What can teachers do to help parents help their
children with homework?
Just what kind of parental involvement - and how much involvement - truly
helps children with their homework? The most useful stance parents can take,
many experts agree, is to be somewhat but not overly involved in homework. The
emphasis needs to be on parents' helping children do their homework themselves - not on doing it for them.
In an Instructor magazine article "How to Make Parents Your
Homework Partners," study-skills consultant Judy Dodge maintains that
involving students in homework is largely the teacher's job, yet parents can
help by "creating a home environment that's conducive to kids getting
their homework done."
Children who spend more time on homework, on average, do better
academically than children who don't, and the academic benefits of homework increase
in the upper grades, according to Helping Your Child With Homework, a handbook by the Office of
Education Research and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education. The
handbook offers ideas for helping children finish homework assignments
successfully and answers questions that parents and people who care for
elementary and junior high school students often ask about homework.
One of the Goals 2000 goals involves the parent/school relationship. The
goal reads, "Every school will promote partnerships that will increase
parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and
academic growth of children." Teachers can pursue the goal, in part, by
communicating to parents their reasons for assigning homework. For example, the handbook states, homework can help
children to
- review and practice what they have learned;
- prepare for the next day's class;
- use resources, such as libraries and reference materials;
- investigate topics more fully than time allows in the classroom.
Parents can help children excel at homework by
- setting a regular time;
- choosing a place;
- removing distractions;
- having supplies and resources on hand;
- monitoring assignments; and
- providing guidance.
The handbook cautions against actually doing the homework for a child, but
talking about the assignment so the child can figure out what needs to be done
is OK. And reviewing a completed assignment with a child can also be helpful.
The kind of help that works best depends, of course, partly on the child's age.
Elementary school students who are doing homework for the first time may need
more direct involvement than older students.
HOMEWORK "TIPS"
Specific methods have been developed for encouraging the optimal parental
involvement in homework. TIPS (Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork)
Interactive Homework process was designed by researchers at Johns Hopkins
University and teachers in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia to
meet parents' and teachers' needs, says the Phi Delta Kappa Research Bulletin.
The September 1997 bulletin reported the effects of TIPS-Language Arts on
middle-grade students' writing skills, language arts report card grades, and
attitudes toward TIPS as well as parents' reactions to interactive homework.
TIPS interactive homework assignments involve students in demonstrating or
discussing homework with a family member. Parents are asked to monitor,
interact, and support their children. They are not required to read or direct
the students' assignments because that is the students' responsibility. All
TIPS homework has a section for home-to-school communication where parents
indicate their interaction with the student about the homework.
The goals of the TIPS process are for
- parents to gain knowledge about their children's school work,
- students to gain mastery in academic subjects by enhancing school lessons at home, and
- teachers to have an understanding of the parental contribution to student learning.
"TIPS" RESULTS
Nearly all parents involved in the TIPS program said TIPS provided them
with information about what their children were studying in school. About 90
percent of the parents wanted the school to continue TIPS the following year.
More than 80 percent of the families liked the TIPS process (44 percent a lot;
36% a little).
TIPS activities were better than regular homework, according to 60 percent
of the students who participated. About 70 percent wanted the school to use
TIPS the next year.
According to Phi Delta Kappa Research Bulletin, more family involvement
helped students' writing skills increase, even when prior writing skills were
taken into account. And completing more TIPS assignments improved students'
language arts grades on report cards, even after prior report card grades and
attendance were taken into account.
Of the eight teachers involved, six liked the TIPS process and intended to
go on using it without help or supplies from the researchers. Furthermore,
seven of the eight teachers said TIPS "helps families see what their
children are learning in class."
OTHER TIPS
In "How to Make Parents Your Homework Partners," Judy Dodge
suggests that teachers begin giving parent workshops to provide practical tips
for "winning the homework battle." At the workshop, teachers should
focus on three key study skills:
- Organizational skills -- Help put students in control of work and to feel sure that they can master what they need to learn and do. Parents can, for example, help students find a "steady study spot" with the materials they need at hand.
- Time-management skills -- Enable students to complete work without feeling too much pressure and to have free time. By working with students to set a definite study time, for example, parents can help with time management.
- Active study strategies -- Help students to achieve better outcomes from studying. Parents suggest, for instance, that students write questions they think will be on a test and then recite their answers out loud.
Article by Sharon Cromwell
Education World®
Copyright © 1998 Education World
Education World®
Copyright © 1998 Education World
Posted by
Kids Are Special in
Parents
Enjoy relevant articles
- 9 Things You Should Never Say to Your Child
- Big Discipline Mistakes Parents Make and How to Fix Them
- 3 Easy Steps to Help us Raise Happy Kids
- Peaceful parenting raises a child who WANTS to behave
- Why parents should talk a lot to their young kids and choose their words carefully
- How parents love
- Teach Children By Example
- Your Child is Not Your Equal: Why You Have to Be the Boss
- What the kids learn best from their parents
- Parents attitude
- Parental guide to build confidence in kids
- Ηow to Get Your Kids to Listen without Yelling
No comments:
Post a Comment