Home work

[chris54]

Well as one or two of you know, homework can be a bit of problem.

 

My latest gripe is lack of clarity as to what is actually required.

 

Today it said "Design a cover for geography project." But do they mean to just design or to actually make, but what size is it to be.

 

The other day he had to drew an animal and plant cell and label them. I thought it was a fantastic bit of work but apparently it was supposed to have included a description of what the parts did. I reread the homework and it said nothing about that.

 

For DT they have been set a homework booklet, with the whole terms homework in it. In the covering letter it said each piece will take no more than 30 minuets and only require a pen or pencil to complete. but then there are 2 pieces which will take much longer than this and require the making of things needing glue, card and coloured paper, not a problem , I queried this and, apparently the letter was only a guide, but why say something that's not correct.

 

A point I will be raising at the parent evening next week, more clarity about homework.

 

On the plus side son now goes to homework after school club once a week which apparently he is enjoying, It run by his science TA, he has science homework on that day so no excuse for not getting top marks for that homework.

 

We do have a computer and Internet access, it is surprising how often there is a piece of work is set to be completed by the next day, which without them would be very hard to do.

Edited March 11, 2012 by chris54

[LancsLad]

Chris as a retired teacher I will say this, most teachers are ###### at setting homework, very often its an afterthought on their part and to be honest they are luck to get anything back when they do in many circumstances.

 

Does he have a homework book at the school, when the teacher says get it out and write the homework down, very often all kids do this poorly. If not and even if he has I would ask him what the homework is and write it down as you see it Chris on a slip of paper, and paperclip this to the work when he has made an attempt.

 

I think homework is a two way realtionship between the pupil and the teacher. If your son has got the communication wrong then in many ways it is the teachers responsibility to ensure the message is on track and if not to communicate it in a different way. Without knowing how he interperated this wearing their cap it is hard sometimes to make the connection you just see poor or half hearted efforts.

 

I think the paper slip you write and the paper clip is good at a parents level, because he will do or not do what is your second hand interpretation and so your relationship has integrity, you can say thats enough or he should do more etc...

 

If you are working on your relationship the owness is on him and the school to sort theirs out. It might means for example he listens more carefully because you are going to write down what he thinks, it might means the teacher sets it a bit more carefully because they are aware you will do this and if your description is not what was expected it is their joint problem not yours.

 

Your last point is so important, homework is a very devicisve tool to magnify social and economic diferences in our school population. As a teacher I found it hard to set homework when at times I knew it was penalising for example a 13 year old girl who had two sibblings to pick up from primary school and a mother and baby to more or less look after when she got home. I have had such individuals in my tutor groups and have had teachers ranting at me over why this kid does not do homeworks to the extent I have said shall we go around to her house and see how she lives at which point they back down, if the internet was but the tip of the iceberg.

[chris54]

They all have a school diary, which has a place for the home work to be written down. Some subjects are better than others, Often the subject TA will write an explanation of what is required, and the senco is fairly good at getting across to the teachers what is required.

 

But to put it bluntly, some of the teachers just don't get it. Its no good just telling him, you have to make sure, first that it actually registered that you were speaking to him, that he heard what you said, that he understood what you said, and that he will remember what you said for more than 5 seconds. I get him to repeat anything of significance back to me. And test him a sort time later to see if he has remembered it. Now I don't expect teachers to do this but what they need to do is make sure that the instructions for homework etc are fool proof.

 

The sencon is good at emailing us with anything that is going on at school that we need to know about.

[LancsLad]

Chris to be honest teachers should get it, they get paid to do so, if they don't its arrogance on their part. I always believe if the kid didn't get something the owness was on me to put it across a different way untill they did. At its basic level teaching is not a time based job, its a piece work job, it does not end when the bell goes it ends when you you have imparted what the aims for the session were on all the pupils in your care not just the majority.

