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MR.
CHOOSE-A-CHART
Teachers
are generally of two schools when
it comes to homework - those who
hate it and do not assign it and
those who hate it, but assign it.
When I first began teaching 10
years ago, I was of neither
school. The Faculty of Education
never addressed the topic of
homework and I naively began
teaching without any thought of
homework.
Soon into
my first year teaching a split
grade 1 and 2 class, parents
began asking me about homework:
"Why doesn't Susie get homework?"
"Where is Tong's homework. They
get homework in the other
classes". Of course my naïve
response was: "Your child is in
school all day long and needs a
break at night. Therefore I don't
assign homework." That wasn't
what most parents wanted to hear.
As they questioned me more and
more, I began to hate homework,
even though I had never assigned
any.
Fortunately,
along came the Borrow-a-Book
movement in my Board of
Education. I attended a workshop
on Borrow-a-Book and fell in love
with it. I could send books and a
tracking sheet home every night
and that would be MY HOMEWORK.
Parents would be happy; children
would be reading; and my homework
worries would be gone! I bought
books for my class collection
with Borrow-a-Book money (given
to each teacher from a special
budget). I put pockets in the
backs of books, taught my
students how to sign books out
and PRESTO I had a homework
program. The kids loved it and so
did I. Even the parents seemed
pleased.
Of course,
it wasn't long until parents
started commenting that
Borrow-a-Book was fun but not
homework: "My child reads at home
with or without Borrow-a-Book."
and "Reading isn't homework!". To
appease the disgruntled
"pro-homework parents", I
eventually began doing what my
other colleagues did - SENDING
HOME WORKSHEETS. Daily, I
photocopied math worksheets,
language worksheets, science
worksheets, social studies
worksheets and so on and so on.
Not surprisingly, parents loved
my new homework program. I now
heard comments like "Susie just
loves doing homework." And "My
child learns so much doing all
those worksheets at
night."
However, I
HATED all of the preparation and
photocopying of these "drill and
kill" type worksheets that I
ordinarily didn't use during the
day in my classroom. My
photocopying expenses skyrocketed
that year and I barely had enough
money left in my classroom budget
to purchase pencils, markers,
kleenex and paper. I also spent
hours each week collecting,
marking and returning the
worksheets. Needless to say, it
seemed that all of my efforts
went into homework. I barely had
time to teach. My mind was always
on, "Which worksheet can I send
home tonight?". Homework now
became something I hated but
did.
The
following year I had a homework
epiphany. An Orff teacher was
coming into my room once a week
during the first term to do Orff
with my class. While she taught
songs and actions and had
students perform on musical
instruments, I observed and
listened. I wasn't used to
sitting idle in my classroom and
soon found myself writing her
songs on chart paper. I posted
the charts in the classroom and
we sang the songs in between
weekly Orff classes.
One day
after a parent asked me what Orff
was, it occurred to me that I
could send some of the charts
home with students so they could
share the songs with their
parents. So, I neatly folded the
charts up, put them in ziplock
baggies and handed them out to a
few students each night. They
shared their charts with their
parents and other family members
and then brought them back the
next day. Others could then take
them home, too, and share them
with their parents. I began
hearing from parents how they
liked hearing the songs we were
learning in Orff. Soon I added
suggestions to the charts (e.g.
Sing this song. Shout this song.
Whisper this song. Read this song
backwards) and alas,
CHOOSE-A-CHART was born!
Inspired by
the excitement of students when
singing, I began teaching them
new songs and poems during
calendar time each morning. I
wrote them on chart paper and
sent home. To track who had taken
a chart home, I attached a class
list to each chart. Students put
a check mark next to their name
after they had borrowed it.
Gradually, Choose-a-Chart grew
and grew and grew. I stopped
photocopying worksheets and
instead, wrote math and language
question/activities on charts. I
had more than enough charts for
every student to choose one every
night for homework. Each student
did their written work on a
loose-leaf piece of paper which
was returned with the chart the
next morning. I put the papers in
a homework file for each student.
Finally, my "drill and kill"
worksheet homework program was
gone! I had graduated to a new
school of teachers - those who
love homework and do
it.
Very little
time was needed to prepare
homework. I made charts whenever
I got an idea or taught a new
concept or skill in Math or
Language. Tracking became minimal
and eventually the loose-leaf
papers were replaced by homework
notebooks. I revised the record
sheets on the front of the charts
to include a space for each
student to write a comment. I
also colour-coded the record
sheets so that math charts were
green and language charts were
pink.
Now in my
tenth year of teaching, I find
Choose-a-Chart is one of the most
effective things I have done in
my career. It's a fun way of
doing homework that, once
established, requires minimal
preparation and tracking.
Students find it motivating and
challenging, yet it gives them
practice on skills and concepts
we have already learned in class.
Parents like it because their
children get homework every
night, they know what it looks
like and approximately how much
time will be needed to complete
it. It also is a form of
communication with parents which
helps build and strengthen the
home-school
connection.
To some
people, I'm now known as Mr.
Choose-a-Chart. It's a nice
alternative to Mr.
Worksheet.
Michael
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