Not AS related

[Viper]

Hi, had to share this and see what you all think.

 

My Nt daughters school (soon to be AS sons school) runs an incentive scheme whereby the children get Golden time on a Friday, if they misbehave they lose 5 mins each time. Golden time can be spent on an activity of their choice, within reason.

 

Well yesterday my daughter brought home her spellings and had to write a paragraph to include all the words, she could choose from two titles, Cold or Dinosaurs. She spent a good few hours trying to write it and then asked me to help, I was stunned, and couldn't make one up either, so as it was her bedtime I wrote a letter to her teacher to explain the situation and sugested he write one to show us how it was done. As a result my daughter lost all her Golden time and was told to write the paragraph, she refused and sat there for the whole hour.

 

These are the words.

 

Miscellaneous

Prioritise

Soldier

Strategy

Decipher

Congruent

Protractor

Auction

Desperate

Separate

Definite

 

See if you can make anything out of that, don't forget the title is either Cold or Dinosaurs, and it has to make sense, then pretend you are 10 years old.

 

Needless to say I have taken it up with the head and she is "looking into it"

 

Viper.

[smallworld]

Hi Viper,

My son gets this homework (yr4) and it takes him hours ! (and us !!)

We've already had the word 'congruent' , at least he didn't have to stick to a particular topic. That would have stumped us.

I'm beginning to think this homework is set to test parents' vocabulary not a child's spelling ability.

 

wac

[lil_me]

The man went to an Auction of Miscellaneous items to buy Dinosaur book for his son who was a Soldier, he had to Decipher the complicated guide to find where the Seperate lots were, then he had to Prioritise which order to bid in as he was Desperate to buy just one and developed a Definite Strategy for bidding.The one he purchased had Congruent triangles on the cover, he measured the angles with a Protractor.

 

 

Best I could do on dinosaurs when its this late

 

 

 

Seems a bit harsh for a 10 year old

Edited June 17, 2005 by lil_me

[Viper]

Wow that is brilliant lil, I might just steal that and stuff it up her teachers ar*e I don't think he would believe it was her work though

 

Viper.

[lil_me]

Maybe not, I've always had a thing for words

[CarerQuie]

I'veasked my NT 10year old to ha ve a go.What ridiculous homework.Hope the headteacher gets back to you soon.xx

[CarerQuie]

My 10 year old came up with.....

 

 

Even though there is micellaneous completely separate dinosaurs in the world,(or there used to be),

they'd be all about working together in a desperate way to decipher(infiltrate)other soldier-like dinosaurs in definite combat!They battle in a way where they prioritise themselves and use strategy to lead themselves into a glorious victory. If you want the dinosaur made plan to kill stegosauruses that was made only with a congruent triangle and a protractor go onto the dinosaur-made planauction on EBAY.

[Suze]

I find the homework......*****...well hard.But I have a problem with the Teachers reaction....losing her golden time etc.It,s only homework she had already spent enough time at home anxiously trying to do it.This Teacher should be a Prison Officer not a teacher.

[lorryw]

Goldentime is one of those ridiculous American style initiatives. The idea is to have a mutually rewarding together time. In reality its a do what you want while teacher clears up for the weekend time, always on a Friday afternoon!

[Zemanski]

I love golden time

 

when it's used properly (there are many variations on the theme) it is a great motivator for work and behaviour.

 

both my kids love it (although Com doesn't get it any more now he's in high school which he resents) and look forward to it all week.

 

Dot gets it on a Friday.

Each child signs up for a workshop at the beginning of a half term (one school I taught at signed up fresh every week).

things on offer might be

 

origami, sewing, french, rugby, basketball, art, video, puppet making, drama, dance, knitting, ICT, baking ......

 

each workshop is run by a staff member (according to interest, everyone except admin staff in most schools I've worked in, sometimes even the dinner staff will volunteer, or parents might run a workshop) and is offered to a certain number of kids on a first come first served basis but they rotate the classes so that each class gets the chance to choose first and gets the opportunity to do the popular things.

 

it's a special time for everyone and no one is allowed to sit out, staff or child, without a very good reason.

 

some schools use a 3 strikes and you're out rule for exclusion from golden time (I've never heard of a 1 missed homework and you're out rule before though)

one school I know uses minutes - a certain number of minutes for each offence, recorded on a card and added up at the end of the week - and the child sits and watches the group until their minutes are up and then is allowed to join in, in another school the kids sitting out go to a sort of detention class where they have to do some work

 

another way to do it is to have the whole class collect points or smiles or marbles - when they reach 100 or have filled the jar they get their golden time.

In one school the golden time was always free play (which as you say is just a time for the teacher to do other stuff but given how little time there is for play in todays curriculum it's still a big treat) so I put in place special activities instead. we would decide what they wanted to do - rounders, video with pop corn, trip to the park across the road, parachute games - and then that was written up on the board so they always knew what they were working towards. No child was excluded unless they actually misbehaved during the activity.

 

used well it gives time for all those things that many of us loved at school but the curriculum doesn't leave time for any more

and it is a real bonding time for children and staff who get to know the whole school better rather than just their particular class or the individuals they work with.

 

even if it had no link with behaviour policies and motivation I still think it's a very good thing - for some children it is the only time they really enjoy in school; it's one of the few times the pressure to succeed and conform is relaxed.

