrote that they were indifferent to having homework for their child. The parent also commented on question 8 that it depends on level of understanding.
The last survey that I have addresses question number 6 again. This parent comments that she would like her child to have homework "sometime not daily". As well as homework being "sometime" helpful to her child. This survey can be seen below.
Now that I have discussed my difficulties with these surveys, I will report (as promised) the outcome of them. Keep in mind that my research question is how does student choice and rewards in homework impact student attitudes towards homework. Of the 15 parents who responded to the survey, only 3 said that they agreed that their child's attitude towards homework has improved with the change in homework. That means that 80% of parents say that their child's attitude towards homework has not improved.
After reading through the student surveys I handed out to my kids at the beginning of the study I was struck by one student who responded that he wished he had less homework so that he could have more time to spend with his dad. That prompted me to ask question 3 on the parent survey, which was "due to the change in the homework policy, have you had more quality time with your child?" I was shocked to see that 67% of parents said that due to the change in the homework policy, they have had more quality time with their child after school.
I finally had a chance to break apart the responses of the parent survey and I would never have imagined the results that I got. Before I get into that, I have three papers that I am unsure on how to document the responses for. Below, is one of the surveys. Question 6 states I would like my child to have homework and question 8 says homework is helpful to my child. This parent responded to both of these with a question mark between agree and disagree. The parent also wrote "Only if he needs practice on a particular skill." How should I code that? Would you put that as a agree or disagree or just leave it out?
Another example of a survey where the parent put conditions instead of circling one way or another was on the survey below. This parent (for the same two questions) wrote that they were indifferent to having homework for their child. The parent also commented on question 8 that it depends on level of understanding.
The last survey that I have addresses question number 6 again. This parent comments that she would like her child to have homework "sometime not daily". As well as homework being "sometime" helpful to her child. This survey can be seen below.
Now that I have discussed my difficulties with these surveys, I will report (as promised) the outcome of them. Keep in mind that my research question is how does student choice and rewards in homework impact student attitudes towards homework. Of the 15 parents who responded to the survey, only 3 said that they agreed that their child's attitude towards homework has improved with the change in homework. That means that 80% of parents say that their child's attitude towards homework has not improved.
After reading through the student surveys I handed out to my kids at the beginning of the study I was struck by one student who responded that he wished he had less homework so that he could have more time to spend with his dad. That prompted me to ask question 3 on the parent survey, which was "due to the change in the homework policy, have you had more quality time with your child?" I was shocked to see that 67% of parents said that due to the change in the homework policy, they have had more quality time with their child after school.
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