Day 8 - Wendy Czerwinski, BHS Science Department

Mrs. Czerwinski (on the left) with junior Jenna McAnespie

Too Much Homework? Busy Work. Race to Nowhere. Don't Just do it to get it done.  Covering Material.  Paying Attention in Class. Giving 100%.

These are common phrases I think about as I plan and teach. They represent contrasting and sometimes conflicting ideas about what teachers and students need to do to be successful. But they also signify important details that teachers and students need to understand about each other.

Take for example, homework. Homework is a time-honored and some say essential part of the educational process. Who could argue that it is helpful to practice at home the things that are taught during the day? Of course I assign homework. However, I have also been paying attention to the Race to Nowhere discussions. I make a conscious effort to be as respectful as possible of my students' time and their other commitments. I would like to think that I do not assign busy work as homework. In fact, because of the Race to Nowhere discussions, I have modified my assignments and do assign less homework than in previous years. Has this helped? Not necessarily. Some students need to read the text book, some students need the drill and some students stress no matter how much work is assigned.

The next set of thoughts that I think often are: "Don't just do it to get it done," and "Am I just covering the material, or are my students learning what I want them to learn?" I confess that I sometimes let the calendar drive my teaching -- I try hard to maintain the schedule I set for my curriculum that I go over things too quickly. My students have a similar problem: when overloaded with school and extracurricular commitments, they sometimes complete assignments without really thinking about them -- and then discover later that they didn't really learn anything. Sometimes they will complain to me "I did the homework, but I didn't get it." I want to say, "Don't just do it to get it done. What didn't you get?” and "If you didn't get it in class, where else can you look up that
information?" We all have to continually check ourselves -- "I have to ask myself “Did they learn what they were supposed to learn in class?”, and my students have to do their own work in such a way as to be sure they are understanding the material.

That brings us to the classroom. Especially with the iPads, I have found that I cannot just lecture to the students. Students need to be engaged in the material. I am redesigning many of my lessons so that the students have all the information in front of them, but they have to work in groups to process it and understand the meaning. My experience is that learning this way is much harder for them. In my chemistry class it is more challenging to collect evidence that show that elements in the first column of the periodic table react similarly because they have one valence electron than it is to have me just tell students that fact. It takes a much deeper level of study to observe the patterns and make the conclusions without being told.

Teaching this way is much harder and takes longer. But because I am aiming for deeper understanding, I tell my students if they work in the classroom and give me 100%, they will understand better, and hopefully any homework I do assign, should be easier. I promise them not to give assignment over long weekends and that I try not to let the practice seem like busy work. The homework is supposed to be to check that students are learning what they are supposed to and to allow them to extend the subject and explore how the chemistry relates to their everyday life.

That is what I want: that we work together to create a classroom where everyone is engaged and learning together. We are not there yet, but we have a goal.