 

The problem is some kids see school likewise as a time based affair and when the bell goes they want out. As someone with AS I need to accept that in different scenarios I have to have strategies to cope with my recognised weaknesses. As an adult that means me seeking out individuals and asking further questions. Chris I really like the fact that you recongnise that this is simply a skill which needs to be developed and practice in artificial scenarios and testing him makes sense. Another idea just for thought is being able to understand the key points of a story, practice might involve watching the news and being able to pick out the three most important points froma news story and write them down some 5 minutes later. Then go back on a recording and check the acuracy together.

 

In my experience it is really a case of tough love and pushing hard on things like this both with school and at home. My own experience is that some of these skills, and I have heard them refered to by specialists and in books as 'executive skills', can really interfer with how individuals such as myself with ASD function on a daily basis. It drives me up the wall when people make excuses for people with AS and say they are simply weak at this. We start off weak for sure but we can make massive improvements with practice. A key is recognising our own weaknesses, accepting them at one level and then having the resolve to work at them untill they are our strengths. I know at work I was considered to be the turn to person in the sort of situations where notices were being verbally given out then the room half paying attention kind of realises something important was said and they were not really listening. They all knew I really would be, and they were true I was, because I know it is a weakness and I have to really concentrate. This takes effort and a lot of the time nothing important happens and you think why was I concentrating so hard its so draining, but you know you have to really. Coming to this conclusion is such a big step and we need a level of maturity to think this way and I suspect your son is not there yet, but you need to keep getting the point across because one day the switch will click and he will think 'I' need to do something about this.

 

If I am to cut myself and your son a bit of slack in this respect it is that living with ASD can be quite exhausting and we get tired towards the end of structured sessions such as a lesson. Unfortunatly things like homework often come like this coupled with other distractions such as collecting in books and equipment and general restlessness as kids pack away. I have observed lessons and thought to myself half the kids didn't get that as the teacher tries to talk over the distractions "and homework is .....". I have sugested setting it far earlier in the lesson when concentration levels are at the highest as this is the one time when you will not be there to offer advice in their home and so get it right. From your son's perspective whilst it is right to understand we get tired as the session draws to an end, like a football match you can be winning 1-0 with five minutes to go and a lot of your hard work gets undone as you let in two late goals. By making a real effort at these key points we improve and get match fit so to speak its only when the final whistle blows should we relax and for many of us crash.

 

I think like all things when we are younger it is very important to reward success and I am sure you do this Chris but in many ways this is a bit of a stop gap measure. There will come a time when he will reflect and say I had a really good day today, I worked really hard and got a lot done in comparison to my peers, it can be done and my skills are improving. Some of these skills come naturally to many NT's but we can get them and develop them even to the point of becoming strengths. I think it is important that you support that notion, and I suspect you do, rather than make excusses on his behalf or lay all the responsibilty at teachers feet, they should take some but not all of it. By working together you will get there in the end and both take pleasure in your acomplishments, just needs a lot of patience at times, but you will have seen him make so much progress in other areas and that should be reassuring.

[Sally44]

Homework is not an issue for us because we don't do it.

 

When he is in school full time we might ask for some. At his other schools he never got set homework. There was the general classroom homework that was way above his capability and I was told to "just do what you can".

 

I had no idea HOW they teach children to do things now-a-days. So I went to an evening run by the school which was for literacy and numeracy and I learnt how they teach it in class. Only to find out that the class my son is in does it different!!

 

So I gave up. He was getting too upset about it, couldn't do it, didn't understand it. As you said - I had no clear idea of what was even required.

 

The school then started to set homework which you could access via your home computer. But the login I was given never worked, and when I asked about it I was told that the ASD children don't have any homework set on the computer - so why send me a letter with a login number then?????

 

What I would like is maybe have one thing we concentrated on for the week, or even the term. Just one thing to grasp and learn well.

 

I find it a shame that homework is not set appropriately, because the very chilren that need to practice more to learn, are the ones that tend not to get any set.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Sally44

[chris54]

At primary, they would set homework, but each day there was a sort period that anyone who had not done there homework could do it in class, with TA/Teacher support.