 

however, if it's going to do the job it sets out to do, it has to be used fairly and reasonably and that certainly doesn't seem to be the case with this teacher

 

Zemanski

[Jericho]

The homework sounds tough for a 10 yr-old! I wouldn't want to be in that particular teacher's class.

[Lucas]

That task is a crock!

 

It basically teaches how to talk like a New Labour politician!

 

Has anyone else noticed how often Tony Blair uses the same words a lot and tries to fit his sentences around them?

[Gordie]

Forget it! Creative is the last thing I am!!

 

I'd have really struggled with this at age 10 too, I think. Or maybe I'd have been better at it at that age than I am now! (Having said that, I didn't get homework at all when I was 10. )

 

James

[lil_me]

Why not ask the headmaster to do it himself ??????? Thats what I would do but I'm very cheeky and prefer to prove a point in that way

 

I think I get it from a relative of mine who walked into a headmasters office yelling at him pointing in his face, then asked how he felt, as thats what he had done to his daughter for wetting herself when the teacher refused to let her go to the toilet, he sharp apologised inc to the little girl

Edited June 18, 2005 by lil_me

[KarenT]

If this is the level of homework schools are setting for ten year olds, how come there's so much debate about the terrible standards of literacy at GCSE level? Does that mean that our children are more literate at 10 than at 16? Does this knowledge drop out once they leave primary? Is secondary school a waste of time? Maybe we should let them do their exams at the end of primary school and spend the next five years doing something constructive

 

Karen

x

[Viper]

Hi all and thanks for the input.

 

My DD is at the top of the class for both maths and english and she is being "groomed" for the 11 plus next year with a view to going to grammer, but I think the homework they set at times is a bit excesive and children need to be children with all the things that comes with that, like that old tradition of playing and having fun that, as parents we know is a valuable part of learning but teachers seem not to understand this concept and think children should be slaving over books all day.

 

When I was her age we didn't have homework but then I was not as grown up as she is, I think the school system is robbing our kids of their innocence and child hood. She did try to do the homework set but found it hard, is this not allowed any more in children?

 

What annoyed me more is that a teacher could disregard the letter I sent and punish her anyway, this is undermining me as a parent, and correct me if I'm wrong but don't our tax contributions pay teachers to teach our kids and in which case we should have some say in when we feel the effort the child has put in is sufficiant. I could understand it if DD never did her homework but this is the first time in his class that this has happened.

 

I will let you know the outcome, and believe me I will not let him get away with it.

 

Viper.

[littlenemo]

Viper

good luck with it.

Have you thought of returning the compliment by setting the teacher a task of writing a sentence from a list of words, such as

 

Excessively

Complicated

Time-consuming

Homework

Undermines

Confidence

Lowers

Self-esteem

Induces

Exam

Anxiety

 

And Karen - as to whether Primary kids know more than Secondary - I know for a fact that this is the case in IT. Every time I have taught IT to a group of secondary kids, all lesson plans go out the window and I end up teaching them what I know they learnt (repeatedly) in primary. Secondary IT teachers assume total ignorance, and the kids comply. Dot and com both did several Powerpoint presentations at primary, but at 13, Com is about to 'learn' it all from scratch again.

[Viper]

Thanks Little, I have copied that out and will give it to him tomorrow, you are very very good with words and putting things in a nutshell.

 

Viper.

Edited June 19, 2005 by Viper

[Suze]

Viper I agree completely with what you posted re.teacher and letting kids be normal good luck with teacher!

[Jericho]

I like littlenemo's new list to give the teacher!

[elaine1]

oh my life , if i sat there for three days i couldnt do that! how unfair to take away all her golden points too, for goodness sakes!

[Zemanski]

viper

 

shouldn't that read 'nutcase'

 

Z

[microsoft_admin]

english is a confusing language i dont know what half thos words mean and im 18 in any cas i say blah!to home work

[BusyLizzie100]

My kids (both on the spectrum) find Golden Time really stressful - all that free play and potential for social skills nightmares! Is that really a treat?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lancelot]

It was cold in the bare garret, and the candles were guttering…With a list of miscellaneous and idiotic spellings to learn, the desperate child was forced to prioritise. Her mother had had to auction off all the light fittings just to keep the child supplied with protractors at her harsh Victorian school.

Despite her freezing fingers, she elected to soldier on in the hope that she could decipher her earlier frantic scrawl. Candle grasped in her icy fingers, she squinted at each separate word in the hope of making out a definite outline. Her strategy seemed to be paying off. But what the f*ck, she thought mildly, does ‘Congruent’ mean?

[Viper]

Where did you dig this one up from Admin , it was months ago and the homework is gone and forgotten now.

[lancelot]

Serve me right for not reading the original date then!

L xx

[Viper]

It's not your fault lancelot, Microsoft Admin is digging up old stuff.

[OPooh]

OMG glad my degree wasn't that complicated....shocking for a 10 year old - and I don't even know what some of those words mean

[melly]

might be an old one, but good story anyway Lancelot!

[lindy-lou]

blimey im glad i dont go to school anymore

[niki]

hi viper i'm glad im not the only with worries about homework i have posted a similar topic in education about my sons maths homework, honestly do they think that we have mini geniuses at work, or am I the think one!

[microsoft_admin]

if its science or computors i can do it no prob