{"id":519,"date":"2016-11-05T12:04:35","date_gmt":"2016-11-05T16:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/inside.gcschool.org\/gracegazette\/?p=519"},"modified":"2016-11-05T12:04:35","modified_gmt":"2016-11-05T16:04:35","slug":"why-do-we-have-so-much-homework","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/why-do-we-have-so-much-homework\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do We Have So Much Homework?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fishbowl on October 21st was focused on workload. Students and teachers alike sat in a circle with two stools in the center of the room. These two stools allowed two people to talk to each other, from their own experience, and share their opinions on the topics mentioned throughout the fishbowl. Mr. Brown opened the discussion presenting questions such as: \u201cWhat is our common understanding of the school\u2019s expectation of homework and workload?\u201d and \u201cHow does the workload look for teachers and students?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Many seniors have felt that this quarter has been the hardest of their career at Grace; therefore, the turnout of seniors at the fishbowl was large. Consequently, the first question presented was about how seniors experience workload in their senior year. The combination of early college applications and homework seem to be overwhelming for a majority of students. Many complain that there is no time to do both, especially since applying to college is such a stressful process. <\/span><\/p>\n

It becomes a game of what you want to sacrifice. Students mentioned that their workload has increased to an absurd amount so they have to choose which assignments to focus on and which to slack off on because there is only so much time in the day. It is difficult to prioritize and it is still difficult to handle the workload even when you use your time wisely, such as using free periods to do work. Some students expressed that they feel as if some teachers assign homework as if it was only for their class. One student mentioned their ADHD and that student has to take medicine to focus and do the amount of work assigned, the student never eats because they are always on medicine that suppresses appetite. <\/span><\/p>\n

Another teacher asked if students like the increased rigor. Students expressed the stress they have felt a drastic increase in homework for their Senior year. Many students mentioned that they were told Junior year was the hardest year, but now they feel that Senior year is significantly more challenging. The advanced English and History classes are only accessible to seniors, and therefore, students are not used to the extreme rigor that these classes provide. A student expressed their wish that we had learned how to skim difficult and long reading prior to their Senior year to better prepare for college. According to a school administrator in the room, the original model for the high school was to create homework that benefitted student\u2019s learning as opposed to giving busy work. Students explained that it feels as though teachers assign more busy work than work that will benefit their learning and analytical skills. <\/span><\/p>\n

A teacher questioned if the work is evenly dispersed throughout the week, or if major assignments seem to fall on Thursday and Friday. The response was that over the weekend, time can be devoted to assignments due Monday and Tuesday, but by the end of the week, work can pile up. Especially students with extracurricular activities and sports. Many students would find it helpful if teachers posted assignments in advance, and for them to post the accurate day that the assignment is due. It is easier for students to manage their time and create their best work. <\/span><\/p>\n

This conversation allowed students to voice their opinion and their observations in a setting that was not complaint-based. At Grace Church School, we are so lucky that we are able to have an open and honest conversation with our teachers that strive to help us learn in the best way possible. Students and teachers should keep in mind this information when assigning or completing homework. Teachers should not only say they are going to be mindful of their course load, but they should actually check-in with students to make sure it is manageable. Similarly, as learned in this conversation, students should not be complaining just to get a lighter workload. After all, high school is a place of learning. We are the second generation guinea pigs, the second class to graduate, and we hope that future classes will benefit from this discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fishbowl on October 21st was focused on workload. Students and teachers alike sat in a circle with two stools in the center of the room. These two stools allowed… Continue reading “Why Do We Have So Much Homework?”<\/span> <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"appful":[],"class_list":["post-519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-school"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9uEnr-8n","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519"},{"taxonomy":"appful","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/appful?post=519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}