 

At the free school I have referred to in another post, they do not intend to set any homework, Not sure how this will work when it comes to do some of the GCSE courses, they say they will run.

 

My son at the moment is to ready to say he cant do something. When it is that he doesn't want to do it.

He is capable of a lot, we just need to convince him of that.

 

Here's a little story from when he was younger.

Maths homework. He needed to add 5 and 6 together. "I can't do it"

Is said "Use your fingers"

"I cant"

"Why not"

"I haven't got eleven fingers"

[LancsLad]

Chris your point about homework and relationship with GCSE coursework is really important. It is no coincidence that the perfromance of girls in relation to boys has rocketed just at the same time that coursework has become a large element of GCSE, AS and A level examination structures.

 

I have seen so much of this in my own specialtist area of Design & Technology which has a very large coursework element. The average male student might do an hour or two at best in the subject each week at home. In contrast girls generally being more concientious would speen 3 or 4 times this amount of time and consequently do so much better. As a moderator of coursework all too often I knew I was not marking ability but effort.

 

This is the sad reality of our education system and it tends to favour certain pupils from certain backgrounds, as I have previously pointed out the kid who has to look after siblings is battered in this respect.

 

When you have an ASD child who has the ability and understanding to achieve good success in respect to their peers this is but one more hurdle that you have to try and get them to overcome. Personally my preferance would be for examination conditions as I always do well in them. If I had to do the coursework that is required today I am not too sure how I would fare. If the project took my fancy I suspect I would produce some good stuff, if it didn't then I think there could be real problems in getting me motivated, thats why I believe you have to make progress on homework when you can any habit however small is a good one.

 

The eleven fingers story made me laugh, thanks.

[chris54]

I have just sent my son an email with the information he needs to do his history homework.

Even thought he is sat just feet away. He is now sat there doing it, with no argument.

[LancsLad]

Small consistent steps add up over time. The important thing is to keep heading in the right direction.

[darkshine]

Here's a little story from when he was younger.

Maths homework. He needed to add 5 and 6 together. "I can't do it"

Is said "Use your fingers"

"I cant"

"Why not"

"I haven't got eleven fingers"

Agree with LancsLad - I laughed at that too

 

 

I have just sent my son an email with the information he needs to do his history homework.

Even thought he is sat just feet away. He is now sat there doing it, with no argument.

Excellent - I wonder if that could be used as a more effective way of instruction in life? On certain courses I do, some tutors email me with reminders and I do tend to find that the words on screen are more likely to prompt me into action than a verbal reminder by one of my house mates (which for some unknown reason makes me argue for no reason other than I don't like being told what to do - stupid really!)

 

I could use that as a research piece one day: could email be a non-confrontational way of giving instruction... brilliant idea Chris

[amberzak]

He he - I loved the adding thing. Made me laugh.

 

Being someone who has Aspergers, I can't stand it when things aren't made clear in the work I set. And being someone who is training to be a teacher, I always try to make sure I make it clear. Unfortunately, many teachers haven't a clue what it's like to have Aspergers. While some really good teachers try to understand, and do their best, many don't see it as their problem. One person on my course, when we were discussing special needs (she doesn't know I have aspergers) announced to the class that in her opinion, Aspergers people just need to learn social skills and need to listen more. It's people like her that just don't get it.

 

I think that you need to mention it at parents evening. Just say that you are keen for your son to do his best in homework, but he needs to be clear on what's required. Any teacher who actually cares about teaching should do their best. But as Lancs pointed out, for many teachers it's more on an afterthought. The geography cover page is a prime example. It's a case of they have to set something, they can't be bothered with the marking, so it's easy.

 

Another idea is when your son is at homework club, ask if a TA can go through that weeks homework just to make sure he is clear (and they can usually tell if it's clear by checking).

 

I really do feel for you. It's very frustrating.

 

All the best.

[chris54]

Did his English homework in his handwriting class. Suppose if hes got to wright something, it might as well be something useful. One less for me to worry